Laudato Si

21 December. Read, reflect, share, pray. Sharing stories.  First Brother Francis sent messages to other Franciscan brothers all over the world.  They found many boys and girls who had suffered when there had been war in their countries and they began to…

20 December. Read, reflect, share, pray.  Conversion.   When Busi was old enough he was sent to the local mission school. That was where he heard more about Jesus, the greatest king of all, a strong king who did not make war but believed in peace. Busi…

19 December. Read, reflect, share, pray. Children and war.  Grandad Joseph and Granny Mabel knew a bit about war, as they had experienced some political fighting in their own part of the country, just as they knew was happening elsewhere, with children so often the…

17 December.  Read, reflect, share, pray.  Pilgrimage.  To prepare for their family Christmas weekend Grandad Joseph and Granny Mabel decided to tell a story that they had put together with Granny Toni.   Some of it came from their own…

A CHILDREN’S PEACE PILGRIMAGE. A Christmas parable for our time for families. Introduction.  An activity to prepare for and discuss the story.  Read: This is a family story for reading, sharing and discussing and telling in simpler form to young children….

December 15.  Sunday Advent 3C.  Live in Joy! Three candles are lit if you have an Advent wreath and we pray to live in joy!  Fr Teddy looked around the congregation and noted that it had grown much smaller as people had started to go away.  Nevertheless, he greeted…

14 December.  Arrive alive.  For an end-of-the-year project the children had made a poster of the 10 Commandments. “Which ones should we be aware of at this time,” Mom had asked.  “Probably all of them” was the answer but they agreed, “Let us pray around the 5th…

13 December.  Lucy is revered as a young virgin martyr.  According to tradition her parents wanted her to marry a pagan man and she refused. He was angry and denounced her as being a Christian at the time when the Christians were persecuted. She was tortured for her…

12 December.  God’s mercy.  Granny Mabel was getting ready to welcome all the family visitors while the children and grandchildren back home were packing up and leaving their normal lives behind.  Jessica stopped to think. ”When we go away on holiday we easily forget…