Listen to the Spirit… adapt as needed…
stay longer where you are drawn…
Ignatian Roots
“As we want our belonging to CLC to run through everything we do in our daily life, we desire to live fully according to who we claim to be as an Ignatian lay faith community on mission… On the one hand, we can miss God in the ordinary thereby missing both richness in God’s presence and many opportunities to serve. On the other hand, we can blind ourselves to God’s presence in some aspect of our life, in this way neglecting a challenge to grow and the potential to serve in this aspect of our life…We want to overcome the distance often present between our faith commitment and our professional and working activities so as to live these activities as a part of our personal vocation.” – CLC: “Our Common Mission”
Opening Prayer
Grace to seek/ask: to become more deeply aware of and connected to the wider CLC family…
Check-In
Please share for a few minutes about how you are doing, based on the following questions:
- Since the last time we’ve met, what has given you life or drawn you closer to God?
- What has drained you of life or drawn you away from God?
- Please describe any significant encounter with God in prayer, service, or relationship with others.
Focus Exercise
Thank you everyone for coming. Last time, we had a chance to pray and reflect together about our experiences as a group so far and how God has been moving in us. Let’s continue to cultivate that awareness of God’s presence and action as we move forward now to focusing a bit more on what it means to be a CLC group. I know that we spent some time learning about CLC and what it means to commit to the group during our first few meetings, but there are a few more aspects of CLC that we’ll look at together more specifically tonight before we move on with other topics.
As we learned before, CLC is a worldwide organization that includes different age groups and many different countries and cultures. Our “CLC family” is therefore much larger than just our small group here. So let’s also look at a document from the larger CLC world community (“World CLC Publication Excerpt”)–an excerpt that highlights how this CLC family that we can be a part of is truly a worldwide community. (Print out a half-sheet copy for everyone. Read the excerpt together out loud or silently. For more on the context of this passage, see the full document at http://cvx-clc.net/l-en/projects/Projects_158.pdf.)
CLC is larger than just the small groups in our area, our state, and our country. It reaches beyond the artificial boundaries of borders, cultures, age groups, and languages. It’s important, therefore, to know what we all have in common and what connects us besides the name “CLC”. Before we move into discussion, then, let’s look (again) at the “CLC Young Adult Brochure” to see how we are united to this wider CLC family through the three pillars of CLC–spirituality, community, and mission.
(Print out or acquire a brochure for everyone. Read it together out loud or silently. Ask if anyone has any questions or comments after reading each pillar.)
Listening and Sharing
Reflection Questions
- What resonates with me about each of the pillars of CLC?
- How am I already living out each of these pillars? In what ways do I desire to more deeply cultivate these pillars in my life?
- What stirs within me as I imagine other CLC members worldwide who are experiencing the joys of Christian life and deepening relationships with God?
- How do I feel when I imagine others who belong to the world CLC family, especially those who are suffering the most (in the Middle East, South Sudan, etc.)?
- How might we each personally be invited to be in greater solidarity with our CLC brothers & sisters around the world, especially those most in need?
Listening Deeper
Thank you everyone for sharing and listening. We now have an opportunity to listen deeper and reflect to the group what we have been hearing during this meeting. We are going to take a minute of silence. Let us pay attention to what is taking place within each of us and among us. One of these questions may help:
- How have you been feeling throughout the meeting? Comfortable? Anxious? Curious?
- Were you touched or moved by any sharing? How so?
- What is remaining with you as you leave the meeting?
Moving Forward
(Consider helping the group decide on a way to connect more directly and intentionally with the wider CLC family. Maybe try to get together with another CLC small group in your area to hangout or serve together. Try to attend a larger CLC event that may be coming-up. If these options aren’t possible, consider joining an event of another ministry in your area or diocese together, serving as a group at a local parish, etc.)
Closing Prayer
Write a prayer that fits the meeting or ask if anyone from the group would like to offer a spontaneous prayer. Consider connecting your prayer to the wider CLC family somehow, perhaps by praying intentionally for those groups in other countries who are experiencing the pain and suffering of war, violence, famine, drought, injustice, etc.
