School Of Community

[DesiringMore]

That's what I love about CL, is that it's not just ideas, its not just Fr. Giusani's teachings that you some how have to "unerstand."  The important part of CL is how we encounter these "ideas" in our lives. 

For me, because I study philosophy and theology, the temptation is to make it something I figure out, but with the movement I am always being reminded to ask myself not "what does it mean?" but rather "how have I encountered this in my life?"

BLAZEr, i am a junior in college studying Religious Studies and for the past three years i have been a bit frustrated at the fact of the desire for so many to "figure out the answer" instead of applying it to their lives by asking the question, "how have i experienced/encountered this in my life?"....because of my desire to be around others who were desiring more, who ask themselves daily how does this experience change my life, how do i apply it to my everyday life, i truly believe that God has given me the gift of meeting all of my closest friends who are in CL. I praise God for the CL movement and how it is giving others the desire for more, to draw near to Christ, and to see Christ in others but most importantly be a Presence in others' lives! We must constantly remind ourselves of such questions to keep from falling into the NOTHINGNESS...

[DesiringMore]

BUMP for CL :dance:

[DesiringMore]

Hey BLAZEr...would you recommend newcomers or interested people to read THE RELIGIOUS SENSE, THE ORIGIN..., or WHY THE CHURCH? first?? or does it matter?? have you read all three books? what book do you find more intriguing??

[BLAZEr]

For me, personally, probably cuz I've read it with the community, At the Origen of the Christian Claim is the most powerful. Relgious sense is cool, especially if you don't think you're too "religious." Why the Church I haven't completely read, but so far I love it.

[sista2b]

our school of community is starting w/ why the church, but i have a feeling we'll be going reaaaal slow.

but thats ok

[DesiringMore]

our school of community is starting w/ why the church, but i have a feeling we'll be going reaaaal slow.

but thats ok

Hey sista2b...how is Jasper CL going?? i was praying for you tonight...not knowing if you had it or not....we did not have it in Evansville but will have CL Community on Wednesday :D

[sista2b]

no we didn't have it but we went to Gala's house (me and Julie V.)

we played this game that (now sistser?)Mary McCarthy (sp?) translated for her.

Fred's on the cruise.

but its goin ok i guess.

thanks for the prayers

[JuCa]

Mary may be a postulant or novice right now. I know she has been accepted into the community. I haven't heard an update yet....hmmm

[DesiringMore]

Hey JuCa!!! i like your new picture!! you're going to have to show me tomorrow how you do that!!! anywho, i thought you were studying for those finals!!!! :P

[sista2b]

i think Gala said shes a postulant

[JuCa]

thanks for the clarification...that was bugging me

[Katt1227]

It is the exceptionality with which the figure of Christ appears that makes it easy to recognize Him. We must imagine ourselves, as I said before, we must submerge ourselves in these events. If we try to judge them, if we want to judge them, I don’t say understand them, but judge them substantially, as true or false, it is the sincerity of your identification with them that makes the true true and not false, and does not make your heart doubt the truth. It is easy to recognize it as a divine ontology because it is exceptional: it corresponds to the heart, and you stay with it and never want to leave—which is the sign of a correspondence with the heart. One would never leave, and would follow Him for one’s whole life. And in fact they followed Him for the three more years that He lived.

Okay, so I'm going to back up to Recognizing Christ. It's the article Blazer started us out reading at the beginning of November. I'm currently rereading it with the newly formed CLU community here in Lexington and I wanted to ask some of your thoughts on something that was brought up in our discussion last week.

We struggled with this paragraph (found towards the end of the article).

The idea that it is easy to recognize Christ and follow him, simply because He is exceptional. In my own experiences, the fact that Christ came to live with us, that He was both fully God and fully human is so extraodinary, so exceptional, so amazing that is is easy to follow Him. There is no doubt in my heart, that Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of my desires. He is ultimate truth, beauty and goodness in one man, one God-man. But does this make it easy to follow Him?? This is where the discussion began. In our world, in our society, it is not easy to follow Christ (and the church's) teachings. We are constantly bombarded with temptations and times of doubt and struggles. But can we still follow Christ through these struggles, through the temptation?? And is it that we recognize, that we follow that is easy?? I'm not sure.

One of my friends pointed out that even to those who walked with Christ, they failed, they were broken, sinful people. Peter, the rock on which our church is formed, denied Christ three times on the morning of his cruxifiction. But can we not continue to follow, even in our sinfulness, our brokenness. This is what makes the human condition so beautiful I think. We are broken, sinful people, yet God himself came among us as human to lift us out of our brokenness.

Okay, so this is a bunch of randomness and not a clear path of thought, but I thought I would share and ask you to comment accordingly. Just something to talk about. I guess the question I'm wanting to ask is, in your experience, is it easy to follow Christ??

[hyperdulia again]

i wanna have something to contribute to this, but basically i'm a really cute, really dumb blonde and it's 4am here.

*drinks coffee*

[DesiringMore]

We have CLU tonight...so, afterwards, i'm sure i'll have some questions and things to share:)

[BLAZEr]

If we try to judge them, if we want to judge them, I don’t say understand them, but judge them substantially, as true or false, it is the sincerity of your identification with them that makes the true true and not false, and does not make your heart doubt the truth.

Ok, I have something on this. Tonigh, our parish has a meeting of the parish council. These people have been doing everything within their power to tear down the priest. It is not their role to tear down the priest, but to support him in his ministry. But here, this parish council is angry for various reasons. They don't like that he moved the choir. They don't like that he is spending money to beautify the interior of the Church. They don't like that he doesn't ask their permission to do things. And so they tear him down. The seek to impose on his freedom "their way" of doing things. They do not have serious points of concern other than it is not "their way."

So, I'm watching all of this and I'm angry. I hate that they treat this good and holy priest like garbage because he is doing things in another way, not a wrong way, just a way different from theirs. And I am looking at the hate and the anger and the attacks they are making and plotting and I ask myself "Where is Christ in the Church?" And instantly I remember the good things that happen in the parish. Instantly I remember the DRE who is good and holy and loves the children. Instantly I remember the Choir Director who spends long hours studying and listening to sacred music to improve our liturgy. Instantly I remember the faces of my teenagers who look at me and say "How is Christ relevant to me?" Instantly I think about CL and the love and generosity and friendship I encounter there.

In the midst of an angry and hateful display my heart remembers the places where I encountered Christ and my heart says "No, Christ is in this Church. He is disfigured in this room, but even here he can be present again. Seek to make him present."

And so I spend a few minutes after the meeting talking with a father about his young son. We talk about the challenges of little boys growing up and the demands of family life. And I invite him, to join me in reading Fr. Giussani's book. For him and his wife to get together with me and share in the Christian life. Maybe at Parish Council, like Nietzschze says, "God is Dead," but the Parish Council is not all of my experience of this life. So I seek to build friendships. I seek to make Christ a presence in this angry parish that does not know what it means to be the Catholic Church.

And all of a sudden, I realize . . . Christ is present! I am Christ. Ok, so not actually Christ, but I am the Christian presence. I have to be the link from today all the way back to Bethlehem in that stable. And all of a sudden I realise, "Why the Church?" Because the church is the tangible Christ. The Church is the only way that Christ lives in this world.

So I decided that my experience tonight with the council was false. That is not an authentic experience of Christ. And I do not deny all of the ways Christ has been present to me before, I just seek to make him present again.