The Faith Formation office provides support and resources to assist God's people in continuing to grow in their faith and to respond to God's promptings in their lives. We aim to profess and support an experience of faith rooted in following the Lord Jesus.

For further Faith Formation opportunities, please consult the weekly "Friday Facts".

Resource Sheet

May 2019

The Joy of Love
 
Chapter 6 – Some Pastoral Perspectives (Part II)
 
“Love needs time and space; everything else is secondary. Time is needed to talk things over, to embrace leisurely, to share plans, to listen to one other and gaze in each other’s eyes, to appreciate one another and to build a stronger relationship.” 224
 
 “The answers given to the pre-synodal consultation showed that most people in difficult or critical situations do not seek pastoral assistance, since they do not find it sympathetic, realistic or concerned for individual cases. This should spur us to try to approach marriage crises with greater sensitivity to their burden of hurt and anxiety.” 234
 
“Divorced couples who have not remarried and often bear witness to marital fidelity ought to be encouraged to find in the Eucharist the nourishment they need to sustain them in their present state of life.” 242
 
“The Church, while appreciating the situations of conflict that are part of marriage, cannot fail to speak out on behalf of those who are most vulnerable: the children who often suffer in silence…For this reason, Christian communities must not abandon divorced parents who have entered a new union but should include and support them in their efforts to bring up their children. How can we encourage those parents to do everything possible to raise their children in the Christian life, to give them an example of committed and practical faith, if we keep them at arm’s length from the life of the community, as if they were somehow excommunicated?”  246
 
Prayer to the Holy Family
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendour of true love;
to you we turn with trust.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic churches.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again experience
violence, rejection and division;
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.
 
Holy Family of Nazareth,
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.
 
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Graciously hear our prayer.
Amen.