20151227 WITNESSING TO CHRIST BY BEING AN AUTHENTIC CATHOLIC
FAMILY
Readings at Mass
Colour:
White.
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First reading
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1 Samuel
1:20-22,24-28 ©
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Hannah conceived and
gave birth to a son, and called him Samuel ‘since’ she said ‘I asked the Lord
for him.’
When a
year had gone by, the husband Elkanah went up again with all his family to
offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow. Hannah, however,
did not go up, having said to her husband, ‘Not before the child is weaned.
Then I will bring him and present him before the Lord and he shall stay there
for ever.’
When she
had weaned him, she took him up with her together with a three-year old bull,
an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the temple of the
Lord at Shiloh; and the child was with them. They slaughtered the bull and the
child’s mother came to Eli. She said, ‘If you please, my lord. As you live, my
lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. This is
the child I prayed for, and the Lord granted me what I asked him. Now I make
him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is made over to the Lord.’
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Psalm
83:2-3,5-6,9-10 ©
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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.
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Second reading
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1 John
3:1-2,21-24 ©
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Think of the love
that the Father has lavished on us,
by letting us be
called God’s children;
and that is what we
are.
Because the world
refused to acknowledge him,
therefore it does not
acknowledge us.
My dear people, we
are already the children of God
but what we are to be
in the future has not yet been revealed;
all we know is, that
when it is revealed
we shall be like him
because we shall see
him as he really is.
My dear people,
if we cannot be
condemned by our own conscience,
we need not be afraid
in God’s presence,
and whatever we ask
him,
we shall receive,
because we keep his
commandments
and live the kind of
life that he wants.
His commandments are
these:
that we believe in
the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we love one
another
as he told us to.
Whoever keeps his
commandments
lives in God and God
lives in him.
We know that he lives
in us
by the Spirit that he
has given us.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O
Lord,
to accept the words
of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 2:41-52 ©
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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.
WITNESSING
TO CHRIST BY BEING AN AUTHENTIC CATHOLIC FAMILY
Yesterday,
we celebrated the Feast of St Stephen, the first martyr, that is, a witness to
Christ as the light of the world. We too are called to be witnesses of
Christ, especially as Catholic families. Indeed, this is the challenge to
all Catholic families. Be what you are! When people choose
cohabitation or same-sex union over marriage, it is because they have lost
faith and confidence in the institutions of marriage and the family. The
solution to the problems facing society is not to condemn the world but to be
models of beautiful Catholic marriages that are fruitful, loving and
faithful. We are called to make our family into the miniature Church, the
house of God. Unless your family is one of faith, your house cannot be said to
be a miniature Church.
How do
we strengthen our marriage and family? By recovering our identity!
“Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called
God’s children; and that is what we are.” With these words, St John
spells out our true identity, origin and destiny in life. This is our
dignity as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. We are
more than just creatures. We are the brothers and sisters of Christ because He
has assumed our humanity by being born into a human family with Joseph and Mary
as His parents.
Consequently,
as parents, we must never forget that our children are first and foremost the
children of God. Our heavenly Father is their father and they belong to
Him. The children do not belong to us. We are like Joseph, taking
care of God’s children on His behalf. Indeed, as mere guardians, we have
no right to do what we want with our children, but our duty is to bring them up
according to the law of Christ and what God wants for them.
What
are the implications of this premise with regard to bringing up our
children? We need to consecrate our children to God since they belong to
Him. This was what Hannah did in offering Samuel, her only son, to the
Lord’s service. She said, “This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord
granted me what I asked him. Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of
his life. He is made over to the Lord.” Similarly, Mary and Joseph at the
Presentation in the Temple also consecrated Jesus, their first born, to the
Lord. And she was reminded again at the Temple that Jesus belonged
primarily to the heavenly Father when Jesus told her, “Did you not know that I
must be busy with my Father’s affairs?” So it is our duty as parents to
consecrate our children to God, since they are given to us as gift. We
must be like Hannah, showing our gratitude to God by offering them back to Him
for His service to do as He wills with them.
Firstly,
we must give them Jesus. This is what St John said, “His commandments are
these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one
another as he told us to.” No greater gift can we give to our children
than the gift of Jesus Christ. When we do not give them Jesus, they have
no one to depend on or follow after. Their models will be that of the
world and we know that the world’s models are often pursuing power, success,
money, fame and glory. They are not happy and many of them feel empty in
their success, are lonely and fearful that they will lose their popularity,
position and power. What we need is to give them Jesus as their
model and mentor so that they can live a life like Jesus, for others and find
fullness of life and joy.
With
Jesus, they will learn to be God-fearing people. Parents must bring them
up according to God’s commandments. We need to educate our children to
revere and respect God so that they will never think too highly of themselves
or that they can do without Him. Only with reverence for God will we be
able to obey the commandments as St John urges us, “whatever we ask him, we
shall receive, because we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that
he wants.” Keeping His commandments is to walk in the light of truth and
love. His commandments are the guidelines to live a life of charity
in truth.
Secondly,
the primary task of parents is to help their children to fulfill their vocation
in life. Just as Mary and Joseph at the Temple respected that the
vocation of Jesus as to be about in His Father’s business, we too must discern
with our children the Lord’s will for them in their lives. Once we know
what the Lord is asking of them, we must help them to accomplish His will
through proper nurturing of the faith and of their intellect through study and
formation. Indeed, parents must not decide the vocation for their
children just to fulfill their own ambition of wanting their children to become
what they like and not what God is calling them to be. Some parents
emphasize too much on academic achievements and success without realizing that
their spiritual and moral development are equally important. Success is
not just about doing well in studies, making money in one’s career and living
luxuriously. Success is to be able to spend one’s life meaningfully and
usefully for the service of our fellowmen.
How can
this come about unless parents begin by being good and exemplary children of
God themselves? Children learn by our examples; not by what we say.
The reason for the loss of faith among our children is always because of the
dichotomy between faith and life. In the Church and during catechism
lessons, they learn one thing, only to realize that at home, their parents do
not believe or observe what have been taught to them. It is the failure
to live a life of integrity, allowing one’s faith to be expressed in one’s
lifestyle, thinking, conduct and words that cause young people to be skeptical
of their faith. Such confusing and conflicting signals do not help
children to be convinced of what have been taught to them. Because they
find faith to be merely a tradition, a custom or just for show, they feel it is
too hypocritical to continue to act as if they believe in God or the Catholic
faith when they lived contradictory lives. Parents as the first
catechists must share their personal faith with their children, not just teach
them the doctrines, but share their own experience of God and their prayer
life.
Hence,
parents must begin by growing and deepening their own faith before they can
impart to their children. We cannot give what we have not got. The
truth is that many of our parents are poorly instructed in their faith.
Many are poor witnesses. They are supposed to be the first catechists but more
often than not, they never impart the faith to their children but leave the
task completely to the catechists in Church. Furthermore, the
teaching of faith is not just about imparting information. The discourse and
discussion between Jesus and the doctors of the faith presents to us how faith
is to be imparted, not through dry academic lectures but dialogue and
interactive discovery of faith.
Parents
must be praying and God fearing people. Unless they have reverence for
God, they cannot be good models and examples to their children. They must
be models of prayer and of faith. Do parents invite their children to
pray with them? How can we call ourselves a Catholic family, a miniature
Church, when we do not pray together as a family or share the Word of God
together? It is ironical that we are ready to share our food, our bed,
our wealth, our things with each other but not our faith when faith is the most
precious and personal gift we can give to anyone. To arrive at
being a holy family, every member of the family must be deeply rooted in
prayer, in love and worship of God, and most of all, be living a life of
charity among themselves and with our neighbours. Most of all, like St
Stephen, we must teach and practise the virtue of forgiveness in family
life. The happiness of the family is not that there are no quarrels and
everyone is perfect. Rather, it is the encouragement and affirmation that we
give to each other and always ready to forgive each other when the other party
fails.
For
this faith and love to exist in the family, husband and wife must support each
other in love and in faith. Parents must therefore imitate the
parents of Samuel and Jesus in the way they lived out their faith and supported
each other. So too was the case of Joseph and Mary. When they found
Him in the Temple discussing with the religious leaders, they knew that God had
a plan for Jesus. They supported Jesus all the way and when the time
came, Mary gave Him her blessings to do the work of His heavenly Father. What
is unfortunate today is that parents do not support each other in faith,
especially when one party is not a Catholic. They do not share their faith
together and thus they fail to inspire their children. Instead of
bringing the parents and the family together, their faith ironically becomes a
source of division!
In
order for them to grow in age and wisdom, children on their part must cooperate
with their parents. They must recognize that their parents are not
perfect but they are doing their best. They are called to collaborate
with their parents and be docile to their formation. Like Jesus, their
duty is to be docile to the elders. Jesus was ready to listen and
to ask and to learn about God and His will for Himself. He was obedient
to His parents when He was young, and went home with them. Like Jesus,
children must grow in wisdom and understanding and in virtues.
Truly,
if we have done our part to bring up our children according to the faith of the
Church, then regardless what happens to them later on, our conscience is clear
because we have done our best and our part. As St John said, “My
dear people, if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience, we need not be
afraid in God’s presence.” Let us not live our lives in regret and
blame ourselves later on in life when our children live immoral lives or they
make a mess of their life. What kind of people they will be tomorrow, whether
they will be people of integrity, honesty and selflessness depends on the kind
of faith we give to them today and the kind of virtues we inculcate in them.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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