In this post:
- What does it mean to live a fruitful life?
- What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?
- Why are there 12 fruits according to the Catholic tradition instead of 9?
The 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit sustain our ability to live a moral life. By these fruits, we’re able to reject desires of the flesh that conflict with desires of the Spirit, avoiding many sins.
“I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want. But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Gal 5: 16-18
Living a fruitful life is all about cooperating with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit often comes to us as a quiet internal voice, guiding us toward good and steering us away from evil. When we cooperate with the Spirit, we demonstrate the 12 fruits: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.
Discerning the Voice of the Holy Spirit
Divine inspirations from the Spirit can happen dozens of times in an ordinary day. And the more we allow these inspirations to guide our actions, the more fruitful our lives will be.
How do we know when the Spirit is speaking to us as opposed to hearing our own internal thoughts? It takes time to develop an attentiveness to His voice. One way to do this is through consistent prayer. As with ordinary people, the more we talk to someone, the more easily we recognize their voice. It’s the same with the Spirit; prayer is just one way to tune in to the Spirit more clearly.
I recommend listening to this episode of the Abiding Together podcast for more advice on discerning the voice of the Spirit. The episode is a book discussion on Fr. Jacques Philippe’s In the School of the Holy Spirit. However, you don’t need to have read the book to benefit from this discussion.
If you feel like you have not heard His voice yet, do not be discouraged. You’ll know it when you hear it, as the apostle John tells us, the Lord’s sheep know His voice and follow Him (JN 10:4-5).
Are there 12 or 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit?
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are biblically based. Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23; however, the length of this list depends on which translation of the Bible you read. The Catholic tradition lists 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit based on the Latin Vulgate—a 4th century Latin translation of the Bible.
But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity (kindness), goodness, longanimity (generosity), mildness (gentleness), faith, modesty, contingency (self-control), chastity. Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23, Latin Vulgate Douay-Rheims, Parenthetical Text added for clarity
Which resulted in this list of fruits of the Spirit as taught by the Church:
12 fruits of the Holy Spirit
- Charity
- Joy
- Peace
- Patience
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Faithfulness
- Modesty
- Self-control
- Chastity
Meanwhile, the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible translations lists only 9 fruits:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
GALATIANS 5:22-23, English Standard Version
Regardless of whether there are 9 or 12 fruits, the number is not the point to focus on. The important takeaway is that the Holy Spirit desires to help us grow in all good virtues. Plus, a look at some of the New Testament writings shows us that living a fruitful life involves more than checking off a numbered list of virtues.
For example, Peter encourages us to push ourselves further in our faith even if we’ve already achieved the virtuous character associated with a fruitful life.
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pt. 1: 5-9
When we live in accordance with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that dwells in God the Father, we are strengthened to live righteously and drawn closer to sharing in the eternal glory that awaits us in Heaven.
Strong Roots, Good Fruit
There are many trials in living a Christian life. Take a look at the Apostles; on their mission to teach and spread the Gospel across the nations, they faced religious persecution including beatings, imprisonment, and riots.
How did they persevere? By the fruits of the Spirit!
In 2 Cor 6, the apostle Paul tells us how they were able to carry on:
We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left…
2 Corinthians 6: 3-7
Let us pray to be so strongly rooted in the Spirit that we too can bear good fruit, even in times of adversity.
Mom says
Love all your posts Isabella!!
Madeline Rose McKissick says
Such a beautiful post! I really love the cute graphic at the beginning too!
Isabella Lee says
Thanks Madeline! I recently got into digital illustrations, so you’re be seeing more artwork like that around here 🙂