August 24.  Sunday 21C.   Fr Thabo asked the congregation,” who is the disciplinarian in the family? Man or woman, father or mother or some other person? I can remember when I was a child my mother used to threaten us by saying,  ‘Wait until your father comes home!,’  I think those days are long past. Partly because there are too many absent fathers. They may be alive and around, but not within the family or in another family. I can also ask, ‘do they exclude themselves or are they excluded for various reasons.   Let us do our best to bring fathers back, to share in disciplining their children.”

Scripture:  The Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son who he received.    What son is there whom his father does not discipline?”  Hebrews 12:5-7.  Pope Francis.  “Manhood itself seems to be called into question. “At first this was perceived as a liberation from the father as master, as representative of a law imposed from without,  an obstacle to their freedom. In our day the problem no longer seems to be the overbearing presence of the father so much as his absence.  Fathers are often caught up in themselves, their work and their own self-fulfilment. Authority is often considered suspect. They become uncertain and fail to offer sure and solid guidance to their children.  A reversal of the roles of parents and children is unhealthy.  AL176-177  In the Christian vision of the Trinity, God is contemplated as Father, Son and Spirit of love. The triune God is a community of love and the family is its living reflection.   AL 11.   JUBILEE. “At the oment of judgement we experience and we absorb the overwhelming power of his love over all the evil in the world and in ourselves. The pain of love becomes our salvation and our joy”.     Act and pray. For the needs of families of all kinds to grow in love and acceptance.