Embedded Files
Scripture
Scripture
Jesus said, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Mt 18:19-20
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness….”
Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)
Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)
I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)
I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)
Grace: To experience awareness and gratitude of the ways in which God reveals himself to us through the people in our lives.
Use the grace and the suggested scripture above to create your own prayer, or use CLC Opening Prayer.
II. Check-In (5 min.)
II. Check-In (5 min.)
- What were some of your high and low points of the week?
III. Focus Exercise (40 min.)
III. Focus Exercise (40 min.)
Materials Needed: CLC supply box (CLC journal booklets, papers, pens, etc.)
Symptoms of Love
Symptoms of Love
First, spend five minutes to allow each person to imagine an experience of being cared for and loved. Invite members to share adjectives or actions that indicate how someone has loved or cared for them: a sense of security, peace, joy, happiness, loving challenge, etc. We can think of truth, beauty, and goodness as ways of experiencing God’s love. In the next meeting on creation, we will focus more on God’s beauty through creation. In this meeting we will explore those people who reveal to us goodness, beauty, and truth about ourselves, about others, and about the world. We will ask the question “What do these experiences or people reveal to us about a God of truth, goodness, and beauty?
Introduction
Introduction
These symptoms of love help us get to know these people and how they have loved us, but they can also reveal to us something about God’s love. God loves us through these people and also uses their love to show us that He is a God of love. Many of these symptoms of love also show us symptoms of God’s love. Other people can show us something of the way we want to live our lives and challenge us to be our truer selves. Through the Communion of Saints image in the Catholic Church, we see the image of Holy men and women who we are united within faith.
Other faith traditions do not recognize “Saints” in a specific way, but they do carry on a tradition of looking to the community as an example of how God cares for us. The community is also there to support us in our journey towards building a relationship with God and discovering what God calls us to do in our lives and in the world.
Exercise: Reflection from Council of Vatican II, On the Church, No. 50
Exercise: Reflection from Council of Vatican II, On the Church, No. 50
When we look at the lives of those who have faithfully followed Christ, we are inspired with a new reason for seeking the City that is to come and at the same time we are shown a most safe path by which …. we will be able to arrive at perfect union with Christ, that is perfect holiness. In the lives of those who, sharing in our humanity, are however more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ, God vividly manifests His presence and His face to people. God speaks to us in them, and gives us a sign of His Kingdom, to which we are strongly drawn, having so great a cloud of witnesses over us and such a witness to the truth of the Gospel.
Sharing
Sharing
Take time to reflect on and answer each of these questions personally before sharing.
- Do you agree with the statement “God vividly manifests to people His presence and His face” and uses the lives of others to reveal His love to us? Why or why not? Can you give some examples? What are the concrete ways in which they help you see that God is alive?
- Are there any people in your own life that seem to have “faithfully followed Christ” based on what you have experienced through your interactions with them? Many people see the work of Saint Mother Theresa of Calcutta as a model of faith and she has been named a Saint in our Church. Are there any people who help you to see the way you want to live your life?
- Sometimes we may experience God’s abundant love for us through the witness of a family member or neighbor. These persons may be of a different faith background or have no explicit faith at all. Are we “powerfully drawn” to God through the witness of any individuals or groups of people around us?
- Is there something about the way all these people care for and interact with me that reveals to me something of how God cares for me and who God is? What does God look like through these people?
Listening Deeper
Listening Deeper
Suggested questions to deepen awareness of inner movements and further conversation
- What has struck you as you have been listening to others share? Do you notice any patterns or commonalities?
- 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?
IV. Moving Forward (5 min.)
IV. Moving Forward (5 min.)
- Wrap-Up: Are there any final thoughts before we leave?
- Action: Try to be more aware of people in your life who may have shown you something of who God is. Are there any people you may have overlooked? Are there any ways you can offer a gesture of gratitude, whether through prayer, or a note, or a random act of kindness to that person.
- Announcements:
- Next week we will explore how God is revealed through Creation. Bring leaves or things that can be recycled or reused for our meeting next week.
- Upcoming CLC events
V. Closing Prayer (5 min.)
V. Closing Prayer (5 min.)
In Relationship
by Karen Toole-Mitchell
God - You are the mother some of us have ...
the mother who embraces because the child is cold
the mother who feeds because the child is hungry
the mother who constantly affirms, because
the child is afraid.
God - You are the father that some of us have ...
the father who listens, because the child speaks
the father who knows his gentleness,
because the child reaches up,
the father who guides and answers,
because the child asks and seeks.
God - You are the friend some of us have ...
the friend who is always there, even when we shove them away,
the friend who believes in us, even when we don't believe in ourselves
the friend who stands face to face, even when we turn away.
God - You are the brother or sister some of us have ...
the brother who teases, when we take ourselves too seriously
the sister who sings, when we have lost the song
the brother, the sister who comes, when crisis comes
and we know we are not alone ...
God - You are all this and more. You take the image of that one ...
that relationship that loves us into living ... and say,
Here I am
Thank God - you will not be limited by us.
You come again and again!
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