September 14. Triumph of the Cross.  Everybody has got his one favourite “love is……’ saying.  Melody asked them all to sit together and share their own.  Eventually they came to the conclusion that maybe our general concept of love can be too sentimental.  Reflecting too on this feast of the Triumph of the Cross the pains and joys of love made their thoughts more comprehensive and real.  “We learned a lot about love and care and responsibility too during the covid-19 pandemic, much as it was a very real cross.” Pauline reflected.  “It also makes me think of the poor little scaly pangolins that somehow got blamed for causing the start of the pandemic. They are the most trafficked of all the animals on earth, even here in South Africa they are captured and sold. Is that a cross for them? Surely they need love and protection as much as the poor and all the human family. Read TR pangolin story at ”https://marfam.org.za/2023/09/14/pangolins-the-most-trafficked-mammal-youve-never-heard-of/

Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself taking the form of a servant.  He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has exalted him.  Philip 2:6-11.  Pope Francis: As part of the universe called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family. God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. LS89 

Eco-tip and prayer:  on social media start an ecological renewal campaign with the slogan “Love is ……………………     Pray for an increase in love as the basis for ecological conversion and change. Pray, Glory be to the Father.