Anime Lectio: Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms

                                                           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. The only device you need is the one you use for this blog.

3. Deep Breathing - Open yourself to God’s Presence

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. 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 people you

know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence. 

4. 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. 

If you were told not to love someone who isn't like you, would you still do it?  What makes the question more interesting is when whoever tells you not to love someone who isn't like you also ends up loving someone who isn't like them too.  This, as well as many other things, can be seen in the movie Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms.

5. 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.

After a race of beings that have long lifespans is attacked by a nearby kingdom interested in this race, a girl from this race of beings that have long lifespans manages to escape.  After she manages to escape, she finds a newborn whose mother died protecting her child, so the girl decides to raise this newborn as her own child, despite being told by others that she will outlive the child.  Raising the child is difficult for her, as it is for any single mother, especially one who doesn't even know or understand what she's doing.  However, with the help of other friends, some of whom try to save their leader who actually ends up becoming a mother herself despite telling the girl not to do that, the girl manages to do that, but realizes that she can't anymore after the child she adopts dies due to old age and moves on with her long life.

6.  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.

While loving other people like you isn't a bad thing, it is a bad thing if you only love people like you. Loving people is important all the time, not just some of the time. You can't choose who you love and you can't choose when to love other people, which is why different ways of loving people are important. You can try to control it, but it doesn't always work out, as seen in this movie. What's also seen in this movie a lot is that love doesn't make sense and that people have different reactions. I think that if love made sense, then it wouldn't be love. Love is a mystery to be felt, not a problem to be solved.

7. 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 love others no matter what in order to fully experience the mystery of love.