MARFAM FAMILY MATTERS, WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 9 OCTOBER. 2024

After eight centuries or more the Rosary continues to be a very popular prayer, for individuals, families, sodalities and prayer groups of many different kinds.  While some of us may think of the Rosary as a prayer for peace, praying with a string of beads has a very long tradition, also associated with praying the 150 psalms as the ancient desert fathers used to do centuries earlier. Devotion to Mary, grew over time in different forms.  A Dominican tradition attributes the Rosary as given to St Dominic, a contemporary of St Francis, by our Lady  in 1214, at a time when they were both preaching  against the sinfulness of society in their day.   These two 13th century saints, each in their own way, have left us a message that is equally pertinent in our society where greed, selfishness and violence are the order of the day.  In our current response to the serious social and environmental problems resulting from climate change is the world recognizing strongly enough that our greed and selfishness in the last 250 years are the main cause for many of the tragic events experienced in our time??   Are we humans taking our role seriously, taking responsibility, holding ourselves accountable, and acknowledging our own sinfulness in large and small ways? Are we listening to, and hearing the call of Pope Francis to interior and ecological conversion. He writes, “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, the water, the air and all forms of life. The earth “groans in travail,”  (Romans 8) in Laudato Si 2. The image of Groaning was a major theme in the recent Season of Creation. 

The rosary has been prayed in many situations, for help, comfort, and for specific causes, against gun culture, for peace as in the battle of Lepanto in 1571, when Christendom was threatened by the Turks, but recourse to Our Lady helped to win the battle in spite of overwhelming odds.   During World War I, in Fatima in 1917, Our Lady appeared and requested three little children to call on the world to pray the rosary for peace.  She also asked them to pray for the conversion of Russia. On 13 October 1917 the miracle of the “dancing Sun’ was witnessed by thousands of people.  Has the conversion of Russia truly come about?

Wars in our time are increasingly destructive and thousands of lives are lost while the earth, our Mother Earth,  is one of the most affected victims. We are very aware that 7th October 2024 marked a year since the massacre by Hamas of over 1000 Israeli people with others taken hostage. This resulted in the bloody war which has raged ever since in the Middle East now also involving neighbouring countries.  

Before the 7th Pope Francis had asked Catholics to pray and fast for peace as he has done on numerous occasions of war.  Is just one day of fasting and one Rosary for peace enough?  As we pray and reflect on the mysteries of the Rosary we are reflecting on our salvation history.  Should each recitation of the Rosary for peace not also be accompanied by an examination  of conscience, an acknowledgement of sin, personal and social, asking for  forgiveness and a decision to change our habits and lifestyle to a sustainable, lifegiving one.  That is the message of Laudato Si.   That is what Becoming Eco-Friendly Families, as expressed in MARFAM’s booklet should be about, for Mother Earth and all her children.   Equally important is it to pray for families , with and in families for which the booklet AN HOUR OF PRAYER FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE can be a resource.   These booklets can be ordered as e-books from www.marfam.org.za/shop TR FAMILY WEEKLY 9 OCTOBER 2024

A message from Pope John Paul II to families:  The most diverse messages and the most unpredictable experiences rapidly make their way into the lives of children and adolescents, and parents can become quite anxious about the dangers their children face. Parents suffer acute disappointment at the failure of their children to resist the seductions of the drug culture, the lure of an unbridled hedonism, the temptation to violence, and the manifold expressions of meaninglessness and despair.  To pray the Rosary for children, and with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. John Paul II.  

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY OCTOBER 9.

October 9.   Mrs Paulson had been contributing to a soup kitchen for some time for people coming to their parish once a week. Joan, her daughter, suggested “Why don’t we go together to visit St Therese, our twin parish, to see how things for the poor are there and how they are able to cater for all the people that come to them.  Maybe we can learn from them and contribute something there as a family.

Reflect, share, act. Scripture:  ”When you pray say,   “Our Father, give us today our daily bread.”   From Luke 11:1-4. Pope Francis: The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us.  He feels responsible.  As the Father loves, so do his children.  Just as he is merciful so we are called to be merciful to each other. MV9.   In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good becomes, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.   LS 158. Action and Prayer.  What do the words, “give us this day our daily bread,” mean for you? Pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love, so that walking together we may renew the face of the earth.