MARFAM FAMILY WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 18 December 2024

Are we ever really ready for some important event?   In my family there has been a wedding as well as a silver wedding anniversary at this time.  Those directly involved had a very hectic time, crazy but exciting.  I was on the sidelines so could sit back and get on with my own, my other MARFAM and year end stuff, but even so there are always some glitches like coping with the very general 5 day water outage for large parts of Johannesburg. Distractions too of course are like the right dress or outfit, the right present, and have I got my time right?  Then in the end does it really matter that you stressed all night over what to wear, and then the weather puts a spoke in the wheels any way.

Those are or were really very minor readiness issues these last few days, but Christmas is yet to come with a new bunch of readiness concerns for almost every family in the world. Advent itself is a very important readiness season, one for expectations and for hope.  One reflection could be on expectant parents, pregnant moms and dads too.  Ready for going away on holiday or a family home-coming for workers and their families?   There may well be traumas around plans that need reconciliation and should be dealt with rather than be avoided and risk spoiling the party.  Safe travelling decisions have been noted on the news as the focus for the 2024 Arrive Alive campaign in order to cut the usual road accident and death rate of this time.    

But much as our holidays are important and even a necessary break from the rat race, Jesus is the Reason for the Season.  Jesus as a baby yes, but much of the Advent liturgy is about his 2nd coming and the signs of the times which are pretty clearly visible.  There are wars, earthquakes, volcanoes as well as extreme weather. Heat in the northern parts of South Africa, even up to 40degrees is a great challenge.  Extreme cold in the northern hemisphere and the very tragic reality in the war-torn countries of Ukraine and Russia where suffering is great during winter as history of wars tell us.  It often hardly matters whether one is the aggressor when their people are innocent civilian bystanders too.  Everyone suffers, the men, and women too, in the trenches and those left at home including millions of children – also those abducted – suffer great hardships. Every person and family in Gaza is a victim as are war victims everywhere.  Pope Francis constantly makes the point that war is a defeat for everyone  as he calls for peace everywhere.

So are we, the whole world and its families, ready for Reconciliation?  It is a choice for us humans, but affects every element and aspect of all of creation.   The Day of Reconciliation on December 16 is the secular feastday commemorated in South Africa. The Church, unfortunately in my view, takes very little notice of this event.  It was up to the State President to call us all to order, to examine our diversity, our differences and divisions and address the need for Reconciliation.  I found myself studying the image of the Voortrekker Monument, a very important symbol for the Afrikaner people and their beliefs that God was on their side and they made a vow to remember it, as the Day of the Vow, or the Covenant. That belief is today rejected in South Africa along with the evil of apartheid.  The day and this time in our history is now one of remembrance and a call to Reconciliation for all citizens but also in every aspect of our own lives too.  

MARFAM’s Advent programme, A Children’s Peace Pilgrimage, is built on a story I wrote way back in 2005 while on a pilgrimage to Israel. The booklet, Where are you going Pilgrim Friend?  will be one of my   resources for the 2025 Holy Year, as Pilgrims of Hope.   

The Holy Land is divided even within Christianity. Many of the special holy places in the Holy Land are owned and administered by different Christian groups. In Bethlehem, in the Church of the Nativity the main entrance is a tiny door through which pilgrims enter, humbly bowing their heads.   The interior of the church over the Cave of the Nativity is also divided between the different Christian groups.  At the presumed site of the birth of Jesus,  I found myself crying almost uncontrollably, and wrote: “It was in this place that I experienced the greatest sense of presence, not a joyful one, but rather a great sense of desolation at the diminishing presence of God in our world.   I experienced two emotions, one was feeling almost motherly and protective towards the infant Jesus and the second also a sense of solidarity with him and his mission. Are we to be missionaries as well as pilgrims?“  So this was my prayer poem in 2005. How relevant is it today?

Were you there little infant king when we entered through the low and narrow door, humbly entering the sacred space that marked your birthplace in this oldest church and my spirit was touched by a presence?

Were you there, little infant king as this place was built and fortified, helplessly held in your mother’s arms, while the churches war over your ownership?  Is your presence divided among them too?

Are you there, little infant king as we still find our way through the narrow gate seeking life and love, your gifts to us. But the nations and churches in helpless confusion, seeking truth, turn away from your presence, little infant king?

Are we ready?  In a week’s time the great doors in Rome will be opened to announce the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year. Will Pilgrims of Hope begin by choosing the way of Reconciliation.   TR  18 December 2024.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 18 DECEMBER. 2024. A CHILDREN’S PEACE PILGRIMAGE DAY 3.

18 December.  Read, reflect, share, pray. War.  Grandpa Joseph had been a catechist and had studied some of the history of Israel, the Holy Land, where Jesus lived and died 2000 years ago.  He explained how many times, before and after Jesus, it has been invaded, wars were fought and villages were destroyed, people were captured and taken to foreign countries. According to the Bible God was always on their side, even if he was punishing them for not following his laws. The Holy Land has been ruled by different nations for 3000 years, already long before the time of Jesus. Seldom has there been peace in the land for long, also not in the other nearby countries. In our day Israelis, mainly Jews, and Palestinians, who are mostly Muslims, live there and at present there is no peace. A brutal surprise attack happened on October 7, 2023.  Hamas, a militant group in Gaza, a part of the country, wanting to overthrow the Israeli government invaded villages, killed many family members and captured others, taking them away as hostages. Israel’s army retaliated and the war that followed almost immediately, using all kinds of the most modern weapons is one of the most horrific and brutal wars imaginable. The whole world could watch on TV and social media as the tragedy unfolded of more than 45000 deaths including up to 20 000 children.   Massive destruction and thousands more injuries of innocent Palestinian people, who found themselves in the way of the warring parties, continue.

“Who is ultimately responsible?” “How and when will the air strikes, bombing, and killing end?” “Is the end of the world about to happen?” people were asking. “But what can we ordinary people and our families do?”  “Pope Francis has asked us to pray every day for peace and an end to war, all wars, which as he keeps on saying, is a defeat where no one ever wins.”  Many world leaders tried to stop the war, and to mediate but Israel demanded the return of their hostages, before they would stop and so carried on their attacks against Hamas, who with other groups who became involved as well, send rockets and missiles into one another’s countries. The Archbishop of Jerusalem even offered himself in exchange for the release of captured children.  People have been asking, “Was and is it a war between different religions, or was it political, ethnic, between different groups of people, and about land?”   Scripture:  The Lord turns his face against the wicked to destroy their remembrance from the earth. Where the just cry out the Lord hears and rescues them in all their distress. Ps 34. Pope Francis:  War is a defeat. Always. PRAY for a just peace, built on Reconciliation in countries that are at war, Work for Reconciliation as an attitude towards life.