Listen to the Spirit … adapt as needed … stay longer where you are drawn …
Ignatian Roots
“By being secluded in this way (seeking moments of stillness) and not having our mind divided among many matters, but by concentrating instead all our attention on…the service of our Creator and our own spiritual progress, we enjoy a freer use of our natural faculties for seeking diligently what we so ardently desire…and the more we unite ourselves to him in this way, the more do we dispose ourselves to receive graces and gifts from his divine and supreme goodness.” – Spiritual Exercises #20
Opening Prayer
Suggested Song: Constant by Francesca Battistelli
It can be a written prayer that fits the meeting or it could also be left open.
Check-In
Try to keep this short, focused on how people’s hearts are as they come to the meeting.
There doesn’t need to be something written for this for each meeting, but if there is a way of checking in that would be helpful in setting the theme for the meeting, include it.
Focus Exercise
“God doesn’t look at how much we do, but with how much love we do it.” – Mother Theresa
Open sharing on experiences of prayer and service.
Speak and listen to God about whatever arises within you. Ask for a deepened awareness of how God loves you through your experiences of this past year.
Listening and Sharing
Reflection Questions
How have I changed, through my relationship with others, with myself, with God?
What gifts have grown/being developed within me this past year?
Where or how am I being led? Where am I heading toward?
What are my present hopes, goals, dreams?
Is there an apt title to this pictorial description of your year?
Listening Deeper
These are questions that allow community members to listen to and share about what is moving within them after the focus exercise. Specific questions about the focus exercise can be included here, but facilitators may choose to approach it differently such as with more open ended questions.
- What has struck you as you have been listening to others share? Do you notice any patterns or similarities?
- How have you been feeling throughout the meeting? Comfortable? Anxious? Curious?
- Is there anything you would like to share after listening to another person share?
- What is remaining with you? What do you hope to return to in prayer at another point in the week?
Lord help me enter into that peace,
which consists in having put my life in your hands.
– Carlo Maria Martini SJ
