Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar
I feel spiritually renewed! My sister and I attended a Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar (CLSS), organized by Our Lady of Guadalupe Family Ministry Inc., last weekend.
The CLSS involves renewing and igniting the power of the Holy Spirit that we received at baptism and confirmation. It also promotes an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord to experience a personal Pentecost in our lives.
“The Spirit will guide you to all truth.” John 16:13
The CLSS consists of a series of talks designed to help people realize the power of the Holy Spirit that is available for every aspect of their lives. It is an invitation to make or renew a deep personal commitment to Jesus Christ in openness to the Holy Spirit and His gifts. It serves as an introduction to a life in the power of the Holy Spirit. It provides teaching, guidance, and prayer leading to a new and deeper relationship with the Lord. We come to experience the presence of the Lord through praise and worship with community.
Life in the Spirit Seminars try:
- To help those who come to the seminars establish or re-establish or deepen a personal relationship with Christ;
- To help those who come to the seminars to yield to the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives so that they can begin to experience his presence and can begin to experience him working in them and through them;
- To help those who come to the seminars be joined to Christ more fully be becoming part of a community or a group of Christians with whom they can share their Christian life and from whom they can receive support in that life;
- To help them begin to make use of effective means of growth in their relationship with Christ.
Most of us have heard about the Holy Spirit and most of us have learned about the Holy Spirit, but many times that is as far as our experience has gone. The Holy Spirit is a real persona, a part of the Blessed Trinity just like Jesus and the Father. We receive the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Through what is called the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a personal conversion experience, the power that is the Holy Spirit is released within us.
One illustration that helps some people understand this concept is through the image of a candle. It is designed with a wick that, when lit, creates or releases its light, so to speak; only at that time does the candle completely fulfill the purpose for which it was created. Until then it may be pleasant to look at, but it does not fulfill its purpose of emanating light. The candle’s ability to be a source of light is always within it due to its design and the way it is made, but until something happens to “empower” that candle, until the wick is lit, it lies “dormant'” it does not fully become what it was designed to be. So it is with all of us. We have been designed by God and empowered with the power of the Holy Spirit. But until that power is released, it lays dormant as does the light of the candle. A CLSS is designed to help us yield to the action, empowerment and the power of the Holy Spirit in our own lives just as He empowered the early church on the day of Pentecost.
The Seminar includes:
- Lively Praise & Worship
- Talks and Testimonies from Brothers & Sisters in Christ
- Discussion Group Sharings
- Healing of Memories Prayer
- Prayer of Surrender to Jesus
- Prayer for the Release of the Holy Spirit in Power
Talks include:
- God’s Love
- Salvation
- The New Life
- Receiving God’s Gift
- Prayer for the Baptism/Release of the Holy Spirit
- Growth in the Spirit
- Transformation
“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5
The seven talks given during a CLSS are designed to lead people through the basic message of salvation, to understand the need within themselves for the release of the Holy Spirit’s power that already lies within them, and yield their lives to the Holy Spirit and a life of joy and peace using His many Gifts. The format is simple, informal and presented with balanced, Catholic teaching based upon Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Church documents, personal testimony and prayer. Opportunities are given in each session for discussion of how the topic may relate to each person’s life, but no one is required to share more than he or she feels comfortable doing.
“I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Trust, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2:4
Through this seminar, I feel like I have experienced God and the Holy Spirit in a totally unique way. After receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I feel so free and light and renewed. I am now more deeply in love with the Eucharist, with Jesus Christ and the Trinity, with the Mass, and and with the Bible.
Most of us have a relationship with God; some of those relationships are closer than others are. It doesn’t matter how close you are to Him or how far away He may seem, He is calling every one of us to deepen that relationship and He has nothing but LOVE waiting for us as we accept His call. THERE’S ALWAYS MORE of His love for everyone; all we have to do is yield ourselves more deeply to it and receive it.
If you are at least open to the possibility that you can deepen your personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, why not attend a Catholic Life-in-the-Spirit Seminar? It may change your life. 🙂
xoxo,
♥ Monique ♥
Further Reading:
- Catholic Bible 101: http://www.catholicbible101.com/charismaticcatholics.htm