History of CLC Canada
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) responded to the Spirit’s promptings in his own time. He lived in a period of great change in European history. He was very much a product of the late Middle Ages, memories of knights and nobility. At the same time he lived to see European expansion throughout the globe, the rise of the commercial class, and resurgence in Christian devotion. He began to listen to how God spoke to him and sought out the traditional ways of his times to gain more clarity. He prayed, fasted, and asked advice of “spiritual people”, all the while attending to the sick and poor. Ultimately it was the careful attention to the movements of the Spirit in his heart and mind that drew him to such clarity.
Ignatius collected his formative experiences of prayer into what became known as his “Spiritual Exercises”. He offered these Exercises to men and women of his time as helpful means for them to attend to God’s call, choosing to live committed lives of Christian service. From among those he gave the exercises there arose a group of “companions” who corporately chose to live in greater availability of service to the Church. These men founded the religious order known as the “Company of Jesus,” colloquially referred to today as the “Jesuits.”
Today Ignatian Spirituality is inspired both by the experience of the Spiritual Exercises and the traditions developed over the past 450 years. The characteristics of Ignatius’ life take on similar and new dimensions as Christians seek to follow his example in their own lives. Some contemporary facets of Ignatian spirituality would include:
- A conviction of the value of the human person as created by God,
- The desire to find the voice of God in and through the ordinary events of the day,
- The understanding of oneself as an agent of change in the world,
- A commitment to a life of faith that is evidenced by a life of justice,
- Outreach to members of society who are often marginalized or dispossessed.
CLC today exists in sixty countries and is present on all five continents.
Adapted from
THE IGNATIAN CHARISM: A SPIRITUALITY FOR THESE TIMES
by Jack Milan
As our North American culture evolves, it becomes more pluralistic, complex and practically atheistic. It is also a rapidly changing culture, fueled by the computer revolution and other technologies. Some of our culture is clearly good, some clearly bad, and most of it is ambiguous at best.
Among the people of God we find various responses to the reality of this contemporary culture. For many serious Christians, to venture off to work or to carry on daily tasks beyond the home and Church are like walking into a confusing, Godless world. And it is lonely.
Among these Christians, some find hope in rejecting the present culture by working for its total transformation into a future world of peace and justice. Others find their hope not in the present world either, but in the final Kingdom when the Lord comes again. Still others regard the present world as relatively unimportant and find hope in their personal conversion to Jesus and a renewed interior life.
But there is yet another stance which Christians take. It is a stance of affirmation of the basic goodness of the world and of hearing the Lord calling from deep within it to join Him in fashioning its history. For these Christians the challenge is to penetrate the culture and to join the Holy Trinity there, creating and redeeming from within.
CLC is deeply rooted in the paragraph above. The following characteristics describe our core values:
The Ignatian ideal is in finding God in all things.
Ignatian Spirituality orients us to a life-attitude of reverence for all created reality because of its incarnational nature.
The aim of the Spiritual Exercises is to free us from all that is not God, so that we might recognize what is of God and attach ourselves to that.
Ignatian charism is action orientation. Love expresses itself in deeds and sharing. It is nothing less than the Christ-life we make real in time and space by what we do and the consequences of what we do.
Ignatian spirituality is rooted in lived experience, consciously confronted. It invites us to live squarely in the reality of things.
Ignatian charism is communal in the best sense of the word. It takes its energy and direction from the mystical communion which is the Church, visible and invisible.
CLC Small Group Meeting Format
Our groups are small, usually six to ten members. We meet regularly in order to develop friendship and a community spirit among ourselves by praying, sharing some of our life experiences together, helping and supporting each other in our Christian faith and our daily lives. Meetings are held, usually in community members homes, at intervals decided by the group — usually weekly or biweekly, and lasting 1½ to 2½ hours.
Since our communities are based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, groups include elements of the Exercises in their group meetings.
The pattern of meetings varies from small group to small group, but most of the following are included in ongoing groups:
Social prior to or after the meeting
1st part of the meeting:
Opening song and prayer
Prayer for a grace: The community recalls the grace that it formulated at its previous meeting and how it has experienced that grace.
Check-in: How has God been present in my life since the last meeting? Where have I experienced God's presence? When I felt disconnected from God?
Reflection and listening to the Holy Spirit – Sharing this with the group after members share in the check-in
2nd part of the meeting:
Sharing/discussion on the evening's topic.
Closing Prayer – Prayers of Petition
Evaluation of the meeting
Review of meeting: How was I moved during this meeting? Where did I feel positive energy? Where did I feel discomfort?
Business matter that the group may need to discuss
Each CLC group is autonomous and creates the format of meetings that is best suited to the needs of its members, within the spirit of the "General Principles" and in our Canadian context.
Each community aims to embody the characteristics of community, spirituality and mission. In each meeting, during the sharing and planning, members review their individual and corporate mission which is carried out primarily outside the meetings.
Social gatherings around the Christian holidays and leisure events outside the regular meetings are encouraged!