Sydney Catholic Schools Family Educator Rose D’Costa reflects on how the Receive the Grace to Go Make Disciples Lenten Companion helped her community connect this Lent.
I love the name of the 2021 Lenten Program from the Archdiocese of Sydney – Receive the Grace to Go Make Disciples Lenten Companion.
It drew me in and inspired me to go through the program and run it in my community at St Michael’s Catholic primary school Lane Cove, where I am the Family Educator, with the parents and families via Zoom.
It drew me in because a Lenten Companion suggests that there is a companionship between the congregation and its Archdiocese, but more importantly between us and Christ in His Word.
I reached out to the Archdiocese and spoke to Helen Wagner asking her if I may be able to tweak the program to suit my community’s needs. This included shortening the program a little to meet the needs of time poor parents, without interfering with the content.
It promoted peace in my day as well as the importance to stop and reflect on the Word of God
I had some parents giving me feedback after the sessions, saying that the program had a profound effect on their day, and for others it was consistent with their own peaceful nature.
For me, it had a multifaceted effect. It promoted peace in my day as well as the importance to stop and reflect on the Word of God but also on others and their contribution. I learnt how to best read the bible not just during Lent but for the rest of my life.
You see I am a Maronite Catholic and up until last year (first year as a Family Educator) I hadn’t heard of the Lenten Program and didn’t know much about Lectio Divina. Maronites read the Bible of course but we don’t, to my knowledge, have something like a guided meditative way of reading it.
So I relished in it last year, however I could see that I had to reduce the time from 40 minutes plus down to 15 to 20 minutes to suit the needs of the parents in our community. This proved effective, as I found the parents are comfortable with it and it gave them the benefit of peace and gospel reflection around their other commitments.
I want to thank the Archdiocese of Sydney for putting this Lenten Companion together. I loved its name and flexibility, and will love to use it again next year.
I pray that this Lent brings us closer to the suffering Jesus so that we can enjoy His glorious resurrection in our lives
Many thanks to Helen Wagner for running the Lenten Companion workshop for the Family Educators and understanding our role enough to give us the right to adapt it to suit our individual communities.
Finally, I pray that this Lent brings us closer to the suffering Jesus so that we can enjoy His glorious resurrection in our lives. Amen.