By Father Mark McCormick
Director of Vocations

Undeniably, the hottest ticket this summer in Rapid City is the Life and the Spirit Seminar taking place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help every Wednesday from July 9 to August 20, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The Life in the Spirit Seminar is a seven-week course on how to live more deeply in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life. The LISS has two main goals: renewing and igniting the presence of the Holy Spirit that we received at Baptism and Confirmation, and nurturing and growing into a deeper and more personal relationship with Jesus Christ, leading to a new Pentecost in our lives, in our families, and in our parishes. As each one of us experiences transformation, we become like yeast transforming the heart of the whole diocese of Rapid City.

In the Acts of the Apostles we hear, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 11:4). On Pentecost Sunday 2008, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. “Today I would like to extend this invitation to everyone: let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; let us be aware again of our baptism and our confirmation, sources of grace that are always present. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain a renewed Pentecost for the church again today, a Pentecost that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing the Gospel.”

This seminar is an invitation to renew our personal commitment to Jesus and to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit and his gifts. The LISS consists of a series of seven inspiring talks, designed “to stir up” in our hearts a desire for more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The talks are from The Wild Goose series by Fr. Dave Pivonka, the president of Franciscan University of Steubenville. It will also include time for praise and worship, prayer for the release of the Holy Spirit in power, small group discussions, fellowship, and light refreshments.

I remember Bishop Robert Gruss would often speak of the Holy Spirit being like a dormant seed in our hearts that needs to be stirred up and activated to bear super abundant fruit in our lives. Even though we have received the fullness of the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation, the Holy Spirit still needs to be nurtured and cultivated in our daily lives. Various translations of 2 Tm 2:6 invite us to “stir up,” or to “fan into flame,” or to “enkindle” the gift of God, which is in us. All three describe well what is at the heart of a Life in the Spirit Seminar.

St. Elena Gurrea, called the “Apostle of the Holy Spirit,” was canonized on October 20, 2024. She said, “Pentecost is not over. In fact, it is continually going on in every time and in every place, because the Holy Spirit desired to give himself to all men, and all who want him can always receive him, so we do not have to envy the apostles and the first believers; we only have to dispose ourselves like them to receive him well, and He will come to us as he did to them.”

The Holy Spirit desires to give himself to you. If you desire what the Holy Spirit wants for you, to pour upon you, like the dewfall, His abundant gifts and if you desire a new Pentecost for your heart, I encourage you to sign up for the hottest ticket this summer: the 2025 Life in the Spirit Summer Series at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Click here to register!