Listen to the Spirit… adapt as needed…
stay longer where you are drawn…
Ignatian Roots
“For it is not in knowing much, but realizing and relishing things interiorly, that contents and satisfies the soul.” – Spiritual Exercises #2
Opening Prayer
Suggested Song: “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield
Grace to seek/ask: To be open to developing a spirit of discovery and a greater willingness to take risks…
Scriptures
Exodus 3:3-5 – God surprised Moses through the burning bush: “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Kings 19:9-14 – Elijah encountered God surprisingly not through the heavy wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the “light silent sound.”
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
So far we’ve shared our stories and gotten to know more about what it might mean to be a CLC group. We’ve shared a bit about who God has been for us in the past and who God is for us now, as well as possibly what we desire for our lives and for this group at this moment in time. Now we have the opportunity to begin to focus more deeply on who God is to each of us and how we can better create the space to know God and ourselves more fully. In the next few meetings, we’ll look more closely at different ways of understanding and relating to God. For tonight and for our next meeting, we’ll consider attitudes that can better dispose us to listen for who God is. We’ve briefly considered how we listen to God and others in two of our meetings already (1.03 Listen–Just Listen, 2.01 Journeying Together–Listening & Loving). Just as looking first at how we listen helped us to be more present to each other as we shared our stories, looking at the attitudes we bring to our relationship with God can help us be more present to God…that God might have the space to more fully reveal God’s self to us. Tonight, let’s consider cultivating an attitude of discovery and perhaps even a greater openness to taking risks. Let’s read tonight’s handout together (“Cultivating an Attitude of Discovery”) and reflect on some related questions.
Listening and Sharing
Reflection Questions
- Can you recall the last time you had a free day to yourself? How did you feel at the end of the day?
- Are there important aspects of your life that you simply allow to happen as they may? What might change if you took charge of them?
- When in your life were you caught by surprise? How did this experience affect you?
- How can you better cultivate an attitude of discovery and a willingness to take risks in your life now? (Is your lifestyle allowing for time in prayer and silence? Have you ever sincerely presented yourself before God and said “Here I am…. Speak….Show me who You are…I am listening”?)
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 this time differently, such as with more open ended questions, etc.
- 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 stays with you? What do you hope to return to in prayer at another point in the week?
Moving Forward
Thank you to those who hosted the meeting. Thank you everyone for being present and participating. Let us remember and lift-up one another in prayer, especially for any special intentions which may have surfaced through our conversation tonight.
To help us continue to be open to cultivating an attitude of discovery and a willingness to take risks, perhaps we can each try to commit to more intentionally adopting these dispositions in our daily life a few times before we next meet.
Closing Prayer
Hearts on Fire – Page 53 – Teach Me Thy Paths by St. Alphonsus Rodriguez SJ
Lord, let me know you, let me know myself.
Lord, you do your will and not mine.
I’m just coming, Lord.
