I’ve always had a feeling of synergy when working with my friend and colleague, Tom McGrath. All he has to do is open his mouth and share some insights and wisdom and I immediately feel like I can turn it into an activity that others can use and benefit from!
Recently, Tom led a reflection for a small group that I was participating in. He invited us to think about the qualities and characteristics of Jesus before we entered into reflection on a Scripture passage. I found that as I was thinking of specific qualities that Jesus has, my mind immediately sought examples from my own life to compare. For example, when I thought of Jesus as having the characteristic of being compassionate, I thought of my mom. When I thought of Jesus having the characteristic of being creative, I thought of my friend and mentor, the late Fr. Jack Daley. And so on. I realized that, when I see or think of these people, I am seeing examples of the face of Jesus in my life.
It occurred to me that this would make for a wonderful activity to invite people to participate in so that they could see who in their life reveals the face of Jesus to them. This simple activity would involve the following steps:
- Invite participants to place the title “The Faces of Jesus in My Life” at the top of a piece of paper.
- Beneath the title, have them draw tables of six or eight rows down and three columns across.
- In the first column, invite people to list six to eight characteristics that they find in Jesus.
- In the second column, invite them to write down the names or initials of someone in their life who best exemplifies each particular characteristic.
- Invite participants to find pictures of these people and to paste copies of the pictures in the third column, next to their names and characteristics.
I put together a prototype that you are welcome to use. Enjoy! And thanks, Tom McGrath, for inspiring another wonderful idea!
Be the first to comment