MARFAM FAMILY WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER. 24 SEPTEMBER 2025
What we are really talking about this week, still in the context of the SEASON OF CREATION is OUR HERITAGE. Our own personal and family background and life experience is an important aspect of who we have BECOME. For this time, MARFAM’s THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY many of them taken from the booklet BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILIES, focus on this aspect. The reflection below is from a couple and ministry perspective, but my personal experience of being born in the Netherlands, near the end of WW II and losing my father to cancer at age 7, coming as immigrants for a better life to South Africa has no doubt influenced me. I came with my widowed mother, my 2 sisters, and my mother’s sister – my godmother, who was quite a social activist. All this has had an impact on who I have BECOME.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY September 22. BECOMING (From BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILIES)
MARFAM’s history of over 30 years is a journey in faith, a journey of becoming more and more family-centred. Originally in 1979, we, Chris and Toni Rowland had experienced a life-changing conversion through Marriage Encounter, gaining new insights into the value of marriage for couples and the Catholic Church. This led to our work in marriage preparation and gradually, also as our family grew, into family ministry. We came to appreciate the importance of family life as a network of relationships and the ideal place to begin to learn the many life skills required to become mature and well-functioning persons in a social setting.
Growing and becoming are life tasks at every stage of life from infancy to old age, through marriage, widowhood, divorce, parenting and grandparenting. After Chris’ untimely death in 2000 the journey of becoming continued for me, Toni, into widowhood. My spirituality in time has become more ecological, understanding too more fully, God as Trinity, God as creator and our human role as co-creators with God through lifegiving sexuality which is God’s gift and is intrinsic in all of creation.
Becoming Fully Human and Fully Alive is a psycho-spiritual view of growth and development that everyone undergoes in their own way as an individual and also in the context of their relationships. I am a woman, not in isolation but in the context of my family relationships first of all. After that my friends and colleagues, in school, work and other activities, help me on my way to becoming the person I am destined to be according to God’s plan.
At the same time there is also a need for privacy. “Why do people keep some of their traditions and cultures a secret? People may be welcoming but seldom really get to share or know other people’s personal traditions. Is it privacy, fear, embarrassment, not wanting to be challenged, or superstition?“ But through social media everyone can get to know everything about everybody. “I also believe that we often keep things that worry us to ourselves.” “Maybe we ought to be more open about teaching important values e.g. about loss of biodiversity or how properly to Care for our Common Home.” “Communication in a family is important to help persons grow and become but can be really tricky too, to keep a proper balance.”
Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Jesus said “no one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. Luke 8:16-17. Pope Francis. Ecology involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense. It is more than what we have inherited from the past; it is also and above all a living, dynamic and participatory present reality which cannot be excluded as we rethink the relationship between human beings and the environment. LS 132. Pope Francis: In the family we receive an integral education which enables us to grow harmoniously in personal maturity. The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures as everything is interconnected. LS 240.
Eco-tip and prayer: Reflect on and discuss the value of privacy or openness in communication for our common good. DAILY PRAYER. God of love show us as families how to be channels of Your love for all Your creatures. Pour out Your Spirit upon us as we pray and work together to tend the garden and foster peace with creation.
The MARFAM THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY are built on the scripture of the day. These might sometimes seem almost unrelated until we find how they can be applied to the current message and reality. Quotations from Pope Francis’ documents are very helpful for our catechetical and spiritual formation too. September 24th is Heritage Day in South Africa and while it is great to celebrate NATIONAL BRAAI DAY, as some of us do, the Season of Creation and its theme PEACE WITH CREATION invite us to look further than dressing up in traditional clothes, and eating one another’s traditional foods, to the values we bring with us.
Pope Leo’s message for the Season of Creation was on SEEDS OF PEACE AND HOPE and part of the message consider how SEEDS GIVE LIFE TO THE FUTURE.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY September 24. Heritage Day. THERE IS HELP, THERE IS HOPE. (From BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILIES). For us believers, Christians, or members of other religious faiths, even if our life and our particular situation seems hopeless and we are helpless, or feel helpless, our trust in God can sustain us. Practical help comes from somewhere, from God, our sense of community, and most often our family members are the first recourse.
How can the effects of climate change be so devastating for us and our family? Have we given up hope? Weather related conditions can be slow torture or quick devastation. Drought and heat are a slow creeping disaster, with the constant hope for rain to bring relief. Hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes can bring wind, excessive rain and floods bringing sudden, even unexpected destruction. Hope for things to change and for relief remains, and help is provided by private, community or government resources.
Pope Francis in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti gave the example of the Covid pandemic where in spite of their fear and anxiety, so many ordinary people came to the rescue and helped where they could: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, storekeepers, cleaners, transport and public safety workers and many volunteers.
Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases and he sent them out to preach the Kingdom and to heal. “Take nothing with you,” he told them.” Luke 9:1-6. Pope Francis from message for Day of Prayer for Creation 2024. The life of a Christian, is one of faith, active in charity and abounding in hope, as we await the Lord’s return in glory. Christian salvation enters into the depths of the world’s suffering, which embraces not only humanity but also the entire universe, nature itself, and the oikos, the home and living environment of humanity. Salvation embraces creation as an “earthly paradise,” mother earth, which is meant to be a place of joy and a promise of happiness for all. Our Christian optimism is founded on a living hope: it realizes that everything is ordered to the glory of God, to final consummation in his peace and to bodily resurrection in righteousness, as we pass “from glory to glory.”
We are not exempt from pain and suffering: the whole creation groans (cf. Rom 8:19-22), we Christians groan (cf. vv. 23-25) and the Spirit himself groans (cf. vv. 26-27). This expresses apprehension and suffering, together with longing and desire. It speaks of our trust in God and our reliance on his loving yet demanding presence as we look forward to the fulfilment of his plan, which is joy, love and peace in the Holy Spirit. Eco-tip and prayer: Healing the damage to the world demands changes in behaviour. Discuss, adopt and promote Reuse-Reduce-Recycle not just as a practical campaign but as part of a prayer campaign for the care of creation in one’s wider community. DAILY PRAYER. God of love show us as families how to be channels of Your love for all Your creatures. Pour out Your Spirit upon us as we pray and work together to tend the garden and foster peace with creation.
Other topics in the THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY are “WE ARE CO-CREATORS WITH GOD,” “DISCERNMENT” and CHILDREN DESERVE A FUTURE. These are taken from the booklet BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILIES. Other relevant booklets for this time are OUR HERITAGE, FAMILIES CARING FOR GOD’S CREATION and most recently FAMILIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE. To obtain contact Toni Rowland on +27 825521275 or [email protected] or visit the website to download the reflections from www.marfam.org.za TR FAMILYOUR
OUR catholic HERITAGE. Where on earth do you think you came from and where in heaven do you think you’re going?
Our people came here from Ireland
And china and Zambia too
From cities like Munich and Lisbon
And London and timbuktoo.
A lot of them care here by ship
‘cause there weren’t any aeroplanes yet
Or they walked a very long way
Were they scared of the lions?
You bet!
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