November 12th  On his travels Bryan had come across a good number of programmes that cared for families experiencing loss.  There was Grief Share, Divorce Care, Compassionate Friends and other support groups and counsellors.  Quite often the people involved had experienced the situation themselves.  He kept asking himself, “Does helping someone in need necessarily make one feel good or do we do good because we feel guilty or out of a sense of obligation? Does an attitude of care and of the common good – lead to the joy of helping?   

Scripture: There was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man. And there was a widow who kept coming to him saying, “vindicate me against my adversary”. Luke 18:1-8. Pope Francis:   To turn our backs on a grieving family would show a lack of mercy, a loss of a pastoral opportunity and close the door to other efforts at evangelisation.  AL 253. Those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the lookout for what they do not have.  They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them.  LS 223