Laudato Si

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

18 December.  War.  Read, reflect, share, pray.  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…

Introduction.  An activity to prepare for and discuss the story which continues day by day until after Christmas.  The whole story is published in the booklet FAMILIES IN CREATION – HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. This is a family story for reading, sharing and discussing and…

15 December.  Good Governance.   King David. How do people regard kings and other leaders in our day?  There are far  less “royal families” and far more elected leaders. Which is the best model is a topic often debated which remains unresolved.   Are the kings and…

13 December.  St Lucy.   Ruth and Old Testament women. Lucy is revered as a young virgin martyr.  According to tradition, at the time when Christians were marginalized and persecuted, her parents wanted her to marry a pagan man and she refused. He was angry and…

12 December.  Arrive alive.  Saul and David.  In 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, I wonder,” Mom had asked.  “Probably all of them” was the answer. “But let us pray around…

11 December. God provides through his mercy.   Samuel.  Granny Mabel was getting ready to welcome all the family visitors to the farm, while the children and grandchildren back home were packing up and leaving their normal lives behind.  Jessica stopped to think….

8 December.   Immaculate conception. The women of the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception obviously had a great devotion to Mary, conceived without sin, by the special grace of God, as she was to be the mother of God’s Son.  They aimed to model their lives on Mary’s…

7 December.   Isaiah and the prophets.  Fr Pius shared, “The Greek word metanoia literally means turning and going in another direction.  That is what repentance really is.   How do we know what true peace and repentance are?   At the recent COP 30 Climate conference…

6 December.  St Nicholas.  On the last day of school, at their assembly, young Nick had been given a task to speak about St Nicholas, the original Santa Claus, who had been a bishop in the early days of the church.  He said, “The story is told that he was particularly…