1. No category

June 2015
Reg No A0029889G(Vic)
The national newsletter of Christian Life Community Inc.
PO Box 5207 MANLY QLD 4179 Australia Web: http://www.clcaustralia.org.au
Year of Prayer and Reflection on the Family
We are in the midst of a year of prayer and
reflections on the family.
In October 2014 there was an Extraordinary General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family. At the
end of this, Pope Francis decided to make public the
document which concluded the synod's work and he asked
that this document be reflected on in local Churches in the
year leading up to the Ordinary General Assembly to take
place from 4 to 25 October 2015 on the topic, The Vocation
and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary
World.
Pope Francis entrusted the synod to the protection of the
Virgin Mary. "May she help us to follow the will of God, by
making pastoral decisions that best and most help the
family," he said. "I ask you to accompany this synodal
journey until the next synod with prayer. May the Lord
enlighten us, may he enable us to go forward toward the
maturity of what, as a synod, we must say to all the
Churches. Your prayer is important in this."
In the following article Maria Shelley speaks of
how she has been inspired by the sharing of a
number of women with young families who
participated in the First Spiritual Exercises and
also recounts her own experiences as a young
mother and her need for spirituality in her life.
At the last NEXCO meeting as we discussed
the writing of an article on “Family” I recalled
how as an isolated Mum, new to Brisbane, with
an energetic two year old, - seven others
already at school, what could possibly have
been the deepest desire of my heart and my
greatest need ... a few uninterrupted, peaceful hours in
perfect relaxation mode!
We had moved from Papua New Guinea to a very active
parish with a kind and sensitive nun as the Pastoral
The World Common Mission of CLC
First, we want to bring the freeing power of Christ to
our social reality.
Secondly, we want to find Christ in all our varied
cultures and to let His grace illuminate all that needs
transformation.
Thirdly, we want to live Christ so as to bring Him to
every aspect of our daily life in the world.
Associate. A couple of times per year she would hold a
Prayer Day in our small, country church of Samford to
which a handful of other stay-at-home mums and retirees
could come. A crèche was organised in the hall (no hoops
to jump through in those days), and a beautiful atmosphere
was created which enabled deep, peaceful listening,
prayer and Spirit-filled sharing of each other's experience,
something that was so rarely realised in our bombarded
daily lives!
I look back now to see how these times were
the beginnings of my Ignatian journey, an
adventure which continually deepens my life
in God, a journey of exciting exploration! And
young Mums today, how are they supported?
Where is the living water for them and their
families? I suggest it's here, within our CLC
reach, right under our noses! Our National
Project of the First Spiritual Exercise (FSE) is
the wine and nourishment ready to be poured
out for those who are thirsty!
We have seen the results recently in our own
part of Brisbane where Clive Hamlin and I organised one of
the FSE retreats “Inner Peace in Divine Love”. We had
eight responses, three of them from young mothers. We
had advertised 10.30 am as a starting time as we thought
this would fit in with those who had to drop off children at
school.
None of the young mums had experienced Ignatian
Spirituality previously, so the depths of their sharing, their
insights and obvious joy found in renewed relationships
amongst their partners, children, family and friends were
‘good news’ for Clive and I. They expressed a whole new
understanding of who Jesus was in their lives and a new
way of prayer! In a very touching sharing one described
how her awareness of God dwelling in her brought to the
fore a huge realisation of the need to find the presence of
God within each of her family members and when her
continued on page 3
CLC
Please send your articles to:
Patrick O'Sullivan, SJ
Postal: CLC Editor,
The Trinity have created our world
according to an evolutionary
process. Loss and diminishment
are an essential part of the
evolutionary process, which, in
human terms, mean pain, suffering
and sin.
In his “Theology of Death”, Rahner suggests that the
act of death is a descent into the unity of creation; in
death, the spirit breaks out of its present bodily
limitations and reaches the place where there occurs
the self-development of the world. Creation is a
continuous event; at the moment of death (the
moment of truth, when we see the whole plan of
creation and our part in it) we go to the point of the act
of creation, and so this is the opportunity for us to
enter much more deeply into the reality of creation
and participate more fully in its destiny.
When Jesus was on earth, He was subject to the
limitations of space and time. In His dying, He left
behind the limitations of space and time and
confronted the act of creation and through his
resurrection entered completely and fully into the
whole of creation. He became part of the evolutionary
process and so infused all creation with a new power,
stronger than sin – the power of His love.
PO Box 5207, Manly QLD 4179
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Issue
September 2015
December 2015
March 2016
June 2016
Deadline
31 August
30 November
28 February
31 May
Need to do a CLC presentation?
Jesus means ‘Saviour’; He has saved us from the
power of sin. I much prefer Salvation to Redemption.
St Thomas says that the Divine Omnipotence must
not be taken as the power to effect any imaginable
thing, but only the power to effect what is within the
nature of things. I take this to mean that the Trinity
could not just wave a magic wand and clean up the
whole mess. As St Leo says: “We would have been
incapable of profiting by the victor’s triumph if the
battle had been fought outside our nature.” And
Raymond Brown says much the same: “The selfgiving of God’s Son changed human relationships to
God, and thus transformed the cosmos.”
The CLC Australia video is on the CLC
web site. For copies on disc for
presentations, or to download a copy via
DropBox, contact CLC head office:
[email protected]
or phone 07 3893 0958
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2
Progressio Supplement #63 –
General Principles of the Christian
Life Community
$8 + $5 p&h
Progressio Supplement #64 –
The Process of Growth in CLC
Guidelines for formation
$12 + $5 p&h
To Share in the Life of Christ
– Experiencing God in
Everyday Life
by Laurence L Gooley SJ
$30 incl p&h
CLC
Dear CLC Friends,
Warm greetings in these cold
months of the year. Here in WA we
are in the midst of flu which has
affected over 50% of our
population. I hope you have been
able to avoid it.
There are a few things at this time
for which we can be very grateful.
One has been the opportunity to use the three reflections
on “Wisdom Language” in our groups. These reflections
have helped consolidate our “finding God in all things” and
the meaning behind Pope Francis' statement that “ I am
mission''. In a very creative way they have helped many to
depth the concept of Wisdom Language of which Fr
Nicholas spoke at the 2013 World Assembly of CLC. We
again thank the group who put these wonderful reflections
together. Here are a few expressions of how this material
was received by CLC members:
“The sacred conversation exchanges – as our group
journeyed together through the weeks – were significant
and evocative: at different times: personal, varied, rich,
thought provoking, challenging, humbling and nourishing.”
“Your intro letter refers to the sacredness of everyday
actions in life and I find my awareness of the extraordinary
in the ordinariness of daily life has been enhanced and
sensitized.”
“The material has challenged me to look differently at
everyday life. To look deeper, to look in different ways, to
listen more intently.”
Another thing for which we can be thankful is the outreach
to parishes and CLC groups that many CLC members who
have trained in giving the First Spiritual Exercises are
undertaking at present. We have been collecting the data
on this and across Australia there is a desire to lead others
into spiritual conversations and spiritual exercises which
seems to me to be an expression of magis (the 'more' to
which we are called). Whilst this continues to grow we
have a sub-committee of NEXCO looking at providing
training for others in CLC who would like to be involved in
giving the First Spiritual Exercises.
After 10 years Felicity Flynn shortly comes to the end of
her term serving as the CLC representative in the
organisation of the Tertian Program. Both we and the
Jesuits are enormously grateful to Felicity for her faithful
commitment to this collaborative ministry. She has
volunteered to mentor her replacement from CLC over the
next year. So we look forward to this work continuing.
Finally, looking forward to 2016, we can also be grateful for
the opportunity to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of CLC in
Australia. The Anniversary Assembly will be held at
Canisius, NSW from July 7-10, 2016 and we plan to have a
celebratory mass at the Assembly and also about this time
in the regions. This will be an opportunity to acknowledge
the people who “got CLC going” in Australia and sincerely
thank them and God for the CLC family we have in
Australia today. Whilst I am mentioning the Assembly, I ask
us all to consider and call forth members to serve on our
EXCOs and NEXCO for the term ahead. I am aware there
will be regional elections in NSW and WA this year and in
2016 a new NEXCO will be elected. Please pray earnestly
for people to share their gifts and see that with trust in God
it is a way to express our apostolic outreach.
Chris Gardner
CLC National President
continued from page 1
Year of Prayer and Reflection on the Family
young child was speaking to her in the kitchen that week,
she took the time to turn from her task and really look
deeply into his eyes and listen attentively to what he was
telling her. A warm love welled up inside her and she was
very grateful. We were all quite tearful on hearing this and
the story brought out other such experiences from the rest
of the group.
The retreat prompted them to become involved in the
Mother's day school liturgy where they spoke out about
their experiences. They also requested that they continue
on as a group to expand their experiences and launch into
the next retreat!
Whereas twenty six years ago, my journey began as the
result of the nun in my small country church, I now feel
called to offer something back in gratitude. Within my small
parish I have started a First Friday "Coffee and Chat”
morning in the old church. Women of a mixture of ages
come to spend a couple of hours in social discussion of
family life and parish matters, an extension of the brief
after Mass catch-up. It is very nourishing for all. We
purchased a coffee machine- not an expensive one, from
the savings of our "Wake Sisters" funds, but that's another
story!
Family and CLC
Being a Social Worker and working with families
in my professional life, I could see how important
communication between couples and between
adults and children is to the feeling of
togetherness or belonging in a family. In fact I
often arranged family meetings with the children
present so we could come to some agreements
regarding chores, how to respect each other and
talk without blame or abuse.
In our own family we say grace before a meal and
name one thing we are grateful for in our day and
how we felt about it. Our grandchildren love to
have a say and often this leads into conversation
about what excites them in school, on the footy
field or wherever they have been.
Like any family we are ‘a crucible of dialectics’
and when the bad spirit has been present we
sometimes use this time to say sorry for the times
we have been irritable, etc.
This is a mini Examen for us as a family.
Chris Gardner
3
CLC
#
snippets
of news
NSW
We aren't accustomed to seeing CLC at a rally about a
political issue. Maybe it's not so strange though. CLC
Europe have an apostolic work called the Forced Migration
Network which recently issued a strong public statement
against proposals for an Australia-style approach to
refugees. When Pope Francis spoke to a group of CLC
members in Rome in April he said "If Christians dissociate
themselves from direct involvement in politics, it would be
a betrayal of the mission of the lay faithful, who are called
upon to be salt and light in the world". Maybe we should
get out there more often?
These are often not smartly dressed or appearing to have
a lot going for them, but the single fact that they are sober,
speaks highly of their character. They are able to do this
while associating with others who are not doing it.
Often they ask us to say a prayer with them or for them
and their families and at times ask for medals and or
rosary beads, which we have on hand.
Jesuit Volunteers Australia
in WA
In 2006 I discerned in response to an
invite from the Jesuits to establish
Ignatian Volunteers Australia in WA
and thus I became the founding Perth
Coordinator. I saw this as part of my
call to mission, and it has truly been a
privileged journey over the 8 years
Kevin Wringe
since. Initially linked to the Province
Office, it transferred later to Jesuit Social Services (JSS)
and was renamed Jesuit Volunteers Australia (JVA).
JVA encompasses volunteers who work with any
organisation dedicated to helping marginalised persons,
and who choose to gather to reflect on that experience.
Volunteers develop a deeper commitment to social justice
through reflection and conversations about Gospel values
and their volunteering experience.
JVA draws on the Ignatian heritage that brings heads and
hearts together for action. I feel that through JVA we are
‘contemplatives in action’. The reflective volunteering is a
way of nurturing the practice of contemplation and action,
enriching volunteering, and nurturing spiritual growth
through reflection.
CLC NSW members and family members join 5,000 others at the
Welcome Refugees rally in Sydney's Belmore Park
WA
A special apostolate endeavour
Keith McEncroe and Marie Slyth of the West Australian
northern suburbs Mary MacKillop CLC group, believe they
are having some success in trying to build a bridge
between the Aborigines and the wider society.
We go to a city park known as Weld Square, once a week
at the same time as a charity food van comes to the park.
We have noticed that often the Aborigines welcome us
before we greet them even when few, if any, of them are
familiar to us from previous occasions. We think word
about us must get around their networks.
It is evident to us that they are really appreciative of the
efforts we make in bringing them warm clothing, blankets
and bottles of water each time we visit, as well as
appreciating our presence amongst them, even if they are
under the influence of substance abuse. We in turn, feel
privileged to spend time with them.
Another thing we have noticed is that a number of them
are not obviously under the influence of any substance.
4
The initial brochure cover included the words “In the name
of Jesus, in the spirit of Ignatius, companions for a faith
that does justice.” This fits well as we contribute to Jesuit
Social Services' motto of “Building a Just Society”.
As coordinator I have facilitated many group reflections at
various agencies, including a homeless persons' drop-in
centre, an Indigenous advocacy centre, an aged care
agency, the local seafarers centre, and with volunteers
working in prisons, with the St Vincent de Paul Society and
elsewhere. For myself personally, I feel deeply privileged
and much enriched through walking with JVA volunteers in
our monthly group reflections. Each volunteer has valued
the reflections, the sharing of individual experiences, and
the affirming, sustaining and encouragement of one
another in our mission.
Our group reflections have been
supported by an annual JVA Reflection
Journal compiled by Jo Dunin,
formerly National Coordinator of JVA
at JSS, which includes insights from
various spiritual writers, thus assisting
us in rethinking and following more
closely Gospel values.
Jesuit Volunteers Australia followed
naturally for myself from my Christian Life Community
commitment. Both JVA and CLC have facilitated and
enhanced significantly my call to mission. I feel deeply
graced through the JVA experience.
CLC
QLD
Strength and Beauty
in Uganda
Hoare
11-1-30 – Ann
4-9-14
Earlier this year a friend, Kathryn Robbie, and I travelled to
Uganda, by invitation from Fred Mawanda, moderator of
the Holy Trinity Community, to give retreats to the Ugandan
NET Ministries and the Holy Trinity Community in Masaka.
Fred is passionate about empowering young people and
worked tirelessly to find a Catholic youth ministry – NET
Ministries – that would provide faith formation for his young
people.
I have always wanted to visit Africa but it was not as I had
imagined. I never considered a trip to Uganda, one of the
world's poorest countries, with its memories of the fearfilled days of Idi Amin, the consequent Lord's Resistance
Army and the civil wars that took thousands of lives.
After much prayer and discernment I accepted the
invitation to what would be an amazing, enriching,
challenging and confronting journey. After 32 hours
travelling, we arrived at Entebbe Airport and were met by
Gloriah and John with huge smiles, hugs, flowers and
cards of welcome. We stayed with the Dominican Sisters of
St Catherine of Siena at Namagongo, a township 16 km
northeast of the
capital, Kampala.
Our brief was to
direct two fiveday retreats for
the 2015
Ugandan NET
team and staff,
and the pastoral
workers from the
Holy Trinity
Community
within the
diocese of
Masaka – 34
Uganda NET - National and Diocesan Team
participants. We
were asked to
provide spiritual formation, opportunities for discernment,
and individual spiritual direction.
The theme of the retreats was Exploring Our Inner Space
and we did this with: scripture – Jesus' beautiful encounter
with the woman at the well (John 4:5-29); Lectio Divina; the
spiritual wisdom of Margaret Silf and Joyce Rupp; prayer
and reflection; music and meditation; creative expression
poetry, art, story and dance.
To close each day we began
the Examen with a favourite
of the much loved CLCer,
John Borger:
Be Still and know that I am
God
Be Still and know I am
Be Still and Know
Be Still
Be
They
embraced this
new way of
prayer to such
an extent that
after the first
two days, they
were ready to
lead it
themselves.
Kathryn at school in the refugee camp
Our days
began with
these beautiful young people leading us in song and
prayer. They told us their stories of sadness, loss and joy,
but always underpinned with enduring hope and faith in
God. They participated in our celebrations of the Eucharist
with reverence. We challenged them and they responded.
Silence is not a feature of their culture, but they embraced
two days of silence with grace and dignity. We used
Margaret Rizza's
lovely song Silent,
Surrendered, and
artist Janet
McKenzie's beautiful
image Stillness.
When their time of
silence ended, they
erupted with joy and
laughter as they
St Bruno's widows
staged a farewell
concert for us.
On our final day we
used 'Instruments of
God', from Joyce
Rupp's May I have
This Dance and the
song Dancing with
God. As they shared
their hopes and
dreams for their
Shanty school teacher and pupils
futures and that of
their beloved country,
danced and sang and told us what music God is playing in
their lives, they truly were instruments of God.
After the retreats we visited schools in Masaka, including a
very poor, but lovingly taught, 'shanty' school of 35 pupils
run by an AIDS widow, the St Bruno's widows' group, and
most confronting of all, a refugee camp of over 5000
people living on bare ground, with no running water,
little food and the scantiest of shelter from the
elements.
Our four weeks in Uganda was a very special and
graced time. I knew nothing about this country and its
people when I arrived there. When I left I knew that it is
a nation of people passionate about their country and
about education, poor in material goods but rich in faith
and love.
I know that I was blessed to have been a small part of
the lives of these people and I shall never forget them.
Fred giving clothes to refugees
5
CLC
VIC
Wisdom – World CLC Day
He looked like an ordinary man wearing a jumper. He rides
a bicycle instead of driving a car. Beneath the picture of
humility lies a wealth of wisdom that we, Victorian CLCers,
are blessed to have access to, in our Ecclesiastical
Assistant for the past seven years, Fr Andy Hamilton.
On World CLC day 2015, Fr Andy was invited to give a talk
on ‘wisdom’, the current topic from Fr Nicholas, the CLC
World Ecclesiastical Assistant. Fr Andy identified three
stages of wisdom – attentiveness, being thankful and being
compassionate.
Attentiveness. 'Wisdom begins with being attentive to
what is inside of us and its possibilities as well as to what
is outside of us, the world around us, and to Scripture. The
opposite of this is one who goes through life thoughtlessly;
what needs to be done gets done without noticing what is
happening, one who does not stop to look at trees.'
Thankfulness. This is 'being present to the world around
us and saying “thank you”. We show gratitude rather than
dissatisfaction.' Expressing gratitude is part of our practice
PERMANENT COMMITMENT
For reflection from the New Testament
John 20:19
Acts 2:1,8.
Some reflections on Permanent Commitment
(by Robin Koning to NEXCO in 2013)
From The CLC Charism Revised, printed in Progressio
Supplement No 56 in 2001 and freely available from CLC
World website
192. Permanent Commitment is the culmination of
our vocational discernment in which we express our
desire to discover God's will and fulfil it in our
apostolic life, in answer to our specific call and our
readiness to be sent on mission.
What might it mean, concretely, for a permanently
committed CLC person to be ready for mission?
#192 speaks of "our apostolic life" and being "sent on
mission". This can make it sound as if the focus of the
permanently committed member is on special activities one
might do, by oneself or in some CLC common mission. But
the first meaning, for a lay apostolic vocation, always
needs to be the apostolic meaning of one's whole life. This
refers to the foundational level of the lay life – all that one
does in family, relationships, work, profession etc. It's about
a desire to see all of their life in terms of their commitment
to CLC. Hopefully this is something that is experienced
concretely – that people may find in their CLC groups a
forum for discerning questions like: do I change jobs? Do I
go for this job or that job? Or, I'm stuck with this job, with
no other options – how do I approach it in a more apostolic
way? How do I handle this crisis in my family in keeping
with Kingdom values? How do I balance family and local
Church commitments? Is it the right time for me to serve on
EXCO, given what's happening in my family and work?
6
of the Examen. I recall these words of Tony de Mello, one
of my favourites, 'The day you can be grateful for every
single thing in your life, your heart will feel with
contentment and with never-ending joy. The secret of being
always joyful is to be always grateful.' That is the elusive
secret to happiness.
Compassion. 'We go out to people in compassion rather
than seeing them as threats and judges. We go out
especially to those who are least advantaged and most
hurt. Pope Francis tells us to be compassionate. Jesus is
the one who is attentive, thankful to God and
compassionate.'
Veronica who went to Taiwan for the Asia-Pacific Gathering
talked about how children in some Asian countries are
introduced to CLC from a young age by their CLC parents,
join CLC when they are older and become leaders of CLC.
The Church is struggling with how to engage young people
in our secular society in spirituality and faith formation. One
young man told us about Taize groups for 18-35 year olds;
their meetings include ‘listening to Taize music and 7
minutes of silence’. We might think that wisdom comes
with age, but this man showed that it is not how old we are
but how much time we spend practising these three stages
that make us grow in wisdom.
Reflection on Permanent Commitment one
year on
Looking back on my Commitment, I see it as my personal
desire to share with others what
I have discerned and lived in
my lifetime as well as in CLC
with respect to my spiritual
journey and my faith. It reflects
my desire to serve God in all
things and at all levels. It is also
a response to the interior
movement of my spirit to know
God at a deeper and deeper
level as well as to acknowledge
the gifts I have been given. To
Rob Randabel-Williamson
others, my Commitment can also
serve as an example of the strength of my faith and the
living of the charism of the Church in my daily life.
For me, CLC, or the Ignatian way of living my life, is the
natural progression of my ongoing faith journey towards
God. In it I seek a sense of my unique value to serving
Him, knowing the Trinity and sharing, with like-minded
people, where God is in the ordinary things of my daily
lived experiences. CLC has taught me how to listen to
God's voice in my heart and to discern the consolations
and desolations of the Spirit within it.
In conclusion, my decision to make permanent
commitment is, in its self, a public statement of what I feel
at a deep inner level. It has taken a lifetime of prayer, faith
and reflection to recognise the path God wants me to take
– one which can be seen more clearly in retrospect and
with the benefit of age. The process of discerning my path
could not have matured to this point in time without the
invaluable tools of Ignatius, including the FSE's, and the
framework of CLC.
CLC
St Ignatius of Loyola and
the Labyrinth
Michael Stevens
Might St Ignatius have walked a labyrinth? Having an
interest in labyrinths for the past 15 years, I was prompted
to ponder this question by the recent clustering of some
items in the media referring to labyrinths, and to Ignatian
spirituality and the labyrinth. These include the photograph
of the labyrinth at Campion House, Kew, in Victoria, on the
front cover of the Winter 2015 issue of Companions, and
the Compass program about labyrinths in Centennial Park
and at The Children's Hospital at Westmead aired on ABC
TV on 26 April, 2015.
I have not been able to verify that St Ignatius walked a
labyrinth, but that he did so is entirely plausible: he studied
at the University of Paris in the early 1530s prior to
establishing the Jesuits in 1534. While at the University of
Paris he gathered around him a
group of six key companions, all of
whom he had met as fellow
students there. Given their likely
devotion to Mary, they must have
been aware of the beautiful
cathedral in the village of Chartres,
about 100 km south west of Paris,
dedicated to Our Lady of the
Assumption. The cathedral had
been rebuilt over a record-breaking
30 years from 1200, after a fire
destroyed the earlier building in
1196. The now-famous Christian
medieval labyrinth was installed in
the floor of the nave of the cathedral
in 1200 by the first of nine master
masons who directed the
reconstruction of the cathedral.
By the 1500s Chartres had become
St Ignatius the Pilgrim
a well-known destination for
(Tom Bass), St Ignatius'
pilgrims, and the labyrinth inside the College, Riverview, NSW
cathedral was walked as a
devotional practice by pilgrims. We do know about St
Ignatius' favourable disposition to pilgrimage – he
frequently referred to himself as a pilgrim, as evidenced by
the words The Pilgrim at the bottom of Tom Bass'
wonderful sculpture of the saint at St Ignatius College
Riverview, NSW.
There is a resurgence of interest in labyrinths since the late
1990s because of the recognition of their value as a
spiritual tool. Labyrinths are special types of mazes that
have only one path, with no branching points or deadends. Decisions about which way to go are not required –
you simply follow the path, secure in the knowledge that
you will not get lost, as might happen in other types of
mazes. The path leads the walker from an entrance on the
edge of the pattern, through a winding series of turns, to a
space at the centre of the pattern. One spends time in
reflection at the centre, then retraces the same path back
out to the entrance. Walking a labyrinth fosters
mindfulness, and can provide relaxation, refreshment, and
Walking the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral
relief of stress. The benefits of walking a labyrinth are now
becoming widely recognised internationally, not only as a
support in spirituality settings, but also in prisons,
hospitals, and public spaces. The labyrinth is essentially a
tabula rasa which can be used in a variety of ways – as a
path of silence, a path of image, a path of memory, a path
of prayer, or a path of questioning.
St Ignatius wanted his newly established order to become
“contemplatives in action” – a concept very much in
harmony for those of us who are guided by Ignatian
spirituality, to continually “find God in all things.” Certainly
one can find oneself in a labyrinth, and also draw closer to
God.
About the author: Michael Stevens is a paediatric
oncologist at The Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Michael and his wife, Margaret, are members of a Lane
Cove NSW CLC group and are also trained facilitators with
Veriditas, the USA-based organisation that promotes
labyrinths, established by the Rev Lauren Artress in 1995.
An Invitation
Readers of Annotations in Sydney are invited to
participate in a labyrinth walk on a full-size canvas
Christian medieval (“Chartres”) labyrinth in the Ron
Dyer Centre at St Mary's Church, 42 Ridge Street,
North Sydney, on the afternoon of Sunday, 9 August
2015, from 1:30pm to 3:30pm with refreshments
served afterwards. Prior to walking as a group on the
labyrinth, a brief lecture about the concept will be
given by Michael Stevens. Michael will “hold the
space” while participants make their walk as a group.
When all have completed their walk (approx. 60
minutes for a group of 15-20 participants), we will sit
down again near the labyrinth for some shared
discussion and reflection about our experiences of
walking the labyrinth. Please email Michael at
[email protected] to register your
interest in attending this event. There will be no
charge for participants.
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Pope Francis:
To the Community of Christian Life: Reach out
to the neediest frontiers of humanity
Vatican City, 30 April 2015
Dear brothers and sisters,
I greet all of you who represent the Christian Life
Community of Italy, and representatives of the various
groups of Ignatian spirituality, close to your formative
tradition and committed to evangelization and human
promotion. A special greeting to the students and alumni of
the "Massimo" in Rome, as well as to representatives of
other schools run by the Jesuits in Italy.
I know well your association for having been National
Assistant in Argentina, in the late seventies. Your roots in
the Marian Congregations, which date back to the first
generation of the companions of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It
is a long process in which the Association has
distinguished itself worldwide for its intense spiritual life
and apostolic zeal of its members, and anticipating, in
some ways, to the dictates of the Second Vatican Council
about the role and service of the laity in the Church. In line
with this perspective, you have chosen the theme of your
conference, which is titled "Beyond the walls".
Today I would like to offer some guidelines for your spiritual
and community.
The first: commitment to promote a culture of justice and
peace. Faced with the culture of lawlessness, corruption
and confrontation, you are called to dedicate to the
common good, even through that service to the people
who is identified in the policy. This, as stated Blessed Paul
VI, "is the highest form of charity and demanding." If
Christians dissociate themselves from direct involvement in
politics, it would be a betrayal of the mission of the lay
faithful, who are called to be salt and light in the world
through this mode of presence.
As a second priority apostolic pointing you to the family
ministry, in the wake of the depth of the last Synod of
Bishops. I encourage you to help the diocesan
communities in attention for the family, the vital cell of
society, and in the accompaniment of engaged couples for
marriage. At the same time, you can work the reception of
so-called "distant": among them there are many separate,
suffering from the failure of their project of married life, as
well as other dysfunctional families, that can make even
the tiresome journey of faith and life in the Church.
The third line that I suggest is a missionary. I was pleased
to learn that you have embarked on a common journey
with the Students Missionary League, who has projected
on the roads of the world, in the encounter with the poor
and with the communities most in need of pastoral
workers. I encourage you to maintain this ability to go out
and go to the frontiers of humanity neediest. Today you
have invited delegations of members of your community
present in the countries of your twinning, especially in
Syria and Lebanon: people battered by terrible wars; to
them I renew my affection and my sympathy. These
populations are experiencing the time of the cross,
therefore we feel their love, closeness and support of the
whole Church. Your bond of solidarity with them,
confirming your mission of creating bridges of peace
everywhere.
Your style of fraternity, that there is engaging in projects for
the reception of migrants in Sicily, make you generous in
the education of young people, both within your
organization, both in schools. Ignatius realized that it was
necessary to renew society from the young people and
stimulated the opening of colleges. And they were born in
the first Marian Congregations. In the wake of this bright
and fruitful apostolic style, you too can be active in the
various educational institutions, Catholic and state in Italy,
as already happens in many parts of the world. At the
base of your pastoral action there is always the joy of
evangelical witness, combined with the delicacy of the
approach and respect for others.
The Virgin Mary, who with her "yes" inspired your founders,
grant you to respond wholeheartedly to the call to be "salt
and light" in the environments in which you live and work.
You will be accompanied by my Blessing which I cordially
impart to all of you and to your family. Please do not forget
to pray for me.
Helping migrants find work
Janice Hui
I joined CLC in March 2013 after gratefully accepting the
invitation to become a member of the group guided by
Felicity Flynn, whom I met at a retreat in daily life using the
First Spiritual Exercises.
The year prior to my joining CLC, I had taken on the role of
a volunteer mentor for skilled migrants. I was deeply
moved by the experience of working with these migrants
who struggled to find jobs in Australia, even though they
were fully qualified in their professions and had successful
careers in their countries of origin.
An example was that one of my mentees was an
experienced IT professional, who was not able to find a job
for almost two years after arriving in Australia. He told me
in our first mentoring session that he would have just one
more go at applying for an IT job. He thought he would
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have to settle into a low skilled job as a kitchen-hand if he
was still unsuccessful because he needed a paid job to
sustain his young family. Fortunately, he was successful in
that next job interview and got a good IT job.
I could see that spending just two hours each fortnight
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helping these migrants, could make a big difference to their
lives. Unfortunately, however, the government funding for
this mentoring program was soon terminated. My heart
was yearning to continue my work with the skilled migrant
community though all avenues seemed to have vanished.
Through the daily Examen, fortnightly meetings and
sharing with my CLC group, I prayed to God to show me a
pathway to help these migrants if this was what God
wanted me to do. I kept this in my prayer and stayed
attuned to opportunities that might emerge.
A few months later, I got connected with my Local Council
and presented to them a case for supporting the skilled
migrants in our community. Through God's grace, the
Council approved this request in no time. I then worked
with another lady, whom I met at St. Mary's Church at
North Sydney, to create a five-session workshop plus oneto-one mentoring for the skilled migrants. The workshop is
focused on rebuilding the confidence of these skilled
migrants who have experienced hardship in job finding
since arrival in Australia, and on teaching them
employability skills suitable for the Australian workplace.
Since then, we have run five successful workshops. All the
participants have reported significant increases in
confidence to resume active job-searches. Their enhanced
knowledge includes the ability to write a compelling
resume and the preparation for making a good impression
at a job interview. A good number of these migrants have
successfully found their first job in Australia, matching to
their fields of expertise. For some of them, it is their first
professional job after more than five years in Australia.
Nevertheless, various challenges, big and small, have
arisen in my journey to support the skilled migrant
community. Each time I find strength in sharing these
challenges with my CLC group. I am encouraged to put my
trust in God, knowing that God will take care of everything
if this is God's will.
Recently my workshop partner accepted an overseas
assignment. While I was anxious, somehow I believed that
God would provide a solution if this workshop was to
continue. Then, at a farewell morning tea with my partner
and some other friends, another lady, with excellent
qualifications and a warm heart, volunteered to be my new
partner for this workshop. At the same time, the Council
also introduced another well-qualified and very generous
lady to help me. So now, three instead of two of us run this
workshop. God does give us more than we ask for!
APOSTOLIC DISCERNMENT
Fr Iain Radvan SJ
At present I am one of the spiritual directors who are giving
a first taster of Ignatian prayer through Sentir (the Institute
of the Formation of Spiritual Directors in the Ignatian
tradition) at the Campion Centre of Spirituality. I am
preparing a presentation on Discernment of Spirits which is
a good refresher for me.
The art of discernment of spirits was not unknown before
Ignatius; his innovation was to see its connection with
God's desires for our (apostolic) action. The Principle and
Foundation holds out the ideal of men and women who
choose things, relationships and actions only as they will
help them towards union with God. This union is not merely
one of feeling God's love, but of co-operating with God in
God's constant creative labour in the world. Ignatian
spirituality is known as 'apostolic'; it is service oriented.
When considering taking on some 'good work', for
example, Ignatius would have me ask myself, and attend
to the movements of the Spirits, about whether God wants
me to be the one to co-operate with God in this action,
whether this action is good for me, and whether this is the
right time for me to do this. If I get an affirmative response
to these questions then I can be more certain that when I
act, it will be the action that God wants to happen.
Earlier in the year I was discerning whether to take on
some pastoral ministry with the (materially and socially)
poor. My past experience with such people has been very
positive, more of a pleasure than a burden. So I
considered this possibility and prayed about it. And I heard
God saying, “Iain, you are already giving enough to those
whom I have asked you to you care for. Though I
acknowledge the good you can give and receive in
reaching out to more, it would actually take energy and
time away from what you are doing, which wouldn't be
good.”
It seemed to me a little odd that God would advise me not
to take on such pastoral work, but I was aware that the bad
spirit can put on the guise of the good, and was also
mindful of one of Ignatius' principles, 'non multa, sed
multum' and also Ignatius' maxim, 'multum, sed non multa'
(at depth rather than spread out over many). So I refrained
from following what had at first seemed like a good action.
Discernment also continues after a decision has been
made, to confirm it. While I still have a desire to work more
immediately with the poor in Melbourne, my present
ministries give me enough reward and do not leave me
exhausted.
In relation to CLC it was my fellow Jesuits with the
Provincial who discerned that I should be EA for Australia.
With trust I accepted their decision. Consequently my
sense of the 'movement of spirits' has been consoling. This
doesn't mean that every meeting and every email is a joy;
it means that whatever the demands or challenges of the
role, deep down, with Jesus, I feel peaceful. I have a sense
that God wants me to serve CLC in this role even if I'm not
sure how.
Successful discernment is not simply learnt from a book
(even written by a saint!): it is founded on a strong
relationship of faith with God, on the constant practice of
prayer and on a familiarity with the way God communicates
with each individual all the time. Successful discernment
places one alongside God in God's labour of bringing
about the Kingdom on earth.
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A HELL OF A TIME
Tony French
I am in Hell and enjoying it. In fact the further I descend
into Hell the greater my enjoyment. You see I am reading
Dante's The Divine Comedy, not because it's that kind of
laugh out loud comedy, it's not, rather its a grand epic
poem beginning in the personal sadness of sin and ending
in the happiness of heaven. Written 700 years ago, it's a
great work of literature, and quite deserving of being called
'divine'.
It's about how living a virtuous life leads to God, and what
the unvirtuous might expect if not in this world then
certainly in the next.
Our own Clive James has recently published a translation.
It has been his life's work and the result has been worth
waiting for. Unlike previous more literal, but wooden,
English translations, Clive has captured the action and
pace it is said you get in the original Italian. Instead of
Dante's three lines of rhyme,
Clive captures the poetic
flavour, movement and colour
of the work using four line
stanza's which rhyme along
individual lines revealing the
full beauty of Dante's work.
Thanks to Clive I have been
spared the highly unlikely
achievement of learning
Italian.
From the opening line I was
hooked. “At the mid-point of
the path through life, I found
myself lost in a wood so dark.”
This is Dante talking and he's
talking for all of us, he has lost his way in life finding
himself in a fearful place, a 'place so dark the way ahead
was blotted out.” Think of it as a mid-life or, for that matter
any other time of life crisis or crisis of faith.
Seeing a hillside path ahead of him a way to escape the
dark and to where he can glimpse light at the top, he turns
upwards only to be menaced by three wild animals, the
leopard of lust, the lion of pride and the wolf of greed.
Regard these three fearsome obstacles as the front row
forwards for the team called Deadly Sins. They easily force
Dante back into the dark valley.
Now in greater despair, Dante meets the ghost of Virgil, the
great pre-christian Roman poet. Virgil represents human
reason and agrees to be Dante's guide, helping him find
another way up the hill but in doing so they they must first
proceed through Hell to Purgatory before reaching Heaven
and ultimately 'joy with the elect'. It is Dante's beloved
deceased wife, Beatrice, whose weeping in Heaven at
Dante's spiritual miseries on earth have summoned
heavenly help in the form of Virgil, the guide.
You will have by now observed the many allegories, taking
the 'right path' in life, the dark valley of 'sin' and failure to
see 'the light' and so on. There is much to mine. Having
seen the divine light however, salvation is not a straight
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path up the hill, that quick route is blocked by worldly
(animal) passions, but alternative paths using human
reason alone are finite and inferior to the infinite guiding
wisdom and reason of God. Ultimately faith must be
beyond human reason. It is necessary for the 'spiritual
awakening' that Dante, the Everyman, is experiencing.
In heading for Hell it is very telling I have to want to go
there. It is my free will, my choice to use my intellect not to
choose God and the good. As a pungent reminder of
choosing badly the sign over the gates of Hell reads, 'your
future now is to regret the past, forget your hopes; they
were what brought you here'.
Dante is appalled and horrified at his first sighting of fallen
sinners. They are in great pain. He asks Virgil where they
come from and is told they are the souls of the
uncommitted, fence sitters, those who lived for themselves
neither believing in God nor Satan, so now neither Heaven
nor Hell wants them. They are forever forced to sprint
chasing a blank flag that knew 'neither victory nor defeat',
motivatingly stung along by wasps and with worms eating
their feet. Not good to be uncommitted or agnostic, I think.
Hell consists of descending
circles, the more grave your
sin the deeper your
destination, a conduit to the
centre of the earth. Each
circle represents a sin with
someone famous
representing it. So, in the
second circle where Hell and
punishment really begins
Dante notices a sad tempest
tossed couple, Francesca
and Paolo, lovers who
succumbed to carnal lust
seduced or induced by the
then Mills & Boon equivalent
romance book of Lancelot and Guinevere. Sneaking a
stolen kiss (the subject of much later art work), the book
then falling at our feet, “we read no more that day”.
Unfortunate for them as they were caught by Francesca's
jealous husband and murdered. “Love gave two lives one
death for destiny”, laments Francesca. With no time to
repent her sin of adultery she is damned to continue her
love of Paolo, her once earthly heavenly love now hellish.
Punishment you see fits the sin; you are convicted to relive
forever your earthly sin in Hell, lushly illustrated in the next
hellish level where Hoarders and Wasters (misers and
spendthrifts) constantly fight one another, just as they
couldn't win while alive. Same too for the angry who
endlessly violently assault themselves and one another
over the shades of the sullen, who bubble away stuck
below the mud of the Styx, unhappy in life now unhappy
forever.
And if you think being in the clergy might give you the
inside running to heaven think again and observe, says
Dante, Hell has it share of unvirtuous popes, cardinals and
others whose 'heads stick above their hair'. The gluttonous
ones gorge on filth.
The sins of self indulgence give way to sins of violence and
more harsh punishment. But you get the idea, or at least I
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did. My hell is the hell within me, my guilty conscience. I
don't need any last judgement for I am already judging
myself by choosing my own sinful path in life.
You can read Dante on many levels, from a riotously
colourful travelogue to a journey seeking spiritual unity with
God. Throughout Dante keeps reminding me that Christ
has bought my redemption and He is the way to the Light.
You might want to consider using one of Dante's 'Cantos'
(short chapters) for your next CLC meeting, Lenten
meditations and maybe as a valuable aid when doing the
First Week of the Spiritual Exercises.
Dante had a guide and you need one too to appreciate his
work. Virgil is no longer available, but his 'shade' the
Internet will provide you with many guides and copious
commentary.
I am still spiralling into Hell, but will let you know when and
if I get to Heaven.
PAM
Our group (MacKillop-Millicent) has suffered severe blows
in recent weeks which have lead to our not being able to
meet so often. This deprives us of the valuable mutual
support which is the first level of gift in CLC. Our
exploration of relationship with the Lord, which is the
primary work of Ignation spirituality, has also been slowed.
The first of these blows was the absence of Melton, our
guide, during his bypass operation and convalescence.
The most recent was the death of Pam O'Connor, who has
been part of the group since the beginning. We see this as
a lesson – much to be grateful for and much to take to
heart as witness to our purpose as CLC and Church.
One of the stipulations Pam made for her funeral was “No
eulogy! I need prayer not praise,” so this is written with that
in mind, but there is no denying Pam's influence and
contribution over a wide spectrum of involvement. Just
before her death she was awarded the AM. Our interest is
twofold: to learn from her goodness and to explore her
spirituality which we were able to observe at close hand.
Pam was the mother of ten children and this was always
the first of her identities. Her father was a powerful figure in
the world of journalism, editor of important newspapers in
Sydney and Melbourne among other lofty achievements,
not that Pam spoke much about that, but she did identify
herself as a journalist from which she became an excellent
communicator and a respected author.
Pam had a larger than life persona, but in our group she
was just another pilgrim, exploring, confessing, sharing,
praying, rejoicing and hoping.
For about half her time in the group Pam was her full self,
then after a slight stroke her physical health began to
deteriorate and confusion sometimes invaded her mental
processes, but in her spirit she was as sharp as ever. Her
hearing became less effective, which became a barrier to
her active participation in our meetings. The remarkable
thing was the pertinent contributions she was able to make
to the spirit of the meetings.
It wouldn't have been unreasonable to expect that her
disabilities would have lead to isolation, but we observed
the opposite.
It seems to us that what should have been
disadvantageous did in truth create a quiet time of
preparation for her as she withdrew from her former busy
Pam receiving her AM
round and was driven more firmly into the arms of the Lord.
This period became a time of letting go of the temporal and
grasping the eternal, but it was plain to see that our
meetings, the Ignatian spirit, Melton's papers and prayers,
the trust among us, the pleasure of having her with us and
the continuation of a process long recognised by her as a
headlong preparation for life to come, gave full meaning to
these days of withdrawal from the world.
For us it is a treasure to have been able to observe her
spirit rise as her body declined.
The last contribution Pam made to our last meeting was
“Humility! Humility is the main thing.” What can we profit
from this last offering of Pam's, coming as it does from a
moment now endowed with the power and drama of a last
connection this side of death?
I think humility may have always been a goal for Pam, but
one that seems to recede the more quickly the more
earnestly we seek it. Pam understood very well that true
humility is not an exercise in concentrated self effacement,
but comes naturally to those who are able to see
themselves in the presence of God. Pam has given our
group a valuable area of exploration in her final offering. I
think that, having been stripped of so many of her natural
gifts by poor health, she was freed to explore more closely
the life of the spirit, which opened the door to this
understanding.
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Fill the Jars
“Projects” is a newsletter that links the World EXCO with
the World Christian Life Community. The theme of Projects
No. 161 is Family and its inspiration is the marriage feast
at Cana. “The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and
his disciples had also been invited.” John 2:1-2. We are
urged to join in the pilgrimage with the Universal Church,
collaborating with other ecclesial communities, by bringing
the gift of our Ignatian tools into discernment of God's gifts
to the family in our times. It contains some beautiful
reflections on the role of Mary and invites us to, like her,
play our role in 'filling the jars' in a spirit of generosity and
openness to the action of God.
The newsletter which can be found on the CLC website
(www.clcaustralia.org.au) encourages us to:
Celebrate God's gifts in families – traditional and nontraditional.
Challenge ourselves to develop the skills to live with and
speak about disillusionment within our families and
communities; to build safety nets for those who are
different and those whose experiences may be perceived
as 'failure'; not to ignore non-traditional family experience
in our discourse; and to remove barriers which lock out
families in our neighbourhoods and country from pathways
to fuller life, both in society generally and in our faith
communities.
Have Courage to ask ourselves 'What have we done for
Christ in the family?'; 'What are we doing for Christ in the
family?' and “What will we do for Christ in the family?'
Some suggestions
· Spend a CLC meeting on Family using Projects No 161
as a resource
· Decide on one thing I/we can do in relation to family
(over and above your current commitment)? E.g.
¨ Make a point of introducing yourself to a family in your
parish that you haven't met before
¨ Explore the current programs that exist in your parish
for families – maybe you could help with the family
mass/ assist with the children's liturgy or offer a series
of half hour reflection/prayer sessions when parents
drop off their child at school.
¨ Introduce the Examen to your grandchildren/ children
at the family evening meal – “What was the worst/best
thing that happened to me today?”
¨ Suggest to your son/daughter that they download the
app Sacred Space/Pray as you Go
¨ Consider whether the First Spiritual Exercises could
be offered in your parish and discuss this with
someone on EXCO.
¨ We'd love to hear of the ideas you come up with.
([email protected])
To Share in the Life of Christ
Experiencing God in Everyday Life
by Laurence L Gooley SJ
This is a handbook for CLC. Although it is
written for members of CLC, it can also be
used fruitfully by anyone desiring an
experience of God.
Part One is an Introduction to Christian Life
Community and contains material for six
meetings. In the sixth meeting, participants
are invited to respond to the question “Am I
called to CLC?” The other three sections
are: Experiencing Prayer; Following Jesus;
and The Unconditional Love of God.
The book contains material for 29 group
meetings. However, experience has shown
that because the content is so rich, it can provide material for private or
group reflection on Ignatian spirituality over a much longer period of time.
To purchase a copy send $30 (incl postage & handling) to the National
Office: by email: [email protected]
by fax to (07) 3393 4483
$30
inc. postage
by mail to CLC, PO Box 5207, Manly QLD 4179
or by phone (07) 3893 0958.
Our Heritage – The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola
We would like to encourage all our members to have an experience of the Spiritual Exercises of St
Ignatius of Loyola. If you have discerned a desire to do the Spiritual Exercises and would like more
information, then we suggest you log on to the CIS website to find opportunities to explore ways to do
the Spiritual Exercises: http://www.cis.jesuit.org.au
You may also find the following resource useful:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazioneap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html
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