Listen to the Spirit… adapt as needed…
stay longer where you are drawn…
Ignatian Roots
“Our Community is made up of Christians: men and women, adults and youth, of all social conditions who want to follow Jesus Christ more closely and work with Him for the building of the Kingdom…” -CLC General Principle #4
Opening Prayer
Suggested Song: Better Together by Jack Johnson
Lord, teach me to be generous.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not count the cost;
to fight and not heed the wounds; to toil and not seek for rest;
to labor and not ask for reward, except to know that I am doing your will.
Scripture
Romans 12:4-8 – Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Check-In
Invite members to reflect on how they come to the meeting. Pose one or two questions that encourage people to look back on their week and also help to set the theme for the meeting.
Focus Exercise
CLC is a vocation that calls us both as individuals and as community to integrate our experience of Ignatian spirituality with Christian community and Gospel mission. This integration is the charism of CLC – a living sacrament of the present moment. Our focus exercise today invites us to at look Scripture and some brief information about CLC in order to prepare us to make a decision about committing to CLC for the next 6 months. Read (aloud or silently) the document on CLC (“Christian Life Community”) as well as the Scripture passage as a way of inviting people to consider their own call to be in community with others.
Listening and Sharing
Reflection Questions
- How or in what ways do I want to remain open to God’s continuing faithful love for me?
- What excites me about being a part of a Christian community striving to support one another in discovering our individual sense of calling in life?
- How can I reorder my daily routine so that I stay both grounded in the truth of who I am and focused on serving God and God’s people?
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?
Before our next meeting, please continue to sit and pray with whether or not you are being invited to commit to our group for the next 6 months or so. Asking for your commitment is not an attempt to pressure you or force an obligation. Rather, creating a space of confidentiality and consistency will allow everyone to share more openly and honestly as we move forward. As you take this decision to prayer, you might find it helpful to use the handout on CLC from today, as well as the “Living Out the CLC Way of Life” document we looked at during our first meeting. If you lost your copy, you can find another on the Pathways website (www.youngadultclc.org/pathways).
Closing Prayer
Write a prayer that fits the meeting or ask if anyone from the group who like to offer a spontaneous prayer.
CLC helped me to share and be open to others.