MARFAM OVERVIEW FOR JUNE. Children belong in Families. Birth, childhood and growth into adolescence are the most vibrant stages in all of creation, human, animal and plant. Growth, and regrowth too, can often be stressful and conflictual. Ideally, in the security of a family first of all, the young need conscious protection, love, care and support, to monitor and direct their youthful energy towards full and responsible maturity. Many families today include members of different religions making Christian Unity week between Ascension and Pentecost a valuable time to promote unity in the diversity of their different faiths. Pope Francis: The gift of a new child entrusted by God to a father and a mother, begins with acceptance, continues with lifelong protection and has as its final goal the joy of eternal life. AL166. Only if we devote time to our children, speaking of important things with simplicity and concern and finding healthy ways for them to spend their time will we be able to shield them from harm, prepare them to confront the risk of aggression, abuse and drug addiction. AL 260. It is true that the difficulties youth experience in their own family can lead them to ask whether it is worthwhile to start a new family, to be faithful and to be generous. I say that it is worth your every effort to invest in the family, there you will find the best incentives to mature and the greatest joys to experience and share. Letter to Youth
JUBILEE. 9. Looking to the future with hope also entails having enthusiasm for life and a readiness to share it. Sadly, in many situations this is lacking. A first effect of this is the loss of the desire to transmit life. A number of countries are experiencing an alarming decline in the birthrate as a result of today’s frenetic pace, fears about the future, the lack of job security and adequate social policies, and social models whose agenda is dictated by the quest for profit rather than concern for relationships. In certain quarters, the tendency “to blame population growth, instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the [real] issues.”
A JUBILEE PRAYER FOR FAMILIES.
May the FAITH you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of LOVE enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, awaken in us the HOPE for the coming of your KINGDOM of love, peace and beauty.
As PILGRIMS OF HOPE and SIGNS OF HOPE in our families help us to plant the seeds of the gospel,
to care for and nurture them and so transform the Church, the world and all of creation. Amen
2025 WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY. Theme “Do you believe this? John 11:26
INTRODUCTION. This text is an abbreviated version of the full programme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity produced by the World Council of Churches. The provided resources included a Ecumenical Celebration of the World of God, a Worship Service and Intercessory prayers. Themes for daily prayers are followed by reflections from early Christian authors and each day concludes with a prayer and the Lord’s Prayer. FOR MORE DETAISL ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN UNITY WEEK go tohttps://marfam.org.za/marfam-thoughts-for-the-day-june-2025/ and google World Council of Churches. Christian Unity Week.
For this year, 2025, the prayers and reflections were prepared by the brothers and sisters of the monastic community of Bose in northern Italy. The material is offered with the understanding that it may be adapted for use in local situations and used at any time throughout the year to express the degree of communion which the churches have already reached, and to pray together for that full unity which is Christ’s will.
This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the first Christian Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea, near Constantinople in 325 AD. This commemoration provides an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians, as expressed in the Creed formulated during this Council; a faith that remains alive and fruitful in our days.
Convoked by the Emperor Constantine, the Council of Nicaea was attended by Fathers mostly from the East. The Church, having just emerged from hiding and persecution, was beginning to experience difficulty in sharing the same faith in the different cultural and political contexts of the time. Agreement on the text of the Creed was defining the essential common foundations on which to build local communities that recognised each other as sister churches, each respecting the diversity of the other. Disagreements had arisen among Christians in the previous decades. These disputes were on matters as diverse as: the nature of Christ in relation to the Father; the question of a single date to celebrate Easter and its relationship with the Jewish Passover; opposition to theological opinions considered heretical; and how to re-integrate believers who had abandoned the faith during the persecutions in earlier years. The approved text of the Creed used the first-person plural, “We believe…”. This form emphasised the expression of a common belonging. The Creed was divided into three parts dedicated to the three persons of the Trinity.
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The Church Unity Commission (CUC) in South Africa invites all Christian churches to find time to pray together and for one another.
“ In search of the unity for which our Lord prayed: “I ask that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Contacts: Website: www.churchunitycommission.org E-mail: [email protected] Telephone (021) 422 2744
PRAYER FOR WEEK OF CHRISTIAN UNITY.
(The prayer below is available in different local languages from the CUC.)
Lord God, our Father draw our eyes to you
so that together we may walk from darkness to the light of your face, revealed to us in Jesus.
Renew our faith in you and bind us together through your love,
so that we can recognise each other as your children, and come together as one
through your Son and our brother, Jesus, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Church Unity Commission requests that prayers be held for these various Christian churches as indicated.
29 May Feast of the Ascension: Pray for World Council of Churches, SACC, CUC, Ministers Fraternal
30 May Fatherhood and care of God who rules the universe: Is 63:15-1 Pray for Roman Catholic Church
31 May Creation as God’s work: Romans 8:19-23 Pray for Covenant Churches
01 June Seventh Sunday of Easter Pray for African Independent Churches
02 June The Incarnation of the Son: Jn 1:1-14 Pray for Anglican/Episcopal Churches
03 June The Paschal Mystery: Phil 2:5-11 Pray for Lutheran /Moravian Churches
04 June The Holy Spirit, the giver of life and joy: Jn 3:4-8 Pray for Presbyterian /Congregational Churches
05 June The Church, Community of Believers: Eph 4:1-6 Pray for Methodist Churches
06 June Baptism into the Death and Resurrection of the Lord: Matt 28:16-20. Pray for Reformed Churches
07 June Waiting for the Kingdom and the life to come: Rev 21:1-4 Pray for Orthodox Churches
08 June Pentecost Pray for Baptist/Pentecostal Churches
Material for each day of the Week of Prayer produced by the World Council of Churches.
June 1. Day 1. Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The fatherhood and care of God who rules the universe
Scripture: Isaiah 63:15-17. Psalm 139:1-3, 13, 23, 24b. 1 Corinthians 8:5-6
Patristic Reading From the Greek tradition. “Behold the mysteries of love, and then you will contemplate the bosom of the Father, which the only-begotten Son of God has revealed. God himself is love, and through love he is contemplated by us. And while in his ineffable reality he is Father, in his compassion he has become for us mother. Clement of Alexandria [c. 150-215], Which Rich Man Will Be Saved? 37:1-2
For reflection:
- How have you experienced God’s fatherly care and motherly compassion in your own life?
- What hinders us from recognising each person as a child of God?
- How does acknowledging God as the Father of all affect our perception of and relationship with others?
Let us pray.
Father of compassion, renew our faith in you and bind us together through your love, so that we can recognise each other as your children, and come together as one. We praise you through Jesus Christ, your only-begotten Son, the communion of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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