Home is a Holy Place
The Christian family in the world today: blessed, broken, living love.
Okay, We admit it. Family life is difficult. What family does not know the tension of a personality clash, the heartache of tragedy, the dull pain of daily irritations? Not to mention the juggling of millions of demands, the balancing act of home and work life and the never quite getting to the end of the ‘to-do’ list.
Family life is a challenge because the stakes are so high. Which other relationship can hold out so much promise: a life-long sense of belonging, a rare depth of intimacy, the shelter of each other’s arms?
Family life is indeed a risky adventure in love: a relational experience at the core of human existence with the power to make or break not only individuals, but society itself.
(Taken from Family: an adventure in love, one of the resources of Home is a Holy Place).
Families are so varied. They may be large with many relatives or small with no extended family. They may, in some cases, be reduced to the one surviving member, the only representative of the family still living.
All families have times of happiness and times or reflect on how our family deals with situations.
Home is Holy Place is a resource provided by the Bishops of England and Wales through their Marriage and Family Life Team. In a very down to earth way, it looks at the difficulties facing families in the modern world. It asks three questions:
- How do you and your family show love for one another?
- What are the challenges in your family relationships?
- When are you most aware of God in you family experiences?
It does not ask how many times you pray or what parish groups you belong to. It does not assume that your family is perfect.
In our parish, we are using this resource as a three week programme during Advent. We hope to run the same programme after Christmas for those who missed it the first time. The team preparing for the Mission in October 2009 hope that this will support those wishing to re-kindle their faith and the living out of their faith in their lives.
Each Thursday evening for three weeks, there will be a meeting for one hour consisting of refreshments and a warm welcome to help everyone relax, a DVD to watch as a starting point, a follow-up discussion and short closing action and prayer, each session based on one of the three questions above. Whilst everyone is encouraged to share in an atmosphere to trust in one another, no one is compelled to share their family situation unless they wish to. Listening to and learning from one another can be very reassuring and helpful to us as we try to live out our Christian vocation through our family life.
This is just one of the events organised for the year leading to our parish mission.
Lyn Coyle
”Towards 150” Group
