Anime Lectio: Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence

                                                           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. 

Saints exist to help people.  Whether these saints are living or dead, how they help us not only depends on whether they are living or dead, which depends on what you believe about that, but also what they help with.  For example, saints who are dead usually have at least one thing that they are the patron saint of and can also intercede for people when praying to them for various reasons, like praying for someone making a lifelong commitment, which one of the monks here did recently.  Living saints can help people by being with them physically, which can lead to attachment and can be seen in many interesting ways, like in the anime series Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence.

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.

In the anime series Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence, a lady saint and a pastor live and work together in the little village they are there to help. When going around the little village to help out, the lady saint likes to do this with the pastor, not so much to help him all of the time, but to be with him. Everyone in the village, as well as other people that they interact with sometimes, like two friends who are interested in how this lady saint is seen, can see that this lady saint really likes the pastor, but the pastor himself doesn't really see this at all. In the end, the pastor sees that this lady saint is like family to 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.

When I heard that the anime series Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence was a Christian anime series, I figured it wasn't a Catholic Christian one because of what I saw about it before the series aired.  In the Catholic tradition, saints are considered people who are dead and did certain things in order to be considered saints according to a certain process.  The Saint Cecilia in Catholic tradition isn't only one of these dead saints, but died as a virgin and martyr and is the patron saint of music for some reason.  The  Saint Cecilia in this anime series is different because she can help by being around for people.  There's also a point in the anime series where it's revealed why Saint Cecilia came to this little village, which was to warn the people there of a storm and to destroy the bridge in the village so it wouldn't be flooded.  The only person who believed the lady saint was Pastor Lawrence and with his help, convinced the village to believe her of what she was right about.  The lady saints in this series seem to be more like prophets than saints, which is most likely why a lady saint who died wasn't treated as a regular person.  Saints are still people, whether they are living or dead, and like all people, have needs like relationships.

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 that we can understand saints, whether they are living or dead, as people like us that can also help us and have needs like relationships.