“Stories – The Universe’s, Jesus’ and Ours" - was the Sumedha Sadhana module last week.
Gerard Alvarez, former General Council Member and Province Leader of the Christian Brothers, used stories, movies and
rituals to integrate the previous modules of Sumedha
Sadhana, especially to experientially bring together psychology (the
explorations of the self) and
spirituality (explorations our relationship with God, others and the Universe).
The outcome of the module was to awaken and
deepen in the participants the sense of interconnectedness between themselves
and the universe and to arouse in them a deep respect for all created reality
and the presence of God in all these --holy ground--, and greater appreciation for the Word of
God expressed in both Sacred Scripture, the Universe and our human
relationships.
It also helped to bring together and
integrate more deeply a number of themes touched upon earlier.
The exploration various themes through stories
was embedded in the participants’ consciousness of their identity as priests
and religious.
The participants found the module
especially useful to deepen their spiritual journey.
Some typical comments:
“This module was very experiential. The
stories and the way they were presented touched me very deeply and provided new
insights for my life.” Poornima.
“Brother Gerard brought alive the
Scriptures for me. I am able to see the stories in a new light; they are
speaking to me in a new way.” Reena
“The rituals and exercises after the inputs
were very meaningful and helped to interiorise.” Emy.
“Brother took great pains to create very
meaningful liturgies.” Alex
“The movie Of Gods and Men helped to
create a better understanding and appreciation for religious community life” Gregory.
