Dreaming with God

Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)

I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)

Grace:  To see and feel what God sees and feels about the world.

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

Note:  Ask for a volunteer to lead opening and closing prayers for the next meeting.

II. Check-In (5 min.)

• • Ask people to share how they are feeling right now as they come into this meeting. 

III.  Focus Exercise (40 min.)

Materials Needed:  CLC supply box (CLC journal booklets, papers, pens, etc.).   

Introduction

Tonight, we are going to use Ignatian Contemplation to see and feel what God sees and feels about the world.  If helpful, briefly explain Ignatian Contemplation.  It means to allow the Spirit of God to guide our imagination and senses to experience what is going on with the event as if we were there physically. 

Preparation

• • I invite you to find a comfortable position in your chair, with both feet on the ground and palms resting open on your lap. This posture indicates a rootedness on the holy ground below us and receptivity to God’s abundant gifts surrounding us.  I invite you to take a couple of deep breaths, slowly, inhale, and exhale.  With each exhale, allow your body to fall more deeply into your chair allowing any tension to be released with each breath.  Keep breathing and recognize the rising and falling of your body.  Notice God’s very life present in the filling of your lungs with life and energizing your body in stillness.  Close your eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your imagination. 

• • Picture yourself looking at the world, as if you’re in space. Look at the colors, the clouds, and the outline of the continents. Look at how the light from the sun illuminates the rim of the sphere, and how the lights on the earth turn on as small beacons as the twilight creeps into the sunlight. (Allow 30 seconds silence.)

• • Begin to “zoom in” on one of the continents. In your imagination, look at the people there as though you are hovering above the ground. What do the people look like? What does their housing look like? What are they doing? What are they wearing? Are there children there? Explore this scene with your imagination, and notice their faces. Can you tell how they’re feeling? (Allow one minute of silence.)

• • Continue around the globe, noticing the people everywhere you look. Envision the terrain.  See the ways that the environment is impacted the people in all places. (Allow time for silence.)

• • Now, find yourself looking down at the city where you live. What do you see there? Try to see people in all walks of life. Children playing, people at a hospital, grieving, giving birth, people getting married, getting divorced, taking exams, getting laid off, getting hired, people incarcerated, people rich, people poor, people homeless, people depressed, people suffering from violence, people inflicting violence, people praying. Go where your imagination takes you, and be open to being moved by the experiences of those you are seeing. (Allow one minute of silence.)

• • Now look at the people right near where you live. Maybe a neighbor, family member, people on a college campus.  Maybe it’s a Friday night. What are they doing? How do people interact? What are they seeking? (Allow for silence.)

• • Now, look in on the room where you are right now, with the people you are sitting alongside. Hold in your heart the different struggles and joys you each have brought with you. (Allow for silence.)

• • Spend a little longer with this image, or any of the images that have struck you. Imagine yourself returning to a compelling image that seems to be reaching out to you. (Allow for silence.)

• • Now, as you continue to look at this scene in the world, imagine that the Holy Trinity is there with you.  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are there with you.  Maybe just over your shoulder where you can’t see them, or right in front of you. They are seeing all the things that you are seeing. What do they think? Feel? Imagine the conversation in these three persons as they decide that one of them will enter into this world and become part of it. Why do they make that decision? What moves them? (Allow for silence.)

• • Now, look back down on the world, at Nazareth in another time. Zoom in on a humble home with a young woman. Watch as she is invited into the Divine plan to conceive God. Watch as the angel appears and notice how Mary responds. Watch as she considers the invitation. Does she pause or respond right away? Does she seem anxious? Hopeful? Bold? At peace? (Allow for silence.)

• • Now, collect everything that you have seen in your imagination and sit with it. If there is something that seems to be speaking to you in a special way, explore it a little more deeply and listen for what God may be revealing to you. (Allow for silence.)

• • Finally, in your heart, try to have a conversation directly with God about what you saw and how you felt. If you have questions, ask them of God. If you are struck by something, talk it over with God. Listen for God’s response. (Allow for silence.)

• • Draw the time of guided contemplation gently to a close and conclude with a very brief prayer of gratitude.

Sharing

Invite members to share

Suggested questions to discuss

• 1. How do you feel throughout the meditation?  Distracted?  Surprised?  Insightful?

  2. What did you see and hear in the world, city, or our group during the meditation?

  3. How was your conversation with God?

  4. Anything else?

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.)

• Wrap Up: Thank members for their openness and participation.  Discuss how the group continues to live out the graces that they have received during Christmas break. 

• Action: The whole group goes to Sunday Mass/Worship to give God thanks for the graces that they received or have lunch together. 

• Announcements:  Topic for next meeting and upcoming CLC events.  Agree on a group meeting time and location for next quarter.

V.  Closing Prayer (5 min.)

Pray for each other or use the CLC Closing Prayer