Introduction
Dear Reader: This is a book on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I use the word “gifts” in a broad sense. I include the traditional seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, but I also include other gifts such as attentiveness, beauty, diversity, intimacy, leadership, and patience. The book even includes some gifts of the Spirit not always thought of as gifts: bereavement, common sense, death, desire, guilt, failure, relaxation, and levity. The fifty-two gifts are arranged in alphabetical order with the exception of the last selection: death. I’ve placed death at the end of the book since death is, in a way, the last gift, the final gift, the ultimate gift. Each chapter begins with an appropriate quotation from a wide variety of sources followed by a meditation on that particular gift, a meditation rooted in both Scripture and daily life. At the end of each meditation there are a few questions to facilitate personal reflection on that gift in your own life. And finally, each chapter concludes with a short prayer to encourage your prayerful dialogue with God about each gift. I call this book Gracious Goodness, for the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us by a God whose goodness knows no bounds. How blessed are we to be the recipients of these gracious gifts. May this small book help you to discover the grace, goodness, and surprising diversity of the Holy Spirit’s gifts in your own life.
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