Sunday, December 20, 2009

RENEWsletter for December 27, 2009 - Holy Family

Hi, folks--
I hope you're all enjoying a safe and restful holiday season. The Christmas Season in the Church begins at Christmas and continues till the Baptism of our Lord. So while the retail outlets are ending their "Christmas" season, we are just beginning. The Sunday after Christmas celebrates the Holy Family, somewhat of an atypical Jewish family: pretty young Mary, still a teenager... kind, understanding Joseph, not yet officially married... and both of them now parents of the infant Jesus, a baby physically helpless yet destined to become the single most influential personage on this planet for all time.

I wonder if Mary knew that this child she just delivered would one day deliver all humankind from sin.

There are two sets of readings for this Holy Family Sunday. We'll use the first set. Both sets can be found on the Web at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/122709.shtml, and in your Bible at:

Sirach 3.2-6, 12-14
Psalm 128.1-2, 3, 4-5
Colossians 3.12-21
Luke 2.41-52

The First Reading expounds on the spiritual benefits of love within a family. The entire book of Sirach extols Wisdom as part of the family of Yahweh and our present selection shows the wisdom of honoring our family relationships. Parents have been put in charge (Sir 3.2) and when kids honor and revere their father and mother, they reap atonement for sins, stores of riches (vs. 3-4), the joy of grandchildren, answered prayer (v. 5), long life and obedience to God (vs. 6, 7). The last part of this reading deals with the time when the roles almost reverse. When our parents get old and feeble... when they're as helpless as we were when we were babies... it's time to take care of them (v. 12). It's especially important to continue the loving care if their minds fail (v. 13). God will not forget (v. 14)!

One of the benefits of a loving family, as we have just seen, is obedience to God. The Responsorial Psalm picks up on that theme and runs with it. Obedience to God, fear of the Lord, walking in his ways, does indeed bring blessings and happiness (Ps. 128.1). What our hands provide will please us and we'll be happy (v. 2). Our families, when we honor our heavenly Father, will be functional rather than dysfunctional (vs. 3, 4). That's the ideal, of course, and because we are human, ideals are hard to achieve. Maybe that's why God sent his son to save us from our failure to reach his ideals. So let's read verse 5 and hang onto that: May the LORD bless you and may you see prosperity all your life!

The Second Reading describes the ideal family of God. As brothers and sisters in Christ we need to "put on" compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness (Col 3.12-13). And the thing that makes these traits possible is love. Love is a choice (v. 14). When we choose love, the peace of Christ, who is the Prince of Peace, soaks into our hearts and we are thankful (v. 15). The best way to remember the words of Christ is through poetry... psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (v. 16). If you can't sing, then chant. If you can't chant, then just recite. But whatever you do, whatever you say, do it thankfully in the name of the Lord (v. 17).

This next part of the Second Reading goes with the first part. We've been talking about how we should treat each other as brothers and sisters in God's family. The Greek word translated "be subordinate" has a deeper meaning. It means "sign up with", or "cast your lot with", or "join in teamwork". Husbands and wives team up to raise children in love (vs. 18-21). And where there is love, there is a peace that comes from above.

The Gospel Reading is a story of when Jesus was a pre-teen... was I just talking about peace? Well, maybe the teen years are an exception. Mary and Joseph always went up to Jerusalem at Passover and naturally they brought their 12-year-old (Luke 2.41). There's a lesson here... don't assume a 12-year-old will do what you expect him to do. Mary may have assumed Jesus was with Joseph. Joseph prob'ly assumed Mary was watching him. Then they touched base and, well, Jesus must be with his cousins. Nope, aunts and uncles had not seen him (v. 44). It was getting dark. Where could he be? Panic set in and the worried couple headed back to Jerusalem first thing in the morning (v. 45).

Finally they found him in the temple (v. 46). Did Mary scold him? No doubt (v. 48). Did Joseph punish him? Prob'ly not... one look at that honest, peaceful, forthright face and he knew this was no ordinary boy, and he was indeed about his Father's... his Heavenly Father's work (v. 49). But you can bet there was a lecture, because Jesus was obedient from then on, or at least all the way back to Nazareth (v. 50).

Jesus's Father is the God of the Universe, yet God entrusted his rearing to that Hebrew couple from Nazareth. God entrusts a lot of things to us. One of our most awesome responsibilities is raising kids.

Happy New Year everyone. Let's see what God will entrust to us this coming year.

Randy Jones
"Those who do not honor their parents will get no honor from their children!"

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