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Resources FOr LEnt and easter period 2016

(february 10th - may 28th 2016)

« Forgiveness and Reconciliation »

United in FriendshipSean MooreL’Arche IpswichUnited Kingdom

Part 1/4 (February 10th TO 26th)

EVE-Lent and Easter period 2016-Part 1/4-EN 2/18

Introduction

For the first time we have provided resources from Ash Wednesday right through to Pentecost. In our communities we can be very good at celebrating the events of Holy Week - the washing of the feet, the last supper, the crucifixion, but we are not so good at celebrating resurrection. Yet the Easter story culminates at Pentecost with the birth of the Church, followed by Trinity Sunday.

We are very aware that this material is Christian and is provided for a Christian season of the year. If you are of another faith tradition then do ‘translate’ this material in any way that corresponds to your own faith.

Introduction - What is the difference between Forgiveness and Reconciliation ?

by Ruth Patterson, Presbyterian Minister

Over the next seven weeks we will be reflecting on encounters of forgiveness, followed by nine weeks on the journey of reconciliation. Reconciliation and forgiveness are not the same.

Forgiveness only needs one person.

It is important for me, for you to forgive whether or not I am ever reconciled with the person or group with whom there has been an estrangement. Forgiveness is a process that I can embark upon myself. Obviously reconciliation would be the desired outcome, but even if it doesn’t happen, it is still very important for us to engage in the process of forgiveness. It is vital for our health and wellbeing, both individually and collectively and for the power that is released in the unseen world all about us whenever such a step is taken. Forgiveness betokens a generosity of spirit, a heart that, even although it has been wounded and broken, can still say ‘Welcome!’ It means, if you break the word down, ‘to give something before’. It is an acknowledgement that we all form part of a common humanity, sinned against and sinning. Yet, within the grace of God, and in the mystery of relationship, that common humanity can bring its brokenness together and, in the midst of all that is not understood, can still move together in the power of forgiving love. So in these first seven weeks comprising Lent and Holy Week we will be looking at encounters Jesus had with a very diverse humanity. In each, those encountered become more themselves as they know themselves accepted, loved, forgiven.

Reconciliation takes two. It has something to do with giving us back to each other or maybe recognising for the first time the gift that we are to each other. It has something to do with walking together again. It is always a journey. Sometimes it can seem as if we are taking one step forwards and two steps backwards. During the weeks between Easter and Trinity Sunday we will journey with those who struggled and prayed and sought to live the resurrection modelling peace-making, inclusion, reconciliation and community.


It is our prayer that as we reflect on these encounters of forgiveness and on the journey of reconciliation, we might be encouraged and enabled to put both into practice – not only with the people who cross our path on a daily basis, but that we might deepen our encounter and our journeying with God himself. In doing so we will find our lives, and the life of our communities enriched, empowered and blessed.

How to use the material - by Hazel Bradley

This year Ruth Patterson has provided reflections for each week. Ruth is a Presbyterian Minister from Northern Ireland who founded Restoration Ministries. She has worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation over many years and is now the Protestant Church Leader who works with L’Arche International.

There are also contributions each week from all around the federation, all on the theme of “Encounter”. The theme was chosen as a way of helping us, in this year of learning more about forgiveness, to become aware of the unconditional loving gaze of God on each one of us.

Use the material as you will, either for personal prayer and reflection, in small groups, in community gatherings, or in daily prayers in homes, workshops or offices. Adapt them, especially in ways that make them accessible to the people in your community and to your culture (see the notes on accessibility from the Advent Prayer Resources); add to them, use only the parts that speak to you; or use them at another time of year that seems more appropriate for your community if that seems right. Use them in whatever way is life giving for you and your community.

Each week you will find: • a reading • a reflection on the reading by Ruth Patterson• a story • a suggested activity for the week• an image

As you pray with these resources you may like to think ahead to the International Federation Meeting which will take place in 2017 in Belfast to which you may bring your own concerns, reflections and experiences about forgiveness and reconciliation.

Do give feedback on how you have used the material: [email protected]

Hazel BradleyLeader – Forgiveness and Reconciliation Project

“ Joy” Katarzyna MierzwiakL’ Arche Wroclaw, Poland


Summary of Each Week

ENCOUNTERS OF FORGIVENESS

Dates Topic Country Textweek 1 10 – 13 February A Transforming

EncounterAUSTRALIA Luke 19: 1 - 10

Zacchaeusweek 2 14 - 20 February An Encounter of

CelebrationPHILIPPINES Luke 15: 11 - 32 The

Prodigal Sonweek 3 21 – 27 February A Reciprocal

EncounterEGYPT John 4: 4 - 26 The

Samaritan Woman

week 4 28 Feb – 5 March A Challenging Encounter

ZIMBABWE Mt. 18: 21 - 35 Forgive 70 times 7

week 5 6 – 12 March A Compassionate Encounter

SWITZERLAND John 8: 1 - 11 Woman taken in adultery

week 6 13 – 19 March Encountering Forgiveness

ARGENTINA Luke 23: 32 - 34 Father forgive them

week 7Holy Week

20 - 26 March Encountering Humility

UK John 13: 1 - 17 Washing of the Feet

THE JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION

Dates Topic Country Textweek 8Easter Week

27 Mar. - 2 April Going deeper CANADA John 21: 15 - 19

week 9 3 - 9 April Bringing peace HAITI Jn. 20: 19-23week 10 10 - 16 April Modelling

forgivenessBELGIUM Acts 7: 54 - 8: 1

week 11 17 - 23 April Breaking down the walls

JAPAN Ephesians 2: 11 - 22

week 12 24 - 30 April The gift of inclusion

ITALY Acts 11: 1 - 18

week 13 1 - 7 May Restoration USA Letter of Philemonweek 14 8 - 14 May Love SLOVENIA 1 Cor. 13: 1 - 7, 13 week 15Pentecost

15 - 21 May A new beginning GERMANY Acts 2: 1 – 8

week 16Trinity Sunday

22 - 28 May The Beloved Community

FRANCE Acts 2: 42 - 47


WEEK 1 (10-13 FEBRUARY)A Transforming Encounter – The Story of Zacchaeus

Prepared by Cindy Treanor and members of L’Arche Hobart in Australia

BIBLE READING

Luke 19: 1 - 10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

ZacchaeusJoel Whitehead


REFLECTION - by Ruth Patterson

The name Zacchaeus means the pure and righteous one – not the words that would immediately spring to mind when we think of the little tax collector from Jericho. In fact, this story is all about how he reclaimed his name and his true place in the family of God through his meeting with Jesus.Having read his story as told by Luke, you might like to think about the following:

• Zacchaeus is regarded as a traitor and a cheat by his fellow countrymen. But his wealth could not buy him peace or happiness.

• One day when his discomfort with himself coupled with his desire to see Jesus become greater than his caution, he runs and, risking more ridicule, climbs a tree.

• When Jesus enters Jericho it is as if his sole purpose is to meet with Zacchaeus. This is a very intimate encounter. Jesus calls Zacchaeus by his name and invites himself to Zacchaeus’s house. But more than that, he invites himself into the hidden home that is Zacchaeus’s inner being. Zacchaeus welcomes him to both. In that secret place transformation takes place. Zacchaeus repents, that is, he sees things differently.

• In this encounter he discovers who he really is, a broken and beloved child of God. It is this revelation that enables him to go public, standing up in front of those whom he had cheated and who had formerly treated him with contempt and pledge restitution. In fact what emanates from him is a tidal wave of generosity, far exceeding what anyone could have expected.

• Jesus stands with him in his reclaimed identity as a child of God – his name now something to rejoice in: Zacchaeus – the pure and righteous one.

• True forgiveness always transforms.

Lessons from a “bad day.” - by Cindy Treanor (L’Arche Hobart, Australia)

It was a Monday afternoon and two of the ladies and I were heading home to their house for afternoon tea. We arrived home and were welcomed by Greg, who they also shared their house with.

Greg is a very welcoming man so when he wasn’t smiling to greet us we knew that something was wrong. Even though he wasn’t his usual self he still welcomed us in and we began getting things ready for afternoon tea together. It was my turn to get the drinks ready so I set about doing this. Hannah, Heather and Greg sat together at the table.

After a little while Heather noticed that Greg really was very sad. She immediately made her way to the other side of the table and began to comfort Greg. She listened to him and then offered to share a gift of chocolate she had received that day. In hearing her kind words Greg began to calm himself. He then talked about how hard his day had been at work. He said it had been a bad day.


In telling his story, and in the midst of this loving atmosphere created by his friends, Greg slowly began to return to his usual outgoing self. He then offered to assist Hannah with her afternoon tea, which is something he delights in doing most afternoons. His mood was still a bit quieter than usual but even so his friendship with Hannah called him out of his sadness. She beamed at him which speaks far more than any words could. She is a woman who talks through the expressions on her face and the sounds she makes to let us know how she is and how she feels about each of us. Greg began to talk some more but you could still tell that he wasn’t feeling the best. The love of his friends was making a difference but there was still some way to go for his recovery to be complete.

On noticing this Heather began to talk about the local Agricultural Show they were planning to visit later that week. She asked Greg about the sort of show bags he liked and offered to help him to choose which one he would like to buy. Even though she was interested in looking this up for herself she put her interests to one side so she could help Greg to decide what he wanted. They then spent a long time looking at these on her tablet.

Slowly, as they spent time together, Greg began to relax and put aside the feelings from his bad day. The transforming effect of Heather’s kindness, Hannah’s smile and Greg’s concern for and desire to assist Hannah even though he wasn’t feeling good, are a true story of how love transforms each of us in its own way. It doesn’t mean that we are happy all the time but it does mean that love and real friendships help us to bring out the best in each other even on those “bad days”.

I am grateful to Heather, Hannah and Greg for allowing me to share this story and for the lessons they have taught me as we share our lives in L’Arche and through the bad day transformed by love.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Zacchaeus was disliked because people saw him as a sinner. He must have felt bad. Jesus noticed this and wanted to spend time with him, to be his friend. Greg was unhappy for other reasons, but his friends also noticed it and wanted to spend time with him, to show how he was their friend, to make him feel better. What can you do to notice someone and make them feel better, happier, maybe less lonely?

Greg, Heather and Hannah

L’Arche Hobart, Australia


• Heather’s kindness and Hannah’s smile gradually transformed the way Greg felt. When you feel lonely can you accept the offer of friendship from someone else, as Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus, and as Greg accepted the kind attentions of Heather and Hannah? Or do you stay aloof ?

• In the drawing you see many examples of people being friends to one another. How do you show friendship to other people ?

ACTIVITY - Suggested by Peter Ryan (L’Arche Australia)

Zacchaeus in the sycamore-fig tree reminds us of our call to really see, to notice, to be attentive… not to be blind, as Jesus said.

The tree in the story recalls how earthly and rural, how close to nature, are the settings of so many of the gospel stories. Here in Australia we start Lent in autumn – a time of harvest & abundance, a time of collecting seeds with all their potential for new life in the spring ahead. Our church and world leaders are asking us to notice the cry of our earth and to change our lives so that our earth can be healed and flourish, and for the sake of our sisters and brothers. Pope Francis writes,

« Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concerns for this planet never take away the joy of our hope… God has united God’s self to our earth, and God’s love constantly impels us to find new ways forward »(Laudato Si” #244-5).

• Spring and autumn are the busiest time for farmers and gardeners. How are you participating in that in your Community and around your house?

• Are there some new bulbs or seeds that you can help plant? And then watch and notice all the wonderful changes that take place over the days, weeks, and months ahead?

• Jesus wanted so much to feast with Zacchaeus, and also to help Zacchaeus see who was hungry and missing out. Lent invites us to be generous, reflecting God’s abundance – who, or what organisations, can you support during our Lenten journey?


PRAYERS – a suggested format :

• Say the Our Father together• Read Luke 19: 1 - 10 • Have a time of silence• Take time to reflect on any of the material offered above • Prayer: (This is the same prayer every week except for the second line. Maybe you could

learn to sign it. One person could say and sign each line, and then everyone else repeat with the same signing).

Jesus, help us to see others as you see them – with love and compassion.Help us like Zacchaeus to right any wrong we have done.Help us to be able to welcome those who are different from us, those we find it difficult to like.And thank you that you love us, just as we are, today and every day.Amen.

• The L’Arche Prayer • Appropriate songs if wished.

Artwork by Rennie Jaurigue & Sylvia Cross, L’Arche Hobart, Australia


WEEK 2 (14-20 February)An Encounter of Celebration – The Prodigal Son

Prepared by Letlet Paulino and members of L’Arche Punla, the Philippines

BIBLE READING

Luke 15: 11 - 32

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”

Artwork byJohn Paul Paculan, L’Arche Punla,The Philippines


So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’

Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’

Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”


Traditionally this story has been called the Parable of the Prodigal or Lost Son. Actually it is a story of two sons. It is debatable which son is more lost – the younger or the elder. It is certainly true that the younger, recognising what he has been saved from and seeing, as if for the first time, the love of the father, is freed up to truly celebrate. The elder is blinded by a sense of grievance and is not free to join the dance!

Having read his story as told by Luke, you might like to think about the following:

• The younger son has everything and more that he wants/needs. He lacks one thing – awareness of his good fortune. He craves the ‘good life’ that soon turns into the bad life when his money is gone.

• Deserted by his fair-weather friends, alone, destitute, in the pigsty he awakens to the goodness and love that he had treated so lightly. He sees things differently (repents) and sets out for home.

Artwork by Venice Montejo, L’Arche Punla, The Philippines


• He has many preconceived notions as to the sort of reception he will get on his return. These are turned upside down when the father, who has never given up watching and waiting for him, runs to meet him. There is no lovelier image of forgiving love in the Bible than that of the father running to embrace the beloved who was lost. The father immediately welcomes him with signs of family membership and honour – robe, ring and sandals.

• The younger son discovers who he really is. He now knows himself both broken and beloved and is set free in his inner being to celebrate.

• In contrast, the older son has never left home. He has done all the right things but inwardly he is not free. He is equally loved, but he doesn’t know it.

• When his brother returns and there is celebration, he cannot join in. He remains outside, trapped in his baggage from the past – his resentment, his jealousy and his self-righteousness. He cannot celebrate.

• He refuses to acknowledge his brother. When the father entreats him with words of love and affirmation, he rejects them in anger. The father holds out the promise of restoration of relationships that can only be discovered by coming inside. The elder refuses and remains locked in a prison of his own making. The love of the father remains constant and generous but can only be experienced through openness and vulnerability.

• Celebration is a central component of the forgiveness process.

REFLECTION - by L’Arche Punla (with the permission of Mariflor)

Here in the Philippines, our community, Punla, welcomes core members who have been abandoned. Punla took them from an institution where many abandoned children with disabilities are provided primarily with their basic needs rather than letting them stay in the streets, neglected. But in Punla we also help them to grow and bring out the best that they can be!

Mariflor is one of the core members we welcomed. She grew up on the street where she became exposed to vices which she learned from other street children: smoking, gambling, drinking, swearing a lot and “being abused for money”.

During the first 1-2 months of staying in Punla, Mariflor followed the everyday community activities and tried to impress the assistants with what she could do. But then she started finding the activities in the community too limiting, not exciting enough, and she started to have troubles with other community members until the day when she threatened to leave the community and live on the street again. She packed her things and left Punla.

Some neighbours who own a “mini store” noticed her sitting on the street, gave her money and convinced her to go back to Punla instead of begging on the street, as in Punla the people take care of her, they said, and she can attend the daycare programme just like other children who go to school. This all happened in one day. She returned to Punla in the evening and asked forgiveness for the way she behaved and treated other community members.

The prodigal sonSieger Köder


This happened 9 years ago. She was just 14 years old. Now Mariflor has just turned 24 and she is a beautiful young lady, very loving and caring to other community members. She helps us to announce the gifts of her fellow core members and is proud to be with them. She learned a lot and now can be counted on by others in the house, especially in cooking. She cooks very well and we are looking forward to the time when she can start having her own small business in cooking and handicrafts. Now she’s saying that if she ever leaves Punla again, it is not to go back to living the way she used to live on the street but to be able to live out confidently what she learned in Punla!

Mariflor likes the story of the Prodigal Son because it reminds her of her previous life. She is thankful that she decided to return and live in Punla. She feels she is welcomed well and says that God is the one taking care of her and that he loves her as he does the other core members. She never thought of leaving the community again, even when she encountered difficulties living with other community members, especially new assistants. She now knows how to control her emotions and also the bad habits she learned on the street. Now, whenever she sees children running on the street she looks at them with kindness. But she is also very protective of assistants by reminding them to take care of their things while walking on the streets. The assistants are also learning from her qualities of openness, her lack of inhibitions, her willingness to communicate with others and her constant desire to learn!

God loves us so much! When we go astray, he sends people to help us realize His goodness and love. He allows us to stray but never abandons us totally, because He knows that the first love we experience is His love. Once we realize the difference between the kind of Love He gives us from the kind of love we get in this world we will return to His love, which is everlasting! It keeps flowing!

ACTIVITY

Punla worked on the ideas below as a community over 4 weeks (see 2 of the resulting paintings above)

• Look at different images of the Prodigal Son e.g. from “I Meet Jesus” by Jean Vanier or from the International Resources for L’Arche Family Day found on the International Meeting Ground under Events – L’Arche Family Day 2015 (EVE-LArcheFamilyDay-2015-EN)

• Read “The Prodigal Son” by Henri Nouwen

• Act out the story: the narrator could describe the scenes and ask questions as the story progresses, encouraging people to continue unfinished sentences ….

E.g. Invite people to suggest the vices the youngest son indulged in. At Punla people suggested smoking, partying; drinking; buying clothes and jewellery ( see the first painting)

• Then look again at the images and finally draw your own images


• Share your own experiences of the Prodigal Son Story or ask specific people to share part of their life story e.g. a board member, an assistant, a person with a learning disability, a family member –what is it like to be a father or mother, a son or daughter…

• Reflect on which character in the story you relate to. Find a symbol or draw an image of this. Share in small groups.

• Have a celebration to acknowledge /affirm/identify the different characters in the story that relate to your own personal story and to give thanks for how our compassionate God loves us unconditionally!

PRAYERS – a suggested format:

• Say the Our Father together• Read Luke 15: 11 - 32• Have a time of silence• Take time to reflect on any of the material offered above • Prayer: (This is the same prayer every week except for the second line. Maybe you could

learn to sign it. One person could say and sign each line, and then everyone else repeat with the same signing).

Jesus, help us to see others as you see them – with love and compassion.Help us like the Prodigal Son to have the courage and humility to ask forgiveness.Help us to be able to welcome those who are different from us, those we find it difficult to like.And thank you that you love us, just as we are, today and every day.Amen.



week 3 (21-27 february)A Reciprocal Encounter – The Story of the Samaritan Woman

Prepared by Suzie and the whole community of Al Fulk, Egypt

BIBLE READING

John 4: 4 - 26 (Jesus) had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”

The Woman at the Well Sieger Köder


The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”

Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”


This is one of the best-loved encounters in the Gospels. A Jewish man and a Samaritan woman meet on the borders of a divided country. Every conceivable obstacle to dialogue exists between them – culture, religion, politics, gender. Yet this encounter is one of deep intimacy and dialogue that enriches both parties – Jesus and the woman.

Having read this story as told by John, you might like to think about the following:

• Jesus crosses the barrier of their difference by being vulnerable, declaring his own need. This shocks the woman and there results a revelatory and deep exchange, not only about the woman’s past but about the nature of God and the living water of the Spirit.

• She is able to receive from Jesus because she experiences, perhaps for the first time in her life that she is precious, respected and beloved.

• It is too easy to sum her up as a loose woman with little understanding. She could not have entered upon such a dialogue unless she had been a thoughtful, searching person. They encourage each other, drawing each other out. She is the first person to whom Jesus reveals his true identity.

• When the woman runs back to share the good news with her fellow towns-people, she leaves her water jar behind. It is like a symbol of her old identity left at the feet of Jesus. A new life is opening up before her. She knows herself both broken and beloved and becomes an image bearer of hope for others.

• Tradition gives this woman a name, Photine, meaning ‘the luminous one’. She becomes a shining witness to the transformation, the new life that Jesus brings.

• Both Jesus and the woman go on their way encouraged. The exercise of forgiveness enables us to see ourselves and others more clearly.


REFLECTION - by the community of Al Fulk, Egypt

“But he needed to go through Samaria” … Out of our desire to grow as a community, we had to move from a house in the desert to a house in the city. For 12 years we`ve been living in isolation from society. Then in 2010 we bought a house in the city. It was ready for us to move but we were afraid.

After the 2010 revolution erupted in Egypt the situation was very difficult for Christians, especially prior, and during, the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of what analysts called “the political Islam movements”. There was so much hatred and anger towards Christians. The neighbours treated us terribly; they would curse us in the face. We were filled with fear while they were filled with rejection, and we kept spinning in this vicious cycle for 5 years, 5 years sitting by “the well” and not able to drink. We were thirsty

and kept asking for help: water, electricity, bread - but the answer was always the same. “You are a Jew and I’m a Samaritan woman,” / “ We are Muslims and you`re Christians.”

“We have this living water,” we said, “and we can share it with this society that has so many difficulties and is in desperate need for love, understanding and peace.” So we partnered with a well-known, Hispanic, Sacred Heart nun, who treats burn victims and dermatology diseases. Specialists from her centre

come to our house where they offer the medical examination for free. That was the living water that saturated our society with love, mercy and hope. This transformative relationship that has altered the Samaritan “woman”, allowed her to open her heart and made her less reluctant and skeptical.

What happened from that moment on was pure magic. We organised a “Mothers` Day Party” for the moms of our core-members along with mothers from our neighbourhood. We also host medical convoys once a month, and we have also organised a “Ramadan fast breaking (Iftar).” Because: “Whoever drinks from that water shall never thirst.”

Now the same people who used to swear at us show up at our door-step with presents, asking us constantly if we need anything, and they know our core-members by name.

Hatred has transformed into support, continuous and mutual tenderness and reconciliation.

May God fill our hearts with peace and mercy even if it seems impossible to achieve in our countries.

A Ramadan Iftar (the breaking of the fast and the end of the day during Ramadan) with members of Al Fulk, L’Arche Egypt


REFLECTION QUESTIONS

• Have you ever been insulted, treated badly, or been rejected by someone? • How might you reach out to this person?

ACTIVITY

• Have a bowl of water at the centre of your prayer space representing the well in the bible text.• Offer each other water to drink.• Share any story that this story from Egypt reminds you of.• Pray for peace between people of different faith traditions.• Pray for peace in our world.• Pray for greater unity between people who are different from each other.• Reach out to people of another culture or faith tradition: visit their place of worship, or invite them to one of your community’s celebrations.• Find out something about a celebration of another faith tradition than your own.

PRAYERS – a suggested format:

• Say the Our Father together• Read John 4: 4-26 • Have a time of silence• Take time to reflect on any of the material offered above • Prayer: (This is the same prayer every week except for the second line. Maybe you could learn to sign it. One person could say and sign each line, and then everyone else repeat with the same signing).

Jesus, help us to see others as you see them – with love and compassion.Help us find ways to reach out and befriend those who are different to us, as Jesus did with the Samaritan Woman.Help us to be able to welcome those who are different from us, those we find it difficult to like.And thank you that you love us, just as we are, today and every day.Amen.


A drawing of the Iftar by Hany Zaki Habib, a member of Al Fulk, Egypt

resources for lent and easter period 2016 - l'arche usa · resources for lent and easter...

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