September 27.  The family were welcomed in one small town by a faith-sharing group some of whom they had come to know.  A number of the participants had been affected by recent floods, followed by looting and rioting and in some cases family violence.  It seemed as if these misfortunes piled on top of each other had an overall negative influence on their community.  As outsiders Dad and Mom at first felt uncomfortable, but they sat quietly and listened carefully as they had been taught in their recent synodal training session.  The participants in the group  were able to pour out some of their griefs and anxieties without fear of not being accepted or being judged.  They shared about loss of family members, homes and possessions they had experienced.  At the end of the sharing they held a healing and commemoration prayer service, praying for consolation and for an end to violence and brokenness in their own family and community and for other families in the world.     .     

Scripture:  Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.  And Job said, “Let the day perish wherein I was born. Job 3:1. Pope Francis: There is the fact that people no longer seem to believe in a happy future; they no longer have blind trust in a better tomorrow based on the present state of the world and our technical  abilities. LS113.  We have to realise that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach. It must integrate questions of justice in debates so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.   LS49.   ECO-TIP AND PRAYER:  Talk about trust or conduct a trust-building activity in a social setting. Pray for an increase of trust in God’s goodness and that of others. Pray  Glory be…………