Lenten Mornings- Biblical Women, Part 2

Our lenten talk journey with Biblical women continued on Tuesdays where both the Senior 1s and 2s had an interactive session about Ruth and Naomi, whose story passes on a beautiful message about friendship and loyalty. The prayer session that was later held in the chapel focused on the New Testament women that followed Jesus in his earthly life and the way they supported Jesus and each other along this journey. All students were encouraged to write down on a piece of paper how they can be better friends to others, and Fr Matthew collected all these papers and placed them on the altar.

On Wednesday, the Senior 5s’ first session focused on Leah and Rachel – who were both married to Jacob. Fr. Matthew discussed the rivalry between these two women as well as the way God walked with each one of them. Towards the end of the session, they spent some time reflecting upon an image of their own choice which they felt was true to who they are are where they stand at this moment in time. They then had the opportunity to discuss these images in small groups. After break, the Senior 5s gathered in the chapel, where they reflected upon Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom Jesus delivered seven demons, but who became one of his most faithful disciples and, in the words of Pope Francis ‘the apostle of the new and greatest hope’.  Ms Mariella showed an image of a broken bowl mended with gold, and explained how this is an old Japanese art that involved the mending of broken objects with very precious materials, such as gold and which thus made the object even more precious than it was before. She continued to explain how we should not feel bad about the mistakes that we have committed in our past and those that we are committing even today, but offer them to the Lord who welcomes us with open arms, forgives us and makes us even more beautiful, like he did with Mary Magdalene.

The students were then asked to spend some moment in silent prayer and reflect upon the following question: ‘What do I want the Lord to redeem me from?’ and wrote their thoughts on piece of paper. Fr Matthew then collected these papers and placed them near a burning incense pot, so symbolize our prayers being offered to the Lord.