MARFAM WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 15 APRIL 2026

Brief overview of MARFAM April theme.  GOD AND FAMILY.  The Joy of Love is God’s plan for all his creation.   God, as Trinity is a family and every human family, not only as separate individuals but as a unit, is an image of God to mirror the love relationship of the Trinity.  St Francis in his Canticle of the Creatures, praises God for all creatures, brother sun, sister moon, mother earth.  These inanimate creations through their being offer their praise. Human families are especially gifted with the additional power of understanding, to love, but also to hurt and to forgive because of love. Through bearing pain, in a unique way we offer honour and gratitude to the Trinity.  Pope Francis:The Joy of Love, experienced by families is also the joy of the Church. AL 1 Within the family which could be called a domestic church, individuals enter upon an ecclesial experience of communion among persons which reflects, through grace, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. AL86.  The Trinity has left its mark on all creation.  LS 238. 

Pope Leo is very fond of referring to society as brothers and sisters. I ask myself whether there is more to that generalization that can be beneficial to human society too, such as a reference to families which he also makes in his speeches.  

The MARFAM FAMILY YEAR PLANNER notes the April theme as GOD AND FAMILY.  From my personal reflections I have found that there appear to be some different approaches there that can be unpacked.  There is what the church, scripture and the catechism teach us about the family.   There is God and Family – side by side.  There is God experienced and present in a Family.  

The Bible, especially the Old Testament is full of family stories, and often how they relate to God. Adam and Eve at first were created as “very good.” But through the Fall this relationship changed, the perfect friendship was lost.   God however remained a loving Father, or some would say Parent, to them. Starting with the sibling relationship of Cain who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy, family relationships with God had many ups and downs. There were husband and wife issues, often brothers feature, sisters much less often, but extended families are linked with their relationship with God.  The Holy Family is presented as the ideal AL325.   

The 4th Commandment specifically speaks of the family, “Honour your Father and your Mother” The catechism  unpacks it, describing  the nature of the family in the plan of God.  “Marriage of a man and a woman united in marriage form a family, ordered to the good of the spouses and procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationship and primary responsibilities.  In Christ the family becomes the domestic church, because it is a community of faith, hope and of charity.” Duties of parents and of children towards one another and society are outlined and parents’ responsibility is to educate their children in the Christian faith, by example, prayer, family catechesis and participation in the life of the Church.

The question one can ask then, “Should there be a particular emphasis on the family and its needs in the life of the Church?” This is an aspect of personal importance to me.  The Church in the liturgy frequently refers to family, or the family of God, but this is generally in a generic sense,  similar to calling everyone brothers and sisters.  We need to look more deeply into God in the family, in particular the family as a unit rather than as individual members.    

GOD IN THE FAMILY.  A more detailed focus on families and different members’ “personal relationships” mentioned above has begun to come to the fore since the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes 48. with a long section on marriage, its theology and a spirituality – referring to the couple’s call to holiness and fulfilling their baptismal calling. This aspect is not very often considered in normal church life, where couples and couple power could be seen as a particular expression of faith.

Subsequent papal documents of Paul VI,  John Paul II and Benedict  developed this theology and spirituality more and marriage and family movements began too to incorporate this approach. Marriage Encounter presented couples and priests with a vision of sacramental marriage as their sign of God’s presence in the Church and the world.   Pope Francis has opened the door wider for me. In Amoris Laetitia he writes “the triune God is a communion of love and the family is its living reflection.” AL 11.  Laudat Si, ON CARE OF OUR COMMON HOME  makes references to the Trinity and all the families of creation, which has become a big MARFAM focus.  

Marriage and family movements should be about the realities, hopes and fears, joys and anxieties of God in the family and pastoral care of families, dealing with issues of domestic violence, broken communication  should be holistic and family-centred, from within the family unit.

MARFAM’s focus since 1994 and the African Synod’s model of Church as the Family of God together with Vatican II noting the family as the domestic church of the home have been our inspiration.  The whole Church is God’s family and the human family in its various forms is its living model, called to be an inspirational model.   

Family ministry apart from teaching some catechism and doctrine more abstractly, should be “from the heart” about God’s love and the ways and means to find God present “in our house,” our context.  Family catechesis through example, prayer and family dialogue, is the task of families themselves.  

Should parishes be parish-centred focusing on liturgy and sacraments that are administered in a parish or in, for and to families at times in their own home. Family prayer meals, family reconciliation, remembering our dead and our baptism,  welcoming new birth are contextual and expressions of faith too lived out at home.

Is our prayer meaningful or can we learn to converse with God together, as a couple or family, from time to time?  Is synodality not first of all experienced in family dialogue?   

So we begin to ask where is God right within this marriage and family relationship. In their daily living, their sexual relationship, their parenting, their growing old together, or losing “their other half.”  “God lives in the space between us” is a powerful image for living one’s marriage.

Our prayers may often be mechanical or routine, but should ideally be from the heart, relationship-based and about our daily lives, praising God, giving thanks, and  bringing our wounds to share with Jesus on the cross and our joys in thanksgiving to the Father and the Holy Spirit.  During this year may the joy of St Francis experienced in all of life but even in his most painful moment be a source of family joy too.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

April 15. SEE.   Gloria continued the sharing from the day before.  “You can see that not everyone thought like those followers, willing to give up everything. What intrigues me is that the Jewish leaders were jealous that those people were so committed to their beliefs and to each other that they were prepared to give up what they owned.  I wonder if the leaders had a guilty conscience because they were not living the way they should. I can learn something from that too. I must admit, that in a strange way, I do feel resentful or even jealous sometimes when I see really good committed people.” 

JUDGE. Scripture: Filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in prison. At night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said,  ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.’  Acts 5:17-19. Pope Francis.  The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us, he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.  I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the earth as the home which we share. LS13. Pope Leo:   A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight, but only men and women to love is the Church that the world needs today.   DT 119       Reflect, share and act, pray.  How do we feel about how active our family is in this regard?

CALLED TO JOY 
I called you by name, I your God, community of love. 
I called you out of love, for love. 
I called you from your mother’s womb to live my Word and spread my Word
In intimate communion, in relationships, 
To be family, to be church.   My family, my church.
I called you to love. 

I called you to unity, “be one as we are one.”
I called you to give : Whatever you give to these little ones in my name you give to me.”
I called you to peace: “Happy the peacemakers, they shall be called children of God.”
I called you to be children, be parents, be spouses, be lovers. 
I called you to be. 

I called you to grow, to become, to be yourself,
To live my life in this world, mine and yours. 
I called you to experience who I am, a God of intimate relationships 
Mirrored in your most intimate familial moments of passion, 
Of life, of birth and death, of growing and learning through hurting nd healing. 
I call you eternally to joy.