MARFAM FAMILY WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 18 SEPTEMBER 2024

The very popular scripture passage from 1 Corinthians 13 on Love is …..  is the reading for today, this Wednesday. In my daily thought from Becoming Eco-Friendly Families I noted that “God’s love is the life force present in all of creation. Lifegiving is a very special attribute and gift from God. Sexuality and procreation are physical aspects of love and are the reality in almost every form of created life, human, animal and plant.”  Love, health and happiness can and do go together although not exclusively, as love’s many attributes like patience, kindness, humility and generosity manifest strongly too in difficult times.

Marfam has been teaming up with the Johannesburg Archdiocesan Justice and Peace department during the Season of Creation. The launch on 31 August saw us involved in tree planting towards completion of the quite remote and still unfinished Johannesburg Archdiocesan Mother of Mercy Shrine complex in Magaliesburg. My giving out indigenous easy-growing spekboom cuttings there and on my parish visits promote Becoming  Eco-Friendly Families and also reveal to me particular and relevant issues faced in the different communities. The archdiocese is made up of black, white, coloured and Indian families, ranging from richer mainly northern suburbs Johannesburg parishes to poorer, middle class, working class and township parishes and informal settlements. Clearly there are some situations in common but also a wide variety of types of family situations with regard to marriage, parenting, the elderly, work and more.   

I visited Riverlea parish which is 50 years old and was founded for a coloured community in the early days of township settlements.  It is right in the middle of a number of very large man-made mine dumps and dams resulting from the extensive gold mining in the area.  This is the cause of a number of health hazards faced by the families.  The Riverlea Mining Forum, some of whose members are part of the Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Social Action department, are constantly seeking justice and compensation. They have negotiated with universities and specialist agencies to conduct research but little on the ground help has been forthcoming from government or industrial mining houses as they address the serious health concerns of poor air quality, pollution and water contamination.  Incidents of respiratory diseases, cancer and cataracts are higher than average.  Also a major concern is the state of the land, left after mining ceased, where the soil is now hardly suited to any kind of agriculture. There are many open and abandoned mine shafts where illegal mining is linked with dangerous crime, threatening even the police. In such a location young adults move out to greener pastures leaving elderly and children behind in this less than healthy environment.  Like many poorer areas and derelict parts of inner cities anywhere, the demographics of such a community have tend to change dramatically over the years.      

Gold mining has been the foundation of the somewhat ironically named “world-class city” of Johannesburg. It produced  much wealth for a proportion of its citizens from the time of the first of many gold mines from 1886.  George Harrison park, although a heritage site, is now, like others, an unhealthy derelict “park” where the number of abandoned mine shafts are the happy hunting ground of Zama zamas, i.e. the city’s well-known illegal local and foreign miners. Many other residents of the township of Riverlea are less than happy with their lot and are grateful for those willing to highlight this cause, even in a small way during this Season of Creation. Taking up the message of Hope and Action I tried to contribute some health and happiness and to raise the spirit.  We promoted the ideal of eco-friendly families with our BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILY booklets and  distributed many cuttings of the environmentally friendly indigenous spekboom to the families of the congregation. We hope they will be planted, take root and grow to combat pollution and do their tiny bit for love, health and happiness in this compromised but committed community of St Maria Goretti, Riverlea, Johannesburg.  

Pope Francis:  Underground water sources in many places are threatened by the pollution produced in certain mining, farming and industrial activities especially in countries lacking adequate regulation or controls.  Unsafe, drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.   This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding.  From  LS 29-30  

Good and open  communication are key to health and happiness. However, at any stage of life, and no matter how hard we work to avoid it, sickness and debilitating chronic disease can upset family equilibrium and cause much stress. Patience, tolerance and love are likely to be tested to the limit. Support on many levels is necessary for the sick and their carers.  Happiness should nevertheless not make families inward looking but be an invitation to look further, at the greater family of creation, the needs of others and the joys that can be shared.   

TR FAMILY WEEKLY 18 SEPTEMBER 2024

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY SEPTEMBER 18.

September 18.   LOVE GIVES LIFE – LOVE KEEPS US TOGETHER.   (From BECOMING ECO-FRIENDLY FAMILIES)        

Ask yourselves or one another, “What do I really love?”  It is said, “No person is an island.” Human beings have been created by God with inherent needs to love and to belong, to be in relationship. God, as the Trinity, is the first and most perfect love relationship and our model for the way of love. Family relationships, marriage and parenting in particular, are ideally prime examples of unconditional love and acceptance, because they naturally last across the years, even if members don’t see each other all the time. Other relationships between people of all ages, friendships, interest groups and physical attraction are aspects of love and deep commitment too but may change over time.

God’s love is the life force present in all of creation. Lifegiving is a very special attribute and gift from God. Sexuality as a gift from God, is a family gift. The ideal experience of a loving marriage relationship gives life to the spouses as well as to children. Sex is one expression of the physical aspect of life-giving and is the reality in almost every form of created life. Love is also present in different degrees in all of creation, human, animal and even plant life, as is now being studied. For example trees communicate and have the ability to protect themselves and warn other nearby trees when a hungry giraffe passes by. A visit to a National Park and observing the behaviour of a family of elephants or warthogs or a wounded cheetah, still striving to protect her cubs, is heart-warming and teaches about life and love in nature. However humanity has been blessed with the greater potential for psychological and spiritual love.

Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Love is patient, love is kind………….Faith, hope and love, these three remain and the greatest of these is love.  1 Cor 13 ……………   Pope Francis:  Love always gives life.  Conjugal love does not end with the couple.   They, in giving themselves to one another, give not just themselves but also the reality of children, who are a living reflection of their love, a permanent sign of their unity and a living synthesis of their being a father and a mother. AL 165. For Christians, believing in one God who is trinitarian communion suggests that the Trinity has left its mark on all creation. Creatures tend towards God, and in turn it is proper to every living being to tend towards other things, so that throughout the universe there are any number of constant and secretly interwoven relationships. LS 239-240.   

Eco-tip and prayer: Carefully read and share on the famous passage on love.  1 Cor 13.Explore how animals and plants are able to relate and communicate.  Thank God for this ability.  

ACTION AND PRAYER.    A FAMILY PRAYER.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed Trinity. You have shown us how to love, to be God’s family. 

We’re sorry for the things we’ve done to cause another pain, make us willing to forgive and so be whole again.  

Bless our family today, keep us in your care,, old and young, or sick and healthy, those no longer there.

Help us care for others too, Jesus showed the way. May every home be home for God, now and every day.  Amen