Laudato Si

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…

MARFAM WEEKLY FAMILY MATTERS NEWSLETTER What a mouthful that. Happy- sure, hymfilled is my theme today, holydays – not just holidays. Liturgical music is a special treasure for me and many others I believe, especially  when it comes to Christmas time. I very much…

10 December.  Ethics.  “Grandad do you really have a hundred sheep here on the farm?” George asked “and would you go searching for one that is missing?” “My child, I have much more than a hundred sheep and we do count them.  But things are different these days.  We…

9 December. The Power of Forgiveness. Michael shared with Sharon, “You know that when we did training for marriage preparation I was quite challenged by the idea that couples through their Sacrament of Matrimony have the grace of forgiveness.  It’s not exactly the…

8 December. Advent Sunday 2C.  Repentance. Two candles are lit on the Advent wreath and we pray.  Audrey and Josh had struggled with independence issues in their marriage which had become quite abusive, until they participated in a hurting marriage programme and…

7 December.  Joseph. Driving along through the vast mealie fields around the farm Joseph was thinking about his namesake, Joseph, the spoilt son, abused by his jealous brothers who planned to get rid of him, but who was rescued and taken to Egypt.  Through…

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 very early days of the church.  He said, “The story is told that he was…

5 December.  A strong House.  Father had always said, “a strong family needs a strong house.” Mom would laugh and reply “A strong house needs a strong family.”  They hadn’t always had a decent house and at one stage had lived in a shack and it had taken their strong…

3 December.  Elections and governance. Isaiah, judges and prophets. Many countries of the world held elections this year of national or local leadership, sometimes voting for specific individuals or for political parties.  There were a good number of dramatic…

2 December. Abraham in Israel. In the context of the current Israel-Hamas war some members of a faith sharing group attempted to explore underlying causes of the centuries-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The war had begun after a violent attack on…