Food for the Journey

Kim von Lanthen

Married with three kids and has various business interests.

An experience of parish life is that it is a collection of families and people on the periphery. Together through the Eucharist we come together and before long we are waving out to each other on the street and borrowing tools from each other. When there is tragedy, or someone dies, the parish envelops us with support. Each person is unique, each family is very unique, but a parish seems to have a wholeness about it. A parish can’t be easily broken apart and it attracts others in and before long they are curious about God.

Due to circumstances that have still yet to make sense, in our parish we were no longer to have Sunday Eucharist, but there would be only a Saturday Vigil. Saturday evening can be a hard time to make fit so a small group of us decided we would take a leaf out of the Food For Faith book and meet for Lectio Divina. We got a pretty cool response from church officials so rather than going into the church we sat out in the sun. Five years later we’re going strong and we have had so many amazing experiences.

Each Saturday a text goes out to about twenty people who have long been intimately involved with the parish. At twelve-noon on Sunday whoever can make it comes along. Sitting in the sun under the eaves of the parish church we read the day’s gospel, reflect on it and whatever else might seem important. Then we pray. We pray in thanks for all the good things happening around us and we pray for those we know to be suffering, followed by the Our Father and a Hail Mary. Finished in half an hour it’s not a big time commitment but it makes a great difference to the week as the week unfolds. Snippets of what we discussed and prayed come floating back, food for the journey.

The most surprising thing is the people who have drifted in to join us. One lady visiting the area ran past us twice and said she was out for a run and felt compelled to stop by so she ran back again. She leads a similar group in her home town and we were able to compare notes. Another person was driving by and stopped as this was their childhood church and they wanted to say hi and we were able to reconnect. The most interesting has been Paul and his Chinese wife. Sometimes when we arrive, they are sitting there waiting for us. They seem to like talking to us and enjoy the discussion on the gospel. We think they might be about to more formally start the journey into the church.