September 22. A sense of calm, peacefulness and acceptance had settled over the family during this time as they had watched sunrises and sunsets, experienced some wonderful weather, some storms and really drought-stricken places.   “Is it not like that in life generally?”  “There is a daily routine and differences in our ages do exist and are real but do not always have to be a cause for conflict or division.  That is something I learned from this time of being and sharing together.” “It was also nice to have grandma with us for a few days. I loved the story she told us.  “When the Pilanesberg nature reserve near Rustenburg was being established up to 6000 animals were imported from many different parks and wild life centres. Among them were a group of teenage elephant bulls that had been orphaned through culling in the Kruger Park.  After a while it was found that these elephants were unruly and aggressive and were attacking other animals, even rhinos. Some cars were damaged and some humans had been killed.  At first park officials were at a loss to explain this but it was eventually established that there was no proper male adult supervision for these teenagers. Animal behaviour specialists suggested that the maturing sexual development of these young males had been affected by conditions in their environment.  There were older females in the new park but they were rejecting the young bulls. The solution that was finally found was the introduction of a number of mature adult males who were able to enforce some discipline and control over the young bulls.”     

Scripture: The sun rises and the sun goes down and hastens to the place where it rises.  The wind blows to the south and goes round to the north, round and round goes the wind.   Ecclesiastes 1:3-5   Pope Francis: The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others.  LS 159.