Theologians tell us that the main mission of Christ was to give us His Spirit. This means that the Spirit should be the focal point of our spiritual lives. The Spirit should be our mentor, our inner guide, the inner force in our lives, the power in our lives, the center of our personal energy. We have only to admit our powerlessness to live a fully human life, recognize that a Higher Power exists within us and turn our lives over to the Spirit.
When we are not sure what to do, we should pray to the Spirit for an intuition to enlighten us, relax for a while and wait for enlightenment. This spiritual exercise will help us to encounter the Spirit and develop the virtue of dependency on the Spirit.
Another spiritual exercise is the Jesuit practice of the Examen. It is not an examination of conscience. Its goal is to gain the enlightenment needed to cooperate with and respond to the presence of Christ’s Spirit in our lives. Here is how it works. Take 10 minutes each night to review the events of your day. Ask yourself: “Where was the Spirit in these events? How are these experiences leading me to God and others in love?” Pray for guidance.
What should our attitude be toward the Spirit? One of expectancy. If we expect the Spirit to work in our lives, the Spirit will. Expectancy is the mindset that prepares us to be open to the Spirit and to be aware of. our many encounters with the Spirit. The Spirit is alive and working in all the positive moments of our lives, in all our insights and understandings, in our feeling of strength and renewal, in all our caring and loving of others, in the beauty of nature, in the intimacy of prayer, in the sacraments. These are all Spirit moments. And in our bleakest moments, we are never alone.
Very simply, spirituality is a life lived with, in and through the Spirit. Present within us, the Spirit is always ready to burst into our consciousness, always ready to surprise us. The potential for Spirit empowerment is always present.
With this realization, we can encounter life more dramatically. We can ask ourselves: “Where will the Spirit burst out in my life? When will the Spirit surprise me today?” This mindset frees us. We are no longer event-dependent or circumstance-dependent for our experiences of joy or growth; we can take our lives into our own hands, aggressively seeking Spirit moments. When we are online and interactive with the Spirit, great and wonderful things can happen.
Thus far, we have considered the virtue of dependency on the Spirit as it affects our interior life. However, as Cursillistas we are called to be contemplatives in action. How does this virtue affect our life of evangelization?
The Fundamental Ideas of the Cursillo Movement states that there can be no evangelization without the cooperation of the Spirit. We are instruments in the hands of the Spirit. Cursillistas “should pray unceasingly to the Spirit and to submit themselves prudently to His guidance as the principal source of their plans, of their initiatives, and of their work in the field of evangelization.”
Why? Because it is the Spirit Who “acts through all evangelizers who allow themselves to be possessed and led by Him; who puts on their lips the words which of themselves they would never be able to find; who explains to the faithful the deep meaning of the teachings of Jesus and of His mystery; and who predisposes the minds of the hearers to be open and receptive to the Good News.”