Sunday 30
December 2012
The Holy Family of Jesus Mary and Joseph C
My son, support
your father and mother in their old age.
My heart and my
soul ring out their joy to God, the living God.
Think of the love
that the Father has lavished on us.
Jesus increased in
wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.
Readings at Mass
First reading
Ecclesiasticus
3:3-7,14-17
The
Lord honours the father in his children,
and
upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.
Whoever
respects his father is atoning for his sins,
he
who honours his mother is like someone amassing a fortune.
Whoever
respects his father will be happy with children of his own,
he
shall be heard on the day when he prays.
Long
life comes to him who honours his father,
he
who sets his mother at ease is showing obedience to the Lord.
My
son, support your father in his old age,
do
not grieve him during his life.
Even
if his mind should fail, show him sympathy,
do
not despise him in your health and strength;
for
kindness to a father shall not be forgotten
but
will serve as reparation for your sins.
Psalm
Psalm
127:1-5
O
blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!
O
blessed are those who fear the Lord
and
walk in his ways!
By
the labour of your hands you shall eat.
You
will be happy and prosper.
O
blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!
Your
wife like a fruitful vine
in
the heart of your house;
your
children like shoots of the olive,
around
your table.
O
blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!
Indeed
thus shall be blessed
the
man who fears the Lord.
May
the Lord bless you from Zion
all
the days of your life!
O
blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!
OR: --------------------
Psalm
Psalm
83:2-3,5-6,9-10
They
are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.
How
lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord,
God of hosts.
My
soul is longing and yearning,
is
yearning for the courts of the Lord.
My
heart and my soul ring out their joy
to
God, the living God.
They
are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.
They
are happy, who dwell in your house,
for
ever singing your praise.
They
are happy, whose strength is in you,
in
whose hearts are the roads to Zion.
They
are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.
O
Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer,
give
ear, O God of Jacob.
Turn
your eyes, O God, our shield,
look
on the face of your anointed.
They
are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord
-----
Second reading
Colossians
3:12-21
You
are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in
sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear
with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has
forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes, to keep them
together and complete them, put on love. And may the peace of Christ reign in
your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of
one body. Always be thankful.
Let the message
of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and
advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and
hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives,
give way to your husbands, as you should in the Lord.
Husbands, love
your wives and treat them with gentleness. Children, be obedient to your
parents always, because that is what will please the Lord. Parents, never drive
your children to resentment or you will make them feel frustrated.
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Open
our heart, O Lord,
to
accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
____________________
Gospel
Luke
2:41-52
Every
year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the
Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual.
When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind
in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the
caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him
among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went
back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.
Three days
later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to
them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at
his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his
mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried
your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’
he replied ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But
they did not understand what he meant.
He then went
down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother
stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in
stature, and in favour with God and men.
The harvest of mutual love
We are the children of God before we are
children of the parents who gave us birth. ‘We are already the children of
God’. We have received the Spirit to call God Abba – loving Father, Dad.
(Rom8:15) We were conceived in the heart of God before creation: “God chose us
in Christ before the world began” (Eph 1:3). “I have called you by name, you
are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). That is why God, our real Dad, pronounces those
treasured words, “You are precious to me” (Isaiah 43:4). None is born by
accident. None comes into existence by mistake. Whatever the circumstance of
our conception and birth God our Father, from whom every family in heaven and
earth takes its name (Eph3:14) loved us before we came into existence. He
wanted us and we belong to him as his own child along with Jesus. Therefore, we
look on every child whether he or she is born to us or adopted by us or in any
way cared for by us as a gift from God. Each child is a gift as were Samuel to
Hannah and Elkanah and indeed Jesus to Mary and Joseph. We should look on our
children as first conceived in the heart of God and then given to us to love
and care for and nourish so that they can become the person their Father hopes
they will become. For this reason, Jesus
said, "whoever receives a small child in my name receives me"
(Matthew 18:5).
The greatest gift that parents can give to
their children is to love one another. The incalculable gift, which outshines
all others, is the unconscious feeling of security that children receive when
they live with their parents and it never crosses their mind that they may be
abandoned. The greatest fear of a child is to be lost and the greatest joy is
to feel the security of their parents. Every marriage starts with love and the
desire for love. Love is not the result of a wish. Love is a decision to give
oneself in word and deed to the other. It needs to be cultivated. We should not
hope that things will work out; we must decide to love and take the steps to
ensure that they do.
The greatest gift that God gives to us is
freedom. He will not force us or put pressure on us. He wants us to freely
choose the good and grow in his love. Each child is precious in his eyes and he
wants each to blossom into a unique person. We too must create the atmosphere
of love and understanding so that children grow up not as clones of their
parents or into what their parents want them to be but into the unique and
beautiful person that their Father in heaven wishes them to become.
Father may parents create the
atmosphere of love whereby their children can blossom into beautiful people.
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