Cycle C - Year I
30 December 2012: Feast of the Holy Family
(Liturgical color: White)
Luke 2:41-52
God chose to have a human family!
It is said that the Philippines has the longest Christmas season starting from the "ber" months. That means, from
the month of Septem-ber. But time seems to pass so fast and Christmas 2012 is now just part of history.
With all the merry making during the Christmas holidays, did we take to heart the real meaning of Christmas? Was it all only just material celebration?
Christmas is when the almighty God comes to our world as a helpless little infant. And he chose to have a human family with Mary and Joseph as human parents. In other words, God the Son accomplished our redemption in the context of a family. And that is the essence of Christmas.
In the gospel, St. Luke reports a significant event in the early childhood of Jesus with his human family. In the annual feast of the Passover, when Jews went to the Jerusalem temple according to festival custom, Jesus as a twelve year old was separated from his parents and got lost, but after three days of searching Mary and Joseph found him in the temple "sitting in the midst of teachers, listening to them and asking them questions..." We contemplate this event in the fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.
The gospel narrative ends that after he was found, Jesus went back with Mary and Joseph to their home in Nazareth and showed respect for his parents by being obedient to them.
The theme of the gospel reading on Jesus' human family is so relevant today, particularly in our country when there are persistent attempts to weaken and destroy the Filipino family values.
Even in the global scene of the modern world, family life is chaotic with parents and children seem to be running in different, sometimes opposite, directions, and thus sacrificing interpersonal relationship which is either weakened or completely lost. So we have members of the same family who are strangers to each other.
But in the midst of all these chaos and attacks on the family, we can learn something from the examples of the Holy Family on their love, concern and respect for each other. God loves the family. By the incarnation of God the Son, God unites himself with everyone through the family. Mother Teresa wrote: the family that prays together stays together, because such a family learns something about how God loves each one of us.
In practical sense, the family is the very foundation of society. Thus, when the family is weakened by legislations that corrupt family life and moral values, eventually the society as a whole heads for destruction and moral decay.
On the Feast of the Holy Family, we learn something not only about family life but also about discipleship. For example, the concerns which Mary and Joseph show in looking for the child Jesus when he was lost in Jerusalem should encourage us always to seek Jesus out, particularly when we lose him through sin.
Let us pray that the Lord keep and protect our families from those who seek to destroy it. Because families are the priceless treasure of society!
A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.
With all the merry making during the Christmas holidays, did we take to heart the real meaning of Christmas? Was it all only just material celebration?
Christmas is when the almighty God comes to our world as a helpless little infant. And he chose to have a human family with Mary and Joseph as human parents. In other words, God the Son accomplished our redemption in the context of a family. And that is the essence of Christmas.
In the gospel, St. Luke reports a significant event in the early childhood of Jesus with his human family. In the annual feast of the Passover, when Jews went to the Jerusalem temple according to festival custom, Jesus as a twelve year old was separated from his parents and got lost, but after three days of searching Mary and Joseph found him in the temple "sitting in the midst of teachers, listening to them and asking them questions..." We contemplate this event in the fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.
The gospel narrative ends that after he was found, Jesus went back with Mary and Joseph to their home in Nazareth and showed respect for his parents by being obedient to them.
The theme of the gospel reading on Jesus' human family is so relevant today, particularly in our country when there are persistent attempts to weaken and destroy the Filipino family values.
Even in the global scene of the modern world, family life is chaotic with parents and children seem to be running in different, sometimes opposite, directions, and thus sacrificing interpersonal relationship which is either weakened or completely lost. So we have members of the same family who are strangers to each other.
But in the midst of all these chaos and attacks on the family, we can learn something from the examples of the Holy Family on their love, concern and respect for each other. God loves the family. By the incarnation of God the Son, God unites himself with everyone through the family. Mother Teresa wrote: the family that prays together stays together, because such a family learns something about how God loves each one of us.
In practical sense, the family is the very foundation of society. Thus, when the family is weakened by legislations that corrupt family life and moral values, eventually the society as a whole heads for destruction and moral decay.
On the Feast of the Holy Family, we learn something not only about family life but also about discipleship. For example, the concerns which Mary and Joseph show in looking for the child Jesus when he was lost in Jerusalem should encourage us always to seek Jesus out, particularly when we lose him through sin.
Let us pray that the Lord keep and protect our families from those who seek to destroy it. Because families are the priceless treasure of society!
A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.
Deo Optimo Maximo!
