The Holy Spirit, through the gift of understanding, allows the soul to penetrate the depths of revealed mysteries in many ways. In a supernatural and therefore gratuitous manner, He teaches the heart’s intimacy the meaning within the deepest truths of the faith.
"Like one who, without having learned or worked to know how to read, nor having studied anything," explains Saint Teresa, "finds that they already know all of science, without knowing how or from where it came, since they had never worked even to learn the alphabet. This last comparison teaches something of this celestial gift, because the soul sees in a moment the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and other very elevated things with such clarity, that there is no theologian with whom it would not dare to discuss these great truths."
The gift of understanding leads one to capture the deepest sense of Sacred Scripture, the life of grace, the presence of Christ in every sacrament and, in a real and substantial way, in the Holy Eucharist. This gift gives us a kind of divine instinct for that which is supernatural in the world. Before the gaze of the believer illuminated by the Spirit, an entirely new universe springs forth. The mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, and the Church become extraordinarily vivid and current realities that orient the entire life of the Christian, decisively influencing work, family, and friends. Its influence makes prayer simpler and more profound.
Those who are docile to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit purify their souls, keep their faith awake, and discover God through all created things and the events of ordinary life. He who lives in lukewarmness no longer perceives these calls of grace; his soul is dulled to the divine, and he has lost the sense of faith, its demands, and its delicacies.
The gift of understanding leads one to contemplate God in the midst of ordinary tasks and in the events—whether pleasant or painful—of each person's life. The path to reaching the fullness of this gift is personal prayer, in which we contemplate the truths of faith, and the joyful and loving struggle to maintain the presence of God during the day by fostering acts of contrition when we have separated ourselves from the Lord. It is not an extraordinary supernatural aid granted exclusively to exceptional people, but to all those who want to be faithful to the Lord wherever they are, sanctifying their joys and sorrows, their work, and their rest.
HCD