and spend time reflecting on how God is working in your family life.
Seeking God in our own Holy Families
In August 2018, at the World Meeting of Families, we launched ‘Seeking God Together’, a companion for the Pastoral Accompaniment of Families from Conception to Death. In the season of Advent, as we prepare hearts and minds for Christ’s coming, we often also reflect on and share in time with our families. With its focus on time past, time present and time future, family life has a similar character to that of Advent. Families hold together their history down the generations, their past and present experience, their future hopes. This new resource supports the seeking and finding of treasure – the treasure of God’s presence in the variety of gifts and encounters that Love offers in our family lives.
Seeking God Together is practical Companion or ‘handbook’, rather than a programme. It is built on three decades of family ministry in England & Wales. Inspired by Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love in the Family, the Companion offers a map or reference guide across nine ‘seasons’ of family life. Each season begins from a family perspective, describing the reality of family life at this stage, and helping a community to identify take-off and landing points for ministry where family life intersects with the Church. Seeking God Together has a wide application, and is useful for parish communities, Bishops and diocesan departments, schools and chaplaincies, and families at home.
You can find more about this resource, and the many ways in which to use it on our website www.catholicfamily.org.uk. Here you can find a breakdown of what we have called the “Seasons of Life”, as well as resources for each of the 9 seasons and those to support you in using and introducing Seeking God Together. You can also find a blogpost with a suggested guide for use in Advent in your families and parishes.