Anime Lectio: Sentenced to be a Hero Season One

                                                            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. 

What is a hero?  It usually refers to someone who does good things no matter what that other people don't do.  When other people don't do these things, it's usually because they are too scared to do these things themselves.  But what if there were other reasons for that?  This question is answered in the first season of the series Sentenced to be a Hero.

5. Brief and written explanation of the anime

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

In a world where becoming a hero is a fate worse than death for people who've done really bad things, a group of these heroes fight to save others based on what they're told to do by others without having much of a choice in the matter.  These others are knights, as well as the Church, that protect other humans from the demon blight.  One such hero ends up teaming up with a goddess that another one of his hero friends happens to find when they are on one of their missions.  This goddess happens to be able to summon swords, so with the help of this hero, who she considers a good person despite his crime of killing a goddess before (the goddess was infected with demon blight, but was still considered a crime anyway by the Church), they fight the demon blight with the help of other heroes and knights.  However, one of these knights learns that the Church is helping the demons, which leads to this knight killing a Church official and her becoming one of the heroes she helps, which is what the first season ends with.

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.

Even though this series looks good and has a lot of fighting in it, what I what like most about this series, which is true of any series or movie, is the story it tells and the message in it. For this series, this is clearly what being a hero means. Heroes in this universe may be convicted criminals, but they still do good things. Granted, if they don't do them, they could be eliminated/disciplined since they can be controlled by a mark on their neck, but does this change/influence the fact that they do good things? If you do a good thing because you have to, is it still good? I guess that would depend on things like who you ask, what happens while you do what is good, like complain about doing it while doing it (wouldn't count according to St. Benedict), and other things. This can also create other questions, but the point is that this can make you think like anything else as long as you take the time to do that, which is what I do here, ending with praying about it.

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 understand what it means to be a hero.