Seminar of New Life in the Holy Spirit

Peter was still saying these things,
when the Holy Spirit
descended upon all those
who were listening to the Word

Acts of the Apostles 10:44

The Magnificat Community, in its own experience of evangelization has seen many times repeated scenes such as the one that took place in the house of Cornelius in the presence of Peter preaching(Acts 10:34-48) or the one that took place after Paul’s proclamation in Ephesus(Acts 19:1-7), that is, when the Holy Spirit descended in a visible way on those who heard the Word.

It is precisely the Seminary of New Life in the Holy Spirit that, in the vast majority of cases, enables the Lord to pour out His love on those who participate.

Seminary is a time when God does a wonderful work of rebirth for so many brothers and sisters.

Jesus, speaking with Nicodemus on that night when they met, to his question, “How can a man be born when he is old?” answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (cf. John 3:4-8).

Charismatic renewal, since its rise in the Catholic Church, has become, in a way, a privileged witness of that new birth, which God works through a simple instrument, placed in the hands of poor people endowed with one indispensable characteristic, having lived the same experience. The instrument is the Seminary of New Life in the Holy Spirit, the poor people are also the members of the Community, the experience is that of being overwhelmed by the very Love of God: the Holy Spirit.

Having experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a prerequisite for belonging to the Magnificat Community.

Structure of the Seminar

Over so many years the Community has given birth to hundreds and hundreds of seminars, using many different formulas, from the weekly course that lasts about three months to the three-day residential ones, but what really sets it apart is its substantial structure: a fundamental proclamation of the faith and a prayer over people so that they receive the outpouring of the Spirit.

The themes that are announced in a simple and joyful way are those of the kerygma:

1. God loves you

2. Sin and its consequences

3. Jesus is salvation

4. Jesus Christ is Lord

5. The promise of the Spirit

These kerygmatic announcements-given in meetings animated by Community members by means of catechesis-are complemented by two experiential meetings, offered to participants before they come to the moment of prayer to receive the outpouring.

The first, titled Removing Obstacles, is aimed at helping seminar participants address and remove those obstacles that can hold back the Spirit’s action: forgiveness not given (toward oneself or others), idolatry (the use of magical practices or the occult world), a disordered sex life, addiction to substances or situations…

The second, entitled Believe and Convert, is lived out in a penitential liturgy, in which, after catechesis and a thorough examination of conscience, participants are given the opportunity to make an act of faith in God’s mercy by living the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Outpouring prayer

At the end of the kerygmatic proclamation, on all seminar participants who desire it, prayer is made to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in which – to the people who receive it – an infinity of different things happen, as many as the people themselves. But – for each person – there is one certainty: “God is there and He loves me!”

Theological foundations

To understand the theological nature of the Seminar of New Life in the Holy Spirit and the experience of the outpouring of the Spirit , we offer here two documents by Father Raniero Cantalamessa: the text of one of his teachings on the subject, dating back to the 1980s, and a catechesis he addressed to the Pontifical Household in Lent 2021.