How to summarize these first 5 days of such variety and richness in the persons present and the quality of the presentations and interactions?! It is truly an experience of the international, worldwide sense of the church with delegates from 66 different countries represented. We are about 220 people gathered here.

 Elaine Regan Nightingale was the first to arrive since she was working the World ExCo as Process Guide for the Assembly.  Then I arrived on Monday, along with the delegates from Quebec.  Then Mary Balfe and Leanne Salel arrived in the middle of the night (Monday-Tuesday) .  We started in earnest on Tuesday July 30…. 

 It is a beautiful sight to look out from the balcony of my room and see the city and the ocean shore of Beirut. We gather in a large auditorium which is very pleasant….not the 30 degrees we have outside.  We began with praying for the “grace” of the assembly:  to be grateful  for CLC-CVX to be able to gather for the first time in this “holy land” (part of the biblical holy land),in the Mid-East so recently ravaged by war and conflict, and the celebration of the 450 years of lay Ignatian communities. After a short prayer, the president gave an official opening address to inaugurate the Assembly meeting.  The welcoming team was brought forward and thanked. They were members from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt working to make this meeting fully functional.

 Then each nationality – in chronological order of becoming a national community of CLC – stood up and presented their country’s flag.  It was a simple rite but impressive to see more than 60 +  different countries present for this meeting.

 We had the Eucharist in the Maronite rite (one of the earliest eastern rites of the church). The Archbishop (responsible not only for Catholics of Maronite rite in Lebanon, but throughout the world) gave a very fine homily, stressing the importance of “communion” in our pluralist religious world. (This is very true in Lebanon noted for its tradition of having Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions living and working side by side). He also quoted Pope Francis  in his talk to young people in Rio de Janeiro…. “Go forth without fear to the frontiers….and proclaim the Good News“.  A celebrative liturgy!

    After a delicious lunch and short siesta, we gathered again for the presentation of all the national CLC communities. Each one was asked to present a symbol of their CLC national community for the past 5 years, since the Assembly in Fatima. Then to briefly give some of the mission they are involved in, along with the challenges and future “frontiers”.  As you can imagine this was rich in diversity and creativity. No two countries were the same. Mary, Leanne and I present the vinyl painting of a kaleidoscope with the words:  Joining Jesus in the Great Enterprise from sea to sea

    The end of the afternoon session (from 7 – 8 pm) we had our Process Guide/Listener of the Assembly (our own Elaine Regan/Nightingale) explain her role – to help the Assembly members get in touch with the interior movements happening during the day. She took us through the process – time of short prayer; then a sharing with other members of our national delegation (first round); then a second round (one word) by each member of the Assembly. Many rich themes were expressed – commitment, perseverance, communion, solidarity, suffering, struggle, service……  and so many others.  This was a very restful end of a full day.

 July 31, Feast of St Ignatius  

 Beautiful day again and this morning I went up to the roof to walk around and pray a bit looking down at Beirut and the sea….Inspiring.

 We started earlier today – 7:45 breakfast and then meeting at 8:45 am…. Stage 1 of the Assembly:  a review of the history of the CLC since 1563 – 450 years of lay Ignatian community. We had a wonderful animated video of a ship being led by the Spirit over the years and places. Then Sophia – she and her husband are the secretariat for world ExCo – gave us a a well done overview of the 450 years of the ongoing movement of the CLC up to the present. I was struck by the richness of the history of this lay movement – in various countries and to its state as a worldwide lay apostolic body committed to the mission of Christ.   

There was a presentation by Syria’s CLC members which was very moving, given what they have been through. They have minted a special commemorative medal that will help to raise funds.

The two sessions in the afternoon dealt with the World ExCo’s feedback of what has happened in the last 5 years since Fatima. Each of the large regions of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America) had a report by one of the ExCo members. All very interesting – the steps forward as well as the challenges.

 Each day we have the Eucharist at 7 pm  The Middle East group was responsible for this celebration. Fr. Kolvenbach was hoping to come, but couldn’t after all. Apparently he is not feeling as well as usual. 

 After the Eucharist we had a festive dinner with Lebanese red wine. A nice finish to the day. Some of the African participants organized some dancing in the garden. Always a delight to watch real African dancing….

  August 1, Thursday (Day 3)

 We started at 8:45 am this morning with a very restful morning prayer led by the French delegates…..starting with the lovely refrain: In todo amar y servir.… the grace of the day: to understand interiorly ourselves as CLC today….a short reading of the Gospel – let your light shine before others to give glory to God.…final prayer and refrain. Great way to begin the day.

   Today we began Stage 2: to deepen our self-understanding as a lay apostolic body TODAY.

   We finished off the last section of the World ExCo report concerning networking and advocacy and what`s been happening in different national groups around migration, ecology, education projects, etc.  Very impressive the kind of apostolic work that is being done in various countries and how the World ExCo supports them both by visits and financially. How does CLC as a lay apostolic body and the Society of Jesus as a body work together and help each other in the mission of the church?

 Then we had a very good and competent presentation of the Financial statement for the last 5 years..  We spent most of the morning on this area of financial co-responsibility.

In the afternoon,  we welcomed 3 new national communities into the World CLC: Lithuania (with its sponsor, France CLC); Guatemala (with Equador and Nicaragua as sponsors) and Botswana (Africa with South Africa as its sponsor). It`s like receiving a new member of the family. The sponsors give a bit of history of their journey as a CLC group then the new group responds and everyone welcomes them with applause…. Kind of exciting…..like a new baby!

     The last part of the afternoon was very clear presentation of the growth of CLC`s identity as a lay apostolic body: its roots in baptism, in Ignatian spirituality, within the church as prophetic witness, call to simple life style, the importance of commitment and membership, financial co-responsibility, apostolic call and its deepening – all this was done with power point images that made it most interesting and informative. Really was quite enlightening to hear all in 40 minutes the overall vision of the CLC way of life. I felt quite touched to be involved in such a group of lay people. And the people here are the `crème de la crème’ of CLC members. And a top-notch leadership group!

 We ended the evening with the Eucharist at 7 pm. The North American group (CLC English Canada, French Canada  and USA) prepared it and took part in leading it – music, readers, prayers of faithful, ministers of communion, etc.  I was the presider with USA Ecclesial Assistant giving the homily, the French Canadian EA giving a resume of homily in French. We sang in French, English, Latin, Greek(Kyrie eleison) and Hebrew (Alleluia),  with a beautiful recording of a loon`s sound as the participants entered and chapel. We also did the native purification rite at the beginning…and ended with the Summons Song. People picked it up very easily. Everything flowed nicely.

 After dinner we had `regional` meetings – the North American group met for first time. It was good to meet and chat about concerns and if, how and when we want to continue to meet to share some common resources, projects.

   Keep praying for us…

   Charlie  (with Leanne, Mary and Elaine)