Anime Lectio: With You and the Rain

                                                            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 helps you practice mindfulness?  Following this process of lectio certainly helps with that, as well as actual lectio, since it involves thinking more about what you're doing and realizing that you're being is also part of that.  Being more attentive to your surroundings also helps with this and by doing this, you can notice things that other people miss or ignore.  An example of this can be seen in the series With You and the Rain.

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 young woman walks home in the rain without an umbrella, unlike other people around her, and as she's walking home, she notices a tanuki/racoon that insists that it's a dog that can communicate by writing with a note to take care of me (or something like that).  She takes this "dog" to her home and starts taking care of it, which involves several people, including the young woman's friends and family, meeting this "dog" because of that.  She also mentions to the "dog" that there's a reason she likes the rain when she starts taking care of it, but doesn't say why until after spending more time with the "dog." The rain helps her be more mindful, which helps her with her work as a writer.  An example of this is seen when the series ends with what it starts with, but seeing more of what happens before meeting the "dog" is seen (left her parents' house after staying with them for a while with an umbrella, but gives it away, which lets her notice more, like the "dog" in need of a home).

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.

Practicing mindfulness is important for everybody, even if everybody has a different way of practicing it. Besides this process of lectio, as well as actual lectio itself, being more attentive to your surroundings in other ways also helps you be mindful of things like what you're doing, why you're doing it, and how you're doing it. Walking through the rain without an umbrella is certainly an interesting way of doing that, but if it works, then go for it. It worked for the young woman in the series With You (name she gives to the "dog" she finds by being mindful) and the Rain. Maybe it can work for you too.

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 be figure out how we can be more mindful about what we do.