4 December. A strong House.  Isaac. Father had always said, “a strong family needs a strong house.” Mom would laugh and reply“A strong house needs a strong family.”  They hadn’t always had a decent house, at one stage had lived in a shack. It had taken their strong relationship, their faith and commitment to hard work that had been the resource they needed to progress in life, practically and spiritually.  Mom wondered, “I don’t know why so many people still build their shacks on the edge of a river. With the weather we’re having these days, heavy rains, big storms and flash floods, they are likely to lose their house and everything in it. They do get warned, but do they listen?” There is a little known story, in Genesis 26, about water and Isaac, Abraham’s son who inherited his father’s property. He became wealthy himself with may flocks and herds. There were battles over water and wells that were dug and sabotaged by enemies, but God blessed Isaac and renewed the covenant he had made with Abraham, Isaac’s father. Another family story tells of family conflict with Isaac and Rebecca and htheir two sons, Esau and Jacob.,

Reflect, share, Scripture:  Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell, and great was its fall.  Matt 7:24-27.  Pope Francis:  The Judeo-Christian vision of the cosmos defends the unique and central value of the human being amid the marvelous concert of all God’s creatures., but today we are forced to realize that it is only possible to recognize that human life is incomprehensible and unsustainable without other creatures. Together we form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion that fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect. LD 67,  Act and pray:  Pray for wisdom to use this time to build strong and sustainable families and homes.