Archive for December 30, 2023

Feast of the Holy Family

Posted: December 30, 2023 by CatholicJules in Sunday Reflections
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Our True Home: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Feast of the Holy Family

Readings:

Sirach 3:2–6, 12–14
Psalm 128:1–2, 3, 4–5
Colossians 3:12–21
Luke 2:22–40

Why did Jesus choose to become a baby born of a mother and father and to spend all but His last years living in an ordinary human family? In part, to reveal God’s plan to make all people live as one “holy family” in His Church (see 2 Corinthians 6:16–18).

In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, God reveals our true home. We’re to live as His children, “chosen ones, holy and beloved,” as the First Reading puts it. Th e family advice we hear in today’s readings—for mothers, fathers, and children—is all solid and practical. Happy homes are the fruit of our faithfulness to the Lord, we sing in today’s Psalm. But the Liturgy is inviting us to see more, to see how, through our family obligations and relationships, our families become heralds of the family of God that He wants to create on earth.

Jesus shows us this in today’s Gospel. His obedience to His earthly parents flows directly from His obedience to the will of His heavenly Father. Joseph and Mary aren’t identified by name, but three times are called His “parents” and are referred to separately as His “mother” and “father.” Th e emphasis is all on their their familial ties to Jesus. But these ties are emphasized only so that Jesus, in the first words He speaks in Luke’s Gospel, can point us beyond that earthly relationship to the Fatherhood of God.

In what Jesus calls “My Father’s house,” every family finds its true meaning and purpose (see Ephesians 3:15). The Temple we read about in the Gospel today is God’s house, His dwelling (see Luke 19:46). But it’s also an image of the family of God, the Church (see Ephesians 2:19–22; Hebrews 3:3–6; 10:21).

In our families we’re to build up this household, this family, this living temple of God until He reveals His new dwelling among us and says of every person: “I shall be his God and he will be My son” (see Revelation 21:3, 7).

On Today’s Gospel

Posted: December 30, 2023 by CatholicJules in Personal Thoughts & Reflections
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Today’s first reading encompasses all those living in the love of God our Heavenly Father. It is how we should live in full communion with Him. By how His Word has made a home in us and we are striving to do His Will always. For we love Him alone and hold to nothing in this world. Our eyes are fixed on Heaven.

Today we remember and highlight all those ‘Anna(s)’ in our midst. We give thanks and praise to God for His ‘angels’. Whose silent prayers help keep the Church alive and vibrant. Their soft gentle voices give testimony to the light in the world. Their hands and feet declare their love for the Lord our God and His children through their humble service; more often done in the quiet background of day and night.

And together with all the saints and Heavenly hosts we give You praise and thanks Lord Jesus. We God our Father’s children proclaim with One voice, “A hallowed day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, worship the Lord, for today a great light has shone down upon the earth!” Amen

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First reading

1 John 2:12-17

Observance of the will of God

I am writing to you, my own children,

whose sins have already been forgiven through his name;

I am writing to you, fathers,

who have come to know the one

who has existed since the beginning;

I am writing to you, young men,

who have already overcome the Evil One;

I have written to you, children,

because you already know the Father;

I have written to you, fathers,

because you have come to know the one

who has existed since the beginning;

I have written to you, young men,

because you are strong and God’s word has made its home in you,

and you have overcome the Evil One.

You must not love this passing world

or anything that is in the world.

The love of the Father cannot be

in any man who loves the world,

because nothing the world has to offer

– the sensual body,

the lustful eye,

pride in possessions –

could ever come from the Father

but only from the world;

and the world, with all it craves for,

is coming to an end;

but anyone who does the will of God

remains for ever.

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Gospel

Luke 2:36-40

Anna speaks of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem

There was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

    When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.