Season of the Spirit week 5: Refugee Week (17–23 June)
By James O'Brien and Michael McVeigh
29 May 2018HOW WILL WE CARE FOR REFUGEES AS A COMMUNITY?
Welcome to week five, click the link below for how to get started with Season of the Spirit.
Introduction and suggested process
STUDENT PRAYER
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
PRESENCE OF GOD
We become aware of the presence of God among us.
NAMING MY DESIRE
To hear the cry of refugees.
READING: MARK 4:26-32 (NRSV)
[Jesus] also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
With many such parables, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
VIDEO: #Do1Thing: Helping refugees brings out their potential
Junghee decided to do one thing: teach English to refugees. She tells us why, what it means to her, and introduces us to her dog named Boo.
REFLECTION
Refugee Week is a time to gather heart and to look at the small things that bless the lives even of desperate people: the visits to detention centres, the supportive letters in the daily papers, the march for refugees that people in detention glimpse on the television news, the letters to politicians, the conversation that turns another person from problems to persons, the encouragement we give to people who have opened their hearts to asylum seekers for the long haul.
These small things do not free people from detention, close Manus Island and Nauru as overseas prisons, nor change the minds of the majority of Australians who believe that we should punish asylum seekers in order to stop the boats. But in doing these things we dig the small channels that, when the season changes and the rain comes, will irrigate the parched fields.
By Andrew Hamilton SJ
CLOSING PRAYER
Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.
CONVERSATION PROMPT QUESTION
What small thing can I do this week for refugees?
Download week 5 Student Edition PDF
STAFF PRAYER
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
PRESENCE OF GOD
We become aware of the presence of God among us.
NAMING MY DESIRE
To hear the cry of refugees.
READING: MARK 4:26-32 (NRSV)
[Jesus] also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
REFLECTION
Refugee Week is a time to gather heart and to look at the small things that bless the lives even of desperate people: the visits to detention centres, the supportive letters in the daily papers, the march for refugees that people in detention glimpse on the television news, the letters to politicians, the conversation that turns another person from problems to persons, the encouragement we give to people who have opened their hearts to asylum seekers for the long haul.
These small things do not free people from detention, close Manus Island and Nauru as overseas prisons, nor change the minds of the majority of Australians who believe that we should punish asylum seekers in order to stop the boats. But in doing these things we dig the small channels that, when the season changes and the rain comes, will irrigate the parched fields.
By Andrew Hamilton SJ
CLOSING PRAYER
Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.
CONVERSATION PROMPT QUESTION
What small thing can I do this week for refugees?
Resources written by James O'Brien. Edited by Michael McVeigh.
