Anime Lectio: Secrets of the Silent Witch

                                                          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. 

What masks do we wear to hide who we really are from people?  This question is what the counseling group that I sit in on in the school I work in focused on this morning.  While I didn't say anything about my own mask(s), it doesn't mean I don't have any - it just means I didn't want to talk about it then.  I usually take more time to think about things like this, which is what I try to do here, as well as relate to anime/manga, like the series Secrets of the Silent Witch.

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.

A witch who doesn't like talking to people so much that she mastered magic without having to say anything ends up living on her own in the woods with no one else around.  However, mastering magic without having to say anything ends up making her one of the most powerful witches and leads to another one of these powerful witches to give her the task of protecting an important person, which leads to the shy witch to assume a new identity and enroll in the school to protect this important person.  As a student in this school, she makes new friends, as well as enemies, helps the new friends she makes, who also help her, and does all of this while protecting this important person and managing to keep her actual identity a secret in the process.

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.

Besides the interesting problem/paradox of wanting to be left alone due to being really shy, but becoming really powerful as a result of wanting to be left alone and being really shy to the point of others relying on you to help them, this series also focuses on the interesting issue of wearing mask(s) to hide who you really are from people. This isn't just something that the main character does either, even though it focuses on the main character doing that in order to hide who she really is from people and why she is really there. For example, The friends she makes do this too in order to hide what they are really doing too. We all have our reasons for doing that too, like hiding how we really feel in order to keep doing what we have to do until we can do something about it, which is important to know that we can do when we want to.

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 know when to wear and not wear the mask(s) we present to people.