The Solemnity of Pentecost, Year C

Our Archbishop has written a pastoral letter to the Church of the Archdiocese on Marriage and Family Life, encouraging us to attend the Archdiocesan gathering for family life on Saturday 25 June, 9am to 5pm, at Bosco Centre in Walkerville. We will register people who wish to attend after all of the masses this weekend. The cost per person is R50. If parishioners would like to attend but are unable to afford it, please speak to Fr Bruce and he will arrange sponsorship for you. An extract of his letter is quoted below.

“This brings me to the Pope’s emphasis on the need for the family, like the Church, to be open to other families both in lending and receiving help in the face of life’s many struggles. Our synodal journey revealed the power of “listening circles” in parishes, i.e. how individuals and families, especially those on the margins, appreciated an opportunity to speak and listen heart to heart with others, creating a true web of families by which we can better understand each other so as to better serve one another in the power of the Spirit.

I again wish to echo the words of the Holy Father:
“The Lord’s presence dwells in real and concrete families, with all their daily troubles and struggles, joys and hopes. […] The spirituality of family love is made up of thousands of small but real gestures. […] A positive experience of family communion is a true path to daily sanctification and mystical growth, a means for deeper union with God. (…) Hence, those who have deep spiritual aspirations should not feel that the family detracts from their growth in the life of the Spirit, but rather see it as a path which the Lord is using to lead them to the heights of mystical union. (AL n. 315-316)

I ask you to pray together deeply and continuously as a family. Forsake not the truth that a “family that prays together stays together”. Invite the perpetual presence of the Father, Son and Spirit into your home. Many of you are likely reading this letter to your family in and around the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary. I urge you not to underestimate the power of consecrating your home, your marriage, your children, indeed every element of your family life to these Two Hearts. May your family life be enveloped by their love and may God’s choicest graces be bestowed upon you all according to your real needs.”

 

Fr Bruce Botha, SJ