CCO-SOURCE
CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN OUTREACH
SOURCE
We cannot live the Christian life on our own! We constantly battle sin, temptation, concupiscence, the influence of the world, the enemy, and our desire to become holy through our own efforts. Our efforts are absolutely necessary, but they cannot bear spiritual fruit without the grace (help) of the Holy Spirit.
The “choose and ask” model is key to accomplishing the objectives of this study. We want Source participants to learn that the Holy Spirit is active and available to us moment-by-moment. We need to choose God, to reject wrong thoughts and actions, and to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. He is faithful and he will direct us: he fills us with the power to choose the right thing to do. The Holy Spirit is in us — our companion and helper in faith. He helps us in both our ongoing conversion and faithfulness to a Christ-centred relationship.
We also hope that, through this study, participants will encounter the Holy Spirit — that he would enflame their hearts with God’s love, leading to a greater experience of his gifts and fruits and that they would become more docile to the Holy Spirit, submitting their wills to his prompting and leading.
LESSON OUTLINE
1 The Holy Spirit The Person and roles of the Holy Spirit.
2 The Battle Within We can fight to overcome our human weaknesses with God’s help.
3 Living in the Spirit The Holy Spirit empowers and directs us to follow him daily.
4 Barriers to Living in the Spirit There are obstacles that prevent us from being receptive to the Holy Spirit’s influence—knowing them can help us deal with them.
5 Docility to the Holy Spirit Mary, our model of docility, entrusted her life completely to the Holy Spirit.
6 Gifts and Fruits The gifts and fruits of the Spirit are available to all believers as special helps and signs of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives.