Being radically available Fr. Don Nesti, CSSp Our vocation demands that we grow in awareness of the availability of the redeeming Spirit to all people and the comfort and consolation that the Spirit offers. No one is excluded! This divine Spirit who has been operative in the world from the moment of creation is fully proclaimed and revealed in Jesus who assures all persons that they are included in the divine, loving plan of reconciliation. Love is made available to all in tangible, real, infleshed forms. No one is excluded from this availability of the divine Spirit. It is this that we Spiritans are sent to proclaim boldly and indefatigably. We, who have experienced the availability of divine love are called and sent to model what that availability of love means through our consecration by and to the Holy Spirit. Is it any wonder then that "availability" receives such prominence in describing one of the essential characteristics of our Spiritan calling in our Rule of Life? One of those key words used throughout the text, "availability" has come to fascinate and challenge me more and more as I reflect on the Rule. At Pentecost, which we might call the feast of "divine availability," we Spiritans are placed front and center in the Church and before the world. They look to us to understand the meaning of the unrestrained, freeing availability of God's Love from which no one is excluded. We are to be the reflectors of that availability in the way that we live our lives and give ourselves in spontaneous love for others. What's distinctively Spiritan Father Jim McCloskey, CSSp Every order has a phrase. For the Benedictines, it's hospitality, but that's not ours. The Spiritan's phrase is "practical union with God." Practical union was forged by the experience of the Spiritan's second founder, Francis Libermann. Libermann was a mystic. But he was primarily known as a spiritual director, a seminary director, someone who took care of the poor. His attempt to combine contemplation and action is called "practical union with God." We are not monks. Practical union with God is not simply reflection on a previous action or contemplation that overflows into action. It is something more immediate. I guess you could say there is a kind of contemplative gaze after the fact. I guess you could say that contemplation comes before it. But I think Libermann meant it differently. In generous acts themselves, we grow closer to God. Practical union with God means that Spiritans grow closer to God in the very expression of their ministry -- in administering the sacraments, in proclaiming the Gospel, and in aiding the poor. Recently, I was called upon to minister to a family suffering a grave and unexpected loss. After the fact, I am realizing more and more that it was an absolute opportunity for me to know God on a deeper level. This is union with God in praxis. Instrument of the Holy Spirit Brother Michael Suazo, CSSp Practical union is intimacy with the Holy Spirit. You are in contact with the Spirit all the time. He is always walking with you. You do not have to drop everything and pick up a book in order to pray. Rather, He is a real presence to us. We don't feel like we're out there alone. Practical union is not just for yourself but is for the benefit of the people you are serving. By being submissive to the Holy Spirit in that way you let the Holy Spirit take over and do whatever He needs to do in that situation. You become an instrument of the Holy Spirit. You are aware that you are in a ministerial role. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to take the lead and use you as an instrument -- maybe to say the right thing or to give the right counsel. You are asking the Holy Spirit to use you as an instrument. Sometimes you're tired, angry, and hungry, but you have to let the Holy Spirit lead you. Contemplative friendship with God Father Charles J. Coffey, CSSp Libermann wants us to work in the presence of God in a practical way -- like a child playing in the backyard is aware of his mother's presence in the house. We are to listen to what God says to us and respond to that. That's what he wanted of his members: to take time to be related to the Lord in the course of your day. When I was very active, there were times that I neglected prayer. I regret that now. Today I spend three to four hours a day in prayer. I find it's better to spend time in prayer than in activity. The Lord doesn't call us to be just His workers -- he calls us to be His friends. Libermann wants us to be friends of God, to be happy in His presence. More is accomplished through that than through activity. Activity directs you away from what God is asking, distracted by your own plans rather than by what God asks of you. Continue to Practical Union with God