Finding God

Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)

I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)

Grace: To see more clearly the connections between God's creation and our care for it.

Use the grace and the suggested scripture above to create your own prayer, or use CLC Opening Prayer.

II. Check-In (5 min.)

• What were some of your high and low points of the week?

III. Focus Exercise (40 min.)

Materials Needed: laptop, CLC supply box (CLC journal booklets, papers, pens, etc.), The Village of Versailles video clips (#1, #2), NY Times article (PDF)

Introduction

Last week, we reflected on how we can get to know and experience God through creation. This week, we are going to continue this theme by looking at how our care or neglect of the environment directly affects humanity. We can easily forget that, as creatures made in God’s image, we have been given special responsibility to take care of God’s creation and each other as His creatures. We need to care for the earth because it is God’s creation in itself, how we treat the environment directly affects our human family (particularly the poor and marginalized).

Exercise 1: "A Village Called Versailles" Clip

As a group, watch the two clips ((#1, #2). Explain how they help connect care and concern for creation with justice and care for humanity, especially for the powerless. The clips depict the story of a Vietnamese community in New Orleans (the Mary Queen of Vietnam Parish community) who has had to fight to have a landfill removed from their community upon returning to their homes after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. As a minority community, living in an area closer to the poorest neighborhood of New Orleans, they had little voice in the toxic destruction of their land and in the endangerment of their health.

(Note: Many of the members of this community are in CLC groups of their own, from the youth to the older adults!)

Sharing

Together, share your reactions to and reflections on the clips using the following questions:

1. What were your feelings while watching the clips? Was there anything that particularly moved or challenged you?
2. After watching the clip, what connections can you see between care for the environment and care for humanity? between justice and care for creation?
3. How might you have experienced or observed these connections in your own life?

*If you are not able to access the clips or have additional time, read the story of the community on the PBS website, or see the New York Times article covering it, “A New Landfill in New Orleans Sets Off a Battle” (PDF).

Exercise 2: Laudato Si--Care for our common home (by Pope Francis)

• You have 2 options. Either watch the Laudato Si YouTube or read 10 Top Takeaways from Laudato Si (James Martin, S.J.)
• After watching or reading it together, encourage members to share their thoughts and reactions. Then invite everyone to share on the following questions:
1. How are you currently caring for the environment and for humanity?
2. How might you better care for the environment and for humanity?
3. If caring for creation (and for humanity via creation) is not something that speaks to you, why do you feel this way? What causes or means of service speak to you most? Why do you think these touch you in this way?

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?
• If you have to describe your image of God tonight, what would it be?

IV. Moving Forward (5 min.)

• Wrap-Up: Thank members for their openness and participation.
• Action:
  • As a group or individual, commit to one way of caring for the environment and/or the poor that recognizes how the poor are often those who are most affected by environmental neglect or abuse (e.g., plant a tree or a community garden in an inner-city neighborhood, etc.).
  • Prayer Partner: discuss “Ten Commandments of the Environment”.
• Announcements: Topic for next meeting and upcoming CLC events

V. Closing Prayer (5 min.)

Encourage members to take turns praying. Ask them to consider praying petitions for a certain area of the world or aspect of the environment that particularly needs attention and healing. Invite them to ask for the grace to see how they might be able to incorporate the values of environmental justice into their own lives.

Close the prayer with the first half of Ignatius’ First Principle and Foundation (below). Let members know before the prayer that it is from Ignatius and part of his expression of the purpose of life and our best way to live. Note that a full meeting on the First Principle and Foundation will come next year.