Click the following link to bring up a PDF version: 23.03.2020 – Lenten Family Prayer with the Columban Sisters
23.03.2020 – Reflection One:
Lenten Family Prayer with the Columban Sisters
Place: Choose a place where the family can be comfortable e.g. part of the living room that could be set aside as a place where the family can gather around a small table on which a candle, a Bible, or a religious picture – or a picture that speaks to us of God’s creation or presence is placed.
To help become quiet it might be a good idea to play some quiet music to help the family members to be quiet and centred.
Parents can explain to the children that this is a special time to be together as a family and celebrate that God is with them in their lives. Jesus has said: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them”
REFLECTION:
Image one.
- Ask each one to share what they see in this picture?
- What do they notice? What details strike them?
- Does it speak to anything in our lives today?
Deepening:
The woman is bearing her burden in a desert landscape. This reminds us that we are in the season of Lent which with the Coronavirus is also a kind of desert experience. Each of us, children and adults are bearing our burdens e.g. missing our friends from school, anxiety over the spread of the Coronavirus perhaps even to our family or relatives. Invite all to share how they feel about the present situation. The woman is walking uphill – almost a journey to Calvary and suffering. Notice the plant, a cactus. When we look at a cactus we often see a green prickly plant not at all as beautiful as the spring flowers around us, but the cactus is not a barren plant, it also flowers and produces a delicious fruit. Perhaps, like all the signs of spring around us here in Bangor this reminds us that this is not a hopeless time. Jesus has gone before us and is still with us.
At this time, we remember what the Lord says to us in Joshua 1:9:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, And do not be fearful, For the Lord your God is With you wherever you go.”
The session could be ended with a simple, spontaneous prayer, a hymn, or perhaps the Our Father.