Over the last few weeks, the Mission Enhancement Team hosted the FaithLIFE Scripture Short Course with Dr Michele Connolly RSJ. In three sessions, participants explored how the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, in their own particular way, tell the story of Jesus as God’s way of restoring people and all creation into right relationship with God.
Participant Annie Pinto from Mary, Queen of the Family Parish, Blacktown, reflects on her learnings below.
I recently had the pleasure of attending an adult faith formation event offered by the Mission Enhancement Team. A short course on scripture with Dr Michele Connolly, rsj. Over the course of three nights, Sr Michele took us on a journey through the world of the synoptic gospels. I found these evenings particularly nourishing because both my head and my heart were captured and I came away with a new framework to engage with scripture, one so simple and apt I couldn’t help but smile when it occurred to me – storytelling.
Over the three sessions, we got a brief introduction to the timeline of 1st Century CE – from Jesus’ birth until the writing of the Gospel of John, the last of the four. This part was especially interesting for me because it gave me a historical context for the scriptures as we know them today. The first stories and anecdotes that abounded among Jesus’ contemporaries were collected to “preserve the Jesus experience” and then shared with a new generation of followers and believers. This was accomplished through the time-honoured tradition of oral storytelling.
This ‘hidden in plain sight’ aspect of the Gospels really appealed to the story lover in me. Now, when I add the drama and theatre of the oral storytelling tradition to the Gospel reading, I find that the scripture readings take on a new layer of meaning and depth. I will be using this along with the Ignatian imaginative prayer to deepen my journey through Holy Week this year. After all, Jesus himself was a great storyteller and knew the power of stories.
Each evening, Sr Michele would highlight particular words or phrases and sometimes take us on a little etymological journey. One word that recurred every night was ‘resolute’. It was the word used to describe Jesus when he set out for Jerusalem towards the end of his ministry. Sr Michele reminded us that Jesus knew what he was letting himself in for. He knew the risks involved. He knew his actions and words would invite serious consequences, yet he chose to stand up for what he believed in. He knew what would happen to him in Jerusalem. He knew and he still went.
Reflecting on this over the days since these sessions led by Sr Michele, I have come to a realisation that I cannot let myself be held hostage to the ‘guilt’ that Jesus died for me because this mentality absolves me of my duty of being an active apostle. If I am to “set the captives free”, I need to act and stay the course. This then is my Lenten prayer – to dare to be ‘resolute’ like Jesus.
