Introduction. February. Love gives Families life. Hope, built on faith is sustained by love.God creates out of love for love. As God is Trinity, God’s love is life-giving, creating, sustaining and renewing creation. Our task and gift as humans and life-givers is co-creation with God, from conception to natural death, nurturing relationships and caring for children. There is a strong focus on marriage, the ideal love relationship in this month’s reflections but loving relationships are one of the essential aspects of what family is all about, total, lifelong commitment. Love of nature and of creation sustain life in all of creation. The human and divine love of the Sacred Heart can teach us the way of love. Pope Francis: Love always gives life. The couple in giving themselves to one another, give not just themselves, but also the reality of children, a living reflection of their love. AL165. Loving human relationships are mirrored and carried forward in care for creation. Caring for trees and rhinos and rejecting unborn human life and the cry of the poor are not loving and fully lifegiving. Every creature is the object of the Father’s tenderness. LS 77.  JUBILEE 2025. Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross.  That life becomes manifest in our own life of faith, which begins with Baptism, develops in openness to God’s grace and is enlivened by a hope constantly renewed and confirmed by the working of the Holy Spirit. SNC/DN 

February 1. Blessed Benedict Daswa.  A respected school principal and family man, Daswa was stoned and killed by fellow-villagers in Venda on 2 February 1990 because of their jealousy and his opposition to witchcraft. One of Benedict’s friends, a principal, spoke about his attitude towards family life, “When men were at a District meeting, Benedict said, ‘Men should help their wives. For example, if there is a baby at home and the Mother is busy, the Father should take care of the baby. The time has come for men to realise that we can do women’s work.’ Some men used to laugh at him, saying that he was overpowered by his wife. Benedict Daswa’s response. ‘You will be looked down on if you are the boss in the family, yet do not help your wife, and expect that the women will do everything for you. Biologically, we are meant to help one another.”  He was beatified as South Africa’s 1st martyr in September 2015.    Visit www.benedictdaswa.org.za  for info.

Reflect, share. Scripture:  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  Matthew 13:45-46.  Pope Francis. By their witness as well as their words families speak to others of Jesus.  They pass on the faith, arouse a desire for God and reflect the beauty of the Gospel and its way of life.  AL 184. JUBILEE   The most convincing testimony to hope is provided by the martyrs. Steadfast in their faith in the risen Christ, they renounced life itself here below, rather than betray their Lord. Martyrs, as confessors of the life that knows no end, are present and numerous in every age, and perhaps even more so in our own day. We need to treasure their testimony, in order to confirm our hope and allow it to bear good fruit. SNC20.   Prayer and action: reflect seriously on your personal response and take what action is possible.