OVERVIEW: APRIL Eastertime. God and Family. God, as Trinity is a family, the perfect community of love. Every human family, as individuals and a unit, is an image of God, and as a family is called to mirror the relationship of the Trinity. St Francis in his Canticle of the Creatures praises God: ”We praise you Lord for all your creatures, brother sun, sister moon, brother fire, sister water, mother earth and all creation. To you O Lord do they belong, you created them and they bear your likeness.” Humankind is especially gifted with the power of understanding, to love but to hurt and to forgive, because of love.  How has the image of the Trinity been disfigured as fire, water and wind are today such destructive forces? Are we ready to collaborate to repair the damage we have done?    Pope Francis: God is a family. The Father is the ultimate source of everything, the loving and self-communicating foundation of all that exists. The Son, his reflection, through whom all things were created united himself to this earth when he was formed in the womb of Mary. The Spirit infinite bond of love is intimately at the very heart of the universe, inspiring and bringing new pathways. The world was created by the three persons, acting as a single divine principle. The Trinity has left its mark on all creation. LS 238-239.  Within the family which could be called a domestic church individuals enter upon an ecclesial experience of communion among persons which reflects, through grace, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. AL86.     

April 1. Easter Monday, Family Day public holiday SA.    

The Permanenti family decided to have some word fun and so they shared:

They call it FAMILY DAY, here in the RSA.  At work or when they play, we call it holiday. because we’ve worked and prayed and played ………… this long weekend of holy-holi-days!

We thank you God for F-A-M-I-L-Y. F for Father, M for Mother, I and Y-ou complete the team, with L for Love the in-between. 

There are many family days, – 365 days of every year, when in reality families need to be clothed and fed, housed and loved. What special meaning can we put on Easter Monday as a family day at the end of a presumed whole long weekend of holy family time?   There are also many kinds of families with as many situations, both happy and sad. Some with a father, many with a mother, some with an I and a you.    We’re also becoming more and more aware of the whole family of creation, its ecosystems, its plants and animals and the many different relationships that exist within and between elements of creation.  Let this day be an opportunity to praise and thank God for showing us the way to relationships, for the gift of family life, for the gift of our own families, for reflecting on the needs of all families and calling our political leadership to responsibility while we ourselves can reach out and do something really concrete for an underprivileged family. 

Reflect, share. Scripture: Read the relevant scripture passage.   On the day of Pentecost, Peter lifted up his voice and addressed them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem let this be known to you and give ear to my words.  This Jesus God raised up and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit he has poured out this which you see and hear’. Acts: 2:22-33.       Pope Francis: The triune God is a communion of love and the family is its living reflection. Our God in his deepest mystery is not solitude but a family, for he has within himself fatherhood, sonship and the essence of the family which is love. That love in the divine family is the Holy Spirit.  AL 11. When a family is welcoming and reaches out to others, especially the poor and the neglected it is a symbol, witness and participant in the Church’s motherhood. AL324.