FAMILY LIFE

  

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, I come before you today, at this specific moment in my life and my stage as a mother, a widow, single, and confused about what direction I have to take. Send the healing power of your Holy Spirit upon me and heal me of hatred, resentment, bitterness, reactions, and the forgiveness that is in me. Free me from the spirit of rebellion and disobedience, anger, anxiety, and depression. Lord Jesus, I have all this in me some I am aware of them fully, while others come too stormy that take me by surprise. This day I trust in your care, take care of me by surprise. This day I have entrusted it in your care of me, touch me in the special way, in those areas of pain that I may be healed from undone business in me and a special way. Lord you know what I need I surrender all to you.

 

FAMILY Life

 

Husband +wife + Children – workers, = Everyone at the roof/plantation/village (ancient)

Father/husband =wife = mother and children

Two components = husband +wife = Conjugal society (horizontal component)

Vertical component = parents +Children = parental society.

One component may exist but not the case, not a normal case.

Material cause = husband +wife +children

Formal cause = moral bond between them = rights and duties = conjugal society + parental society

A final cause of the family is the good of all parties concerned = living together in mutual love.

Efficient cause = contract marriage, or more properly the contracting parties, for by marriage, the family is brought into existence and maintained.

People get married so as to live in the married state. The state of marriage implies four chief conditions:

-          There should be a union of two opposite sexes, it is for the production of the human race.

-          Marriage is a permanent union, it has to last as far and long as it should – purpose, discharge the obligations, until the last child is capable of living independently.

-          It is an exclusive union- sharing relations only with each other, extramarital acts are a violation of justice, and adultery is a crime against marriage.

-          It is all about covenant and not contract – Abraham, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, Hosea, etc.

We drive three things from parents:

-          Existence

-          Nourishment

-          Education

Rendering service to each other as married persons render one another in household matters. We have to live together. Why? Because one is not self-sufficient in all things concerning life, the reasons why man is included to being a political being.

You come together, and reproduce – this sexual relationship has to produce a child. The question for others would be what happens if there is no child? Wait- the development process takes time.

People marry for many reasons:

-          Love

-          For companionship

-          For money

-          For position

Men eat for the pleasure of it, not thinking of sustaining life, but later on discover they eat for the purpose of sustaining life-sustaining the race. It is a duty of two persons, not one. We agreed to have a child- 9 months, nurturing it. Together we gave the child life, together we take care of it. The fact that you have money is accidental and outside the natural/natural provision.

The help of the father is very necessary throughout the raring of the child, and responsibility, psychological and physical- the sternness of the father and the sweetness of the mother is necessary for the training of the child.

A momentary union for the sake of procreation alone is a betrayal and gross violation of nature’s provisions for the human child.

Family is not only an institution, it is also a personal experience, one of the most profound a human being can undergo. Love is a developing thing that the lovers themselves must foster.

Love in the highest sense is attracted, not commanded, and cannot be reduced to contract Love alone can inspire the ideal of marriage and make it of what it ought to be. The selecting of the right partner in life and the preservation of fidelity to marriage vows are not matters of accident but of wise human conduct, sedulously developed.

The best way to keep family at its best is through virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance in the highest degree. Virtuous life and heavy responsibilities, but it brings with it one of the best of earthy rewards, the founding and maintenance of a happy home.

Family is about spiritual development and the experience of journeying with God. The hidden life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph provides a solid foundation on which authentic life and the entire church can be constructed.

Nazareth is the school that begins to understand Jesus. It is the school of the gospel, learning to look, listen, ponder, and penetrate the profound and mysterious meaning of this very simple, humble, and beautiful revelation of the Son of God, understanding who Christ is.

To know Jesus of Nazareth starts with knowing yourself first, without pride or discouragement. A trusting attitude consoles the heart and deepens hope and love, which has the power to transform and makes it possible to rise to God in praise of His inexhaustible goodness.

It is all about the daily routine of doing things within the spiritual life. This will involve silence, maintaining an atmosphere of eternal quiet makes it easier to maintain interior silence. Deep concentration, to lift your heart to God in conversation, work, or rest, the spirit of silence means remaining in union with and continual adoration of God. You maintain this silence to recreate the spirit of silence. This should foster communion, participation, and mission in the life of the incarnate God.

 

© Don. Joseph B. Nyamunga, ssa