How do I discern the will of God? How can I figure out what God wants me to do? How do I know that I really heard God's will and am doing what God wants? As Christians, wewith these questions, particularly when faced all struggle with big decisions.

My dad was a carpenter so I often imagine Ignatian spirituality as a large tool box full of practical tools which can allow us to build our lives on a solid spiritual foundation. I believe that the most practical of St. Ignatius' tools are his insights on discernment and decision making. These are tools we all need in our lives!

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(Submitted by Leanne Salel, Rockies Rep)

PRAIRIES REGION

PREPARE FOR ADVENT

Winnipeg CLC groups are planning an Advent Social Gathering. This social event is a time to build community and to get to know one another informally. Members' children are invited, so the gathering should be a fun and joyous one. MORE TO COME...

The two Thunder Bay CLC groups will be having an Advent Retreat. The venue and date to be announced.

Regional Council Meeting Novembr 24th.

(Submitted by Kwan-Sui Crowe, Prairies Rep)

CENTRAL REGION

Come, Come, Oh Little Child

These words belong to a song written by Tom Cole. They remind me that someone is coming; Someone Special is coming! The time for gathering together, unified by prayer and anticipation will soon be here. The time is called Advent.

Last weekend, I met up with members of our Regional CLC for a council meeting in Toronto. It was not focused on Advent, but in closing the evaluation, I asked if they had any Advent traditions to share that related to our priorities. One suggestion came forth in that we can use this time to look for ways to bring our common mission in Hispaniola into our Advent prayer.

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(submitted by Magee McGuire, Central Rep)

THE WANDERING GUELPHITES

Shelley Koehler

ALL IN GOOD TIME

Coming from North America, where life is so Instantaneous and generally efficient, I have come to realize that patience truly is a virtue that I struggle with. Especially living in the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic. My set comforts of a system that is fairly comprehensive were shaken from their roots when I first arrived in Dajabon. I have come to see that I truly can be resilient.

Everything is revealed in its own time they say. It seems that challenges I am facing are like the pressure of molten rock spewing through the Earth,s crust, only to be transformed into new.

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(taken from Shelley Koehler's Biog)

The Danger in the Good Things

by DOTMAGIS EDITOR

Can you really do too much good?

Well, yes you can, if the good distracts you from why you're here. When all those good things become the end goal in themselves, rather than simply a means to our ultimate end, they become bad. They become only busy-ness.

Consider the tools of discernment as you read the full post "How Good Things in Life Can Be Dangerous.
"

PONDERING ADVENT 2014

The Advent bells call out 'Prepare,

Your world is journeying to the birth

Of God made Man for us on earth.'

And how, in fact, do we prepare

The great day that waits us there -

For the twenty-fifth day of December,

The birth of Christ?

- John Betjeman

This question of how we are to prepare within our coming season of Advent is something we need to ponder if we desire to fully receive the blessings of Christmas...

ponder as truly as Mary pondered her own Annunciation. What are we called towards in this season of Advent?

What do we wait for? read more

ATLANTIC CLC REACHES CONSENSUS

in Regional Common Mission Discernment

The Atlantic CLC Regional Council gathered at the Sr. Margaret Bourgeois 'Home of Hospitality' in Summerside P.E.I. on October 24-25th to continue their communal discernment searching for a Regional Common Mission.

The process went back to 2010 when the initial 'inquiries' began in the search for a regional common

mission. In preparation for the Atlantic Regional Assembly in 2013 prayer and reflection materials were sent out to all local communities to help all prepare for the upcoming assembly. From the information collected and collated by ExCo three areas for discerning a Regional Common Mission emerged - Evangelization, CLC Development and Poverty. read more

THE GIFT of AWARENESS as a

CLC PROCESS GUIDE

As the new Ecclesial Assistant for Atlantic Canada this gathering was especially blessed for me. It gave me the opportunity to get better acquainted with my CLC brothers and sisters here in Atlantic and with all the gifts that they have been blessed with. But I wasn't here in their presence just to enjoy myself with them in beautiful Summerside (this being my first visit to P.E.I.). I was put to work...
was given a task!
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COMPLETING OUR COMMON MISSION DISCERNMENT PROCESS

"Try to discover what the Lord wants of you ..." Eph. 5:10

John English often said that the discerned decision a person or a group makes is very important, but just as important is what happens to us in the process.. I think we, in the Atlantic Region, can say "amen" to that.

During our October 2014 Regional Council Meeting we reached a significant step in our ongoing

journey of becoming an Atlantic CLC apostolic community. Through much prayer, listening, and dialogue, we discovered the 'statement' of common mission which best expresses - at this time in our history - our desire and commitment to be on mission with Christ as a Regional Community: read more

A REFLECTION

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

(2 Corinthians 3:17)

I was part of the "outside circle", but in no way did I feel like an outsider. Having prayerfully prepared for this day with the same material as the delegates and their communities, I discovered within myself that I was a "silent participant" spiritually free to pray along with the delegates and to offer to God what was happening in my prayer/reflections. More than once my heart leapt as I heard the delegates sharing their prayers/reflections and found them mirrored within my own prayers. Probably much like the way Elizabeth felt when John leapt within her womb acknowledging Christ present.

"May God enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope God's call holds for you...." (Ephesians 1:18)

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Submitted by Judy Hanshaw

MEMORIAM

Marion Smith, Ixthus CLC, PE

Marion died on October 5, 2014 in Summerside, PEI. As one of the original members of Ixthus CLC, she was a faithful participant for almost 30 years until the onset of dementia required her move to a nursing facility.

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To download the PDF click here

THE NATIONAL COMMON MISSION WORKING GROUP

Coordinator - Mary Balfe - Central Region

Delma Lobo - Rockies Region
Mary Stevens - Central Region

Howard R. Engel, Sharon Arsenault - Prairie Region
Jocelyn Worster - Atlantic Region

Well done good and faithful servants! Stay tuned for more to come...

Update Editor Gerri Tingley