Ojo de Dios and Lent

Go to your room to pray, let no one see you fast and do not let your left hand know that your right gave alms. The Father who sees in secret will repay you and will do so openly. (a paraphrased summary of the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, Mt. 6:16,16-18)

History and Significance of the symbol
Christian acculturation saw the beauty in the symbol which Spanish colonists discovered in the 1500s who renamed the eye of God or Ojo de Dios.  Both the Huichol and Tepehuan Indians of Mexico, as well as the indigenous people of New Mexico, created the woven
 
Locations of Huichol and Tepehuan Indians
            Online map pictures can be found
            Also, check out The Map of Native American Tribes You Never Seen Before
                                  Show both American and Mexican tribes
 
How to make

1. Various Youtube sites will show you the process that ranges from 2 minutes to 8 minutes long. Option: a Youtube site that also shows how to make an ojo de dios mandala.
2. Resources: teachables.scholastic.com/…/ojo-de-dios; “Yarn God’s eye ojos de dios-lessons-Tes Teach 

Use
Consider making and hanging on a large cross or tree branches in a central location before Ash Wednesday.  As the symbols are hung read the gospel for that day orally as a group or individually.

1. Prayer

Prayer intentions such as the following could be used:

For all indigenous people, especially the poor and the marginalized that we may find ways to help support families.
For an increase of religious vocations to help serve indigenous people and that we may find ways to support those vocations.
For an end to the violence indigenous people experience and that we may find ways to help create peace.
 
(If I may ask for a special intention? Recently I read that many Catholics don’t seem to care about a lack of religious vocations. I was shocked. Please pray for an increase of concern that will lead to action in support of more religious vocations.)
 
Prayerfully read Scriptural passages about the eyes of God.
Genesis 6:8
Proverbs 15:3
2 Chronicles 16:9
Habakkuk 1:13
Psalm 32:8
Psalm 33.18
Psalm 94:9
Psalm 17:8
Psalm 121:1
Job 34:21
1 Samuel 16:7
1 Peter 3:12
 
Also prayerfully consider the phrase “God will repay.”  Do I really believe that God cannot be outdone in generosity?
 

2. Almsgiving

Because the endpoints represent the four elements of earth, water, wind and fire, perhaps and the ecological project could be started such as recycling, planting flowers that are bee and butterfly friendly, or making compost for a garden.

3. Fasting