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WHERE ARE WE?
To aid us in our evaluation of the year just passed
[ Progressio - January 1973. 1 ]
The questions below are to help us evaluate
the year [of 1972] just passed. They will be most effective if
members first use them for personal prayer over several days,
and then in a meeting share the insights arrived at in each
one's prayer with each other in a kind of "listening group".
Thus the evaluation will be both of the individual and of the
Community. One hint: before beginning this community revision of
life, a few minutes of silent, prayerful reflection is most
helpful, for a CLC evaluation is not simply a business checkup,
but a spiritual discernment of how one stands before God. The
three parts of the evaluation are a unity, together comprising
the CLC vocation, the CLC way of life.
1. Personal
Living of Our Vocation:
- Have I understood CLC as involving
(eventually) a permanent commitment that includes:
- an entire gift of self to God?
- a decision to live life the CLC way?
- in and through life in this Community?
- Has God been for me Alpha and Omega (A
and Z), the center of everything?
How strong was my faith commitment to Christ? To what degree was
Jesus for me Way, Truth and Life?
- Has the Church been for me truly "the
Body of Christ"? Did I love her, striving to make her ever more
truly a sign of God's love for men by my personal witness and
activity? Was I intelligently but sincerely docile to those
members of the People of God gifted by Christ with authority?
- Was the Eucharist the center of my
Christian life? Did I participate in it fully, daily if at all
possible?
- Have I made use of the sacrament of
Penance with the frequency, and in the manner that would best
aid my continuing conversion?
- Personal prayer, especially that based
on Scripture - was this a regular part of my daily life? Of
sufficient length and depth? Truly relevant to my ordinary
living?
- Have I been advancing in discernment by
an evaluation each evening of the day just passed?
- Did I seek the spiritual
guidance-personal when possible, but also as received in a
group- that I needed?
- Has Mary, Mother of God, been for me
the model of the fully developed, truly liberated human person?
How have I prayed to her and tried to imitate her?
- Did I practice, a certain simplicity of
living as part of my following of the poor Christ? How well did
my material resources contribute, to building God's kingdom?
- My human and professional skills, how
well were these developed and used so as to make more effective
my Christian witness?
- How often and how well did I
participate in CLC meetings? How well did I prepare for them?
- Was my life last year one life, with its human and Christian
elements truly integrated?
- Did I renew the experience of the
Spiritual Exercises in sufficient length and depth to make their
spirituality a dynamic force in my daily life?
2. Our Vocation: Community Life and Discernment:
- Our CLC - was it during the year
just finished more truly a community than an organization?
Was there in its meetings a deep sharing among members of
their life of faith and prayer, as also of their human life
and experiences? Was this done in such a way as to involve
true discernment?
- To what extent and in what way was
there a sharing among Community members of their material
resources? Of personal and professional skills? In which of
their needs did members help each other?
- Was our Community concerned to make
known the CLC vocation and to afford to interested persons
the best conditions for initiation and growth? Does the
atmosphere and style of our Community present an attractive
image to youth?
- What criteria are used for
permanent commitment in our Community? Is there a carefully
planned program to prepare members for it? Are the Spiritual
Exercises a key part of it? Is the program through?
Well-balanced? Involve real participation by those who
receive it?
- The meetings, decisions,
publications of our Community - did they represent a team
effort, reflecting the fact that CLC is a lay organization,
with lay responsibility predominant?
- Has our Group participated fully in
our national CLC life (publications, meetings, sharing)?
- How did our Community reflect its
participation in the world Christian Life Community of which
it is part? Use of PROGRESSIO [and/or COMIGO]? Taking part in CLC
gatherings, and sharing with CLC of other countries through
letters, visits, exchange of ideas and material resources?
3. Our Vocation: Apostolic Service and Commitment to
Justice:
- Were our members kept
acquainted with the guidelines and documents set forth
by the Church, whether on the world level or locally?
- How did we as a Community grow
in our grasp of the national and local situation
(social, political, economic, spiritual) and needs?
- Has our group used community
discernment to pinpoint the apostolic priorities for our
group (as individuals and as a Community)? How
effectively?
- Has our Community or its
members in their action aimed especially at eliminating
the causes of social ills?
- How have we furthered a greater
political awareness and involvement of individual
members of our Community?
- Is the world dimension, of the
problem of justice and human liberation sufficiently
taken account of by our Community?
- Apart from the area of
liberation and development, are there other pressing
apostolic needs in our area? If so, is our Community
striving to respond to them?
Revision done, how well have I
--how well has our Community--lived out the CLC vocation
that is ours? How will I - how will we - live it out
better?
PROGRESSIO
January 1973—1
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