Have you started preparing for grandparent-children-grandchildren day?

July 13. SEE.   Joan said, “Last week we talked about your daughter and how her bossy behaviour messed up your family.   I think there is another side too, where conflict happens when you try to put right what is wrong.  That happened to my son.  My daughter and daughter-in-law were not getting on at all.   It was about my grandchildren and what they could and couldn’t do or should and shouldn’t be allowed to do. I spoke to my son and he did try to talk to the two warring women, his wife and his sister, about what he thought was right. But they weren’t prepared to listen and so it all went wrong and the two families ended up not speaking to each other for quite some time. I wish I had known about synodal listening and sharing, I reckon that would have helped.”    

JUDGE. Reflect and share. Scripture. Jesus said to his apostles as he was instructing them:  “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.  Matthew 10:34- 11.1.   Pope Francis: Responses given to the Family pre-synodal consultations spoke of challenges. Many pointed to the problems families face in raising children.  Some responses pointed to the effect of severe stress on families who often seem more caught up with securing their own future than with enjoying the present. AL50.    Pope Leo:  In order to build the civilization of love, we must engage in dialogue, for this is the primary means of coexistence between people and nations, and it is the alternative to open conflict. Dialogue is an ordinary part of human life and does not only concern relations between States. It involves acquiring an attitude that seeks to forge bonds of fraternity built on listening, an open demeanour, making time for each other and even wasting time together. For if we experience authentic encounters with others, with those who are different, strangers and migrants,it becomes much more difficult even to imagine war.  MH 219-220,

ACT AND PRAY.   Choose family dialogue with listening and sharing to resolve family issues.   Pray for peace in the homes with the Prayer of St Francis for grandparents and the elderly.  We pray for God’s blessing on the grandparents and elderly of our families and community,  bless them with peace and contentment and an acceptance that their lives were well spent in your service. We ask St Joachim and St Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, to pray with us.