October 30. SEE.  Family meals. Such times can be successful, happy or disastrous, depending on the food and drink, who is present, what the mood is like and how the conversation is guided. Prudence asked, “Have you ever considered setting a place for Jesus at the dinner table?  That might seem silly but it can be a visible sign of an invisible reality.” “Like a sacrament you mean?” shouted Stuart who was always a bright spark. “In Luke’s gospel there are up to 16 stories of how Jesus ate with anyone, formally and sometimes in large groups. But also in twos and threes & anywhere & everywhere – even with people who hated him!”   ‘Yes,’ Dad added, “At meals he acted as a “Wisdom Figure,” providing food for thought along with food for the body.”  

JUDGE. Reflect, share, Scripture. One Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees and they were watching him. Jesus healed the sick man and said, “Which of you having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a sabbath?” Luke 14:1-6. Pope Francis.  When a family is welcoming and reaches out to others, especially the poor and the neglected, it is a symbol, witness and participant in the Church’s motherhood.  Social love as a reflection of the Trinity is what unifies the spiritual meaning of the family and its mission to others.    The family lives its spirituality by being a t one and the same time a domestic church and a vital cell for transforming the world. AL 324. Pope Leo:  The family is a primary social good. Founded on the enduring union between a man and a woman, it is the first environment in which all persons develop their potential, become aware of their dignity and learn the earliest forms of truth and goodness, internalizing the habits that prepare them for life in society. As the first natural society, endowed with foundational rights, the family is the fundamental and irreplaceable cell of every community organization.  Consequently, when political projects and major economic decisions relegate the family to a marginal or secondary role, the authentic growth of the entire social body is compromised.  The family, however, is a fragile social good immediately affected by the economic and technological transformations reshaping the nature of work. MH165-6

Daily Prayer for Mission Month October, Year of St Francis and upcoming Local Elections in SA.  

Heavenly Father, during this Mission month, we praise and thank you for the gift of your love and the riches of your creation. As missionary disciples we answer your call to walk in the way of peace.  We lift up to you all leaders of nations. Grant them an open heart and a listening ear to hear the cries of the poor and the needy. Bless all missionaries, protect them from harm, strengthen their hearts in times of trial, and fill them with the joy of your Spirit. As we prepare for the elections and a renewal of society for the common good we acknowledge our shortcomings and faults. We hear the needs that call for help to build a united country under God, as a family of all the families of creation.  Mary, Mother of the Church and of the Rosary pray for us. St Francis, our model and patron saint of all of creation pray for us. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen