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Hello
everyone. This is Lê Bảo Linh from Orange County. I’m sorry I have been
MIA (missing in action). But I wanted to share and little bit about our
group and how things have been going so far. I saw Chi Kim Anh and Anh
Hung earlier and they reminded me of the value of community life, even if
it’s mostly online.
Our group
is a natural progression/evolution of Nhóm Hạt Cải;
hence the name mustard sprouts. We are all Hạt Cải Alumni who haven’t
quite found a place to spiritually call home and wandered around until
this group was formed at the beginning of the year. TLNN was a perfect
fit. All the members of our group (at present 9) have a good foundation
in Ignatian Spirituality, having been in HC for several years, but in many
ways out grew that group.
We meet every Saturday
evening, at various members’ houses. We are currently completing TLNNII/5
and will start 6 this evening. We’ve taken a few weeks off, here and
there to do various things, like going to Vigil Mass together for Easter.
All of the members agree that TLNN has benefited their lives. Many say it
has made a dramatic effect. At the very beginning, there was a great deal
of emotional responses, and many of the members experienced profound times
of consolation. Afterwards inevitably the “feelings” subsided and the
“real work” began. But everyone for the most part was aware and
prepared.
The members all benefit
from TLNN at different levels, but what is consistent is those who invest
the most (some end up praying for 1 hour/day) end up benefiting the most.
The good thing is that those who invest less are aware of this, and know
that their spiritual growth is in many ways in their own hands. I think
perhaps as a facilitator this is the most beautiful thing for me. Very
few people recognize their inner need for spiritual nourishment and
growth, and the few that do (at least in my limited experience) seldom
recognize that the basic and perhaps only requirement to holiness is the
desire to be holy. God is at our right hand, waiting to give us His
grace; we only need to open our hands to receive it. Everyone in the
group has come to realize this. The next step is learning to open our
hands. Some members hands are open a little more than others, but they
are all starting to open.
Our meeting format has a
basic skeleton, but we often have variation. We usually have 2 rounds of
sharing, the first being informal, how was your week, what did you do.
The second goes into the person’s spiritual and prayer life. We have also
added in mediations, scriptural contemplation, taize prayer, and times of
silent reflection. We’ve even read some short stories and children’s
stories that relate to the topic at hand (most children’s stories are not
meant just for children :o)
We’ve had 2 members drop
out for different reasons, but it was best for each individual. One
person continues TLNN but with individual help from me.
I guess I should start
doing the weekly evaluations. Hehehe Better late than never.
God bless,
Linh
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