Anime Lectio: The Garden of Words

                                                            1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace.

3. Deep Breathing

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. 

4. Open yourself to God’s Presence

Remember God places all our thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of other people you know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence.  

5. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me. 

Relationships can start in certain places, particularly a place that's unique to the people in the relationship.  Meeting up in these places can either be done all the time, like if the relationship(s) start where you live and work with the other(s), or whenever you have the time for it/feel like it.  An interesting example of this can be seen in the anime movie The Garden of Words. 

6. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

The anime movie The Garden of Words starts off with a young boy who goes off to a garden to skip school whenever it rains in order to draw and do what he wants to do. When he's there one day, he meets an older woman there who also likes to do what he does. The young boy is also interested in making shoes, which he wants to get better at doing in order to pursue a future of doing that, and talks with the older woman about it. They enjoy each others company so much that they agree to meet up in the garden on rainy days to talk about this interest, as well as other things, even though they still don't know much about each other. When he's at school one day, the young boy discovers that the older woman works at his school, but doesn't show up a lot due to being bullied by students before. This bullying also leads the older woman to find a job somewhere else, but the young boy confronts her about this because he doesn't want her to leave since he loves her, which she explains to him in order for him to feel better about it and understand that she was helping him, which also helped her.

7.  Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime shed any light on what's been on your minds?  The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

I think it's important to understand what is going on in anime that deal with romance, even if they seem similar, especially when the romance involves people of different ages, which usually isn't seen and is most likely why it isn't understood properly. This is why I think a better way to understand romance is to use the word relationship instead of romance. Romance usually refers to a specific relationship, but relationships in general don't have to be specific. Relationships are also something that everyone should have in order to help each other in needed ways. This help doesn't have to be romantic. In addition to applying this understanding to anime, especially an anime like The Garden of Words, it's also important to know things about the relationships you see besides the main one like why they happen, when they happen, and who they happen with. In the anime movie The Garden of Words, it seems like where the relationship starts is really important.

8. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime.  The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray for a better understanding of our relationships, starting with where they began and why.