Sunday, 27 December 2009

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – Feast

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph – Feast
Today the Church celebrates : St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Feast)

See commentary below or click here
Saint Anthony of Padua : “He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them”

1st book of Samuel 1:20-22.24-28.

She conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him. The next time her husband Elkanah was going up with the rest of his household to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows, Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband, “Once the child is weaned, I will take him to appear before the LORD and to remain there forever; I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite.” Once he was weaned, she brought him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh. After the boy’s father had sacrificed the young bull, Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said: “Pardon, my lord! As you live my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request. Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.” She left him there;

Psalms 84(83):2-3.5-6.9-10.

How lovely your dwelling, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
Happy are those who dwell in your house! They never cease to praise you. Selah
Happy are those who find refuge in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrim roads.
LORD of hosts, hear my prayer; listen, God of Jacob. Selah
O God, look kindly on our shield; look upon the face of your anointed.

First Letter of John 3:1-2.21-24.

See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Beloved, if (our) hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit that he gave us.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2:41-52.

Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man.

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Saint Anthony of Padua (c.1195-1231), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church
Sermons for Sundays and Feasts of the saints

“He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them”

«He was subject to them.» With these words let all pride dissolve, all rigidness crumble, all disobedience submit. «He was subject to them.» Who? In brief, he who created all things from nothing; he who, as Isaiah says, «has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea and marked off the heavens with a span; who has held in a measure the dust of the earth, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance» (40,12). He who, as Job says, «shakes the earth and the pillars beneath it tremble. He commands the sun and seals up the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea; he who made the constellations; he does marvellous things beyond reckoning» (9,6-10)… This is he who, great and powerful though he be, was subject. And subject to whom? To a workman and a poor young maid.

O «First and Last»! (Rv 1,17). O leader of angels, subject to men! The Creator of heaven subject to a workman; God of eternal glory subject to a poor young maid! Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Has anyone heard such a thing before?

So no longer hesitate to obey or be submissive… Come down, come to Nazareth, be subject, obey perfectly: all wisdom lies in this… This is what it means to be soberly wise. Simplicity that is pure is «like the waters of Shiloah that flow silently» (Is 8,6). There are people of wisdom within religious orders but it is by means of simple men that God brought them there. God chose the foolish and weak, the lowly and ignorant to bring together those who were wise, powerful and of noble birth through them, «so that no human being might boast in itself» (cf. 1Cor 1,26-29) but in him who came down, who came to Nazareth, and who was subject.