Lenten Mornings – Biblical Women

This year’s Lenten talks happened to fall during the week in which we celebrate international woman’s day. For this reason, the pastoral team decided to use these talks to help our students get to know women in the Bible better. Each form will reflect upon one or two women in the Old Testament and another woman in the New Testament.

On Monday 7th March, the Senior 3s reflected upon the story of Hagar, the woman with whom Abraham had his first son, Ismhael. Fr Matthew helped the girls understand how our God is a God who ‘sees’ and who thus saw Hagar’s plight when her mistress, Sarah, sent her away so that Ishmael would not take that which belongs to her son, who was the son of the promise – Isaac.

During their session, the Senior 4s reflected upon Rahab, a prostitute living in Jericho who, through her welcoming and hiding the Jewish spies, was instrumental in making it possible for them to win the city and finally enter the Promised Land. Because of her kind gesture, Rahab’s family was spared and she also became one of Jesus’ ancestors as we see at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel. This helped the girls understand how, not matter our past and our sins, God can still use us to do wonderful things in our life and even in the lives of others.

For the last session, the Senior 4s and 5s spent some time in the chapel, where they had a few moments of reflection based on the story of the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman, upon realizing that Jesus Christ was indeed the Promised Messiah, left her jar (symbolizing her sinful past) next to the well and went to spread the word with her family and friends. The girls were asked to think about what they wished to leave behind in their life. They wrote this down on a piece of paper which they then put in a symbolical jar. The session ended with Pope Francis’ prayer for the year of mercy, wherein we thanked God for the great mercy he had for all of us.