20191229
CELEBRATING
GOD’S LOVE AS ONE COMMUNITY
29 December,
2019, Sunday, The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6,12-14 ©
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He who fears the Lord respects his parents
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.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 127(128):1-5 ©
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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 will be 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!
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Second reading
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Colossians 3:12-21 ©
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Family life in the Lord
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.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Col3:15,16
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
May
the peace of Christ reign in your hearts;
let
the message of Christ find a home with you.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 ©
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The flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth
After the wise
men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and
stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and
do away with him.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with
him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was
to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
I
called my son out of Egypt.
After Herod’s
death, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,
‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of
Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.’ So Joseph got up and,
taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. But
when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea
he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he left for the region
of Galilee. There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words
spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled:
‘He
will be called a Nazarene.’
CELEBRATING
GOD’S LOVE AS ONE COMMUNITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ECCL 3:2-6,12-14; PS 128:1-5; COL 3:12-21; MT 2:13-15, 19-23]
Today, we celebrate the
Feast of the Holy Family, following the birth of our Lord. Christmas is a celebration of God’s
love for humanity in the giving of His only Son for the salvation of the
world. In the giving of His Son to us in time, we come also to know that
God is a Community of Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, God is not a solo monad but a Trinity of Persons. This is why we say
that God is love, not that God loves Himself; that would be narcissism, but
that in God, there is the unceasing exchange of love between the Father, Son
and the Holy Spirit. The human family is therefore an imitation of the
love of the Holy Trinity.
This explains why the
Church has always taught that marriage must always be open to procreation. If a married couple is absorbed in
themselves alone, their love will eventually die because there is a lack of
dynamism in love. But when children are inserted into a marriage, then
the love between the couple will be enriched. True love is always giving
and fruitful. For this reason, marriage is more than companionship.
It cannot be reducible to companionship alone, as what is happening in the
world today, where marriage is seen narrowly as between two persons in love,
failing to realize that only in authentic marriages can we speak of
procreation. Even for the childless couple, if they live only for
themselves, their relationship will become narcissistic. But if they love
each other so that they can serve God and humanity, that relationship can be
fruitful.
Jesus’ growing up under
the care of Joseph and Mary, nurtured and educated by them in an environment of
faith, love and sacrifice, is the model for building communities of love,
beginning with the family. Indeed,
more than anything else, what we desire most in life is a loving, caring,
supportive, understanding and forgiving family. Joseph was not a wealthy
man. He was just an ordinary carpenter. They were poor.
Jesus was born in the manger, not in some palace. When Jesus was
presented at the temple, His parents’ offering was just a pair of turtle doves,
the offering of a poor couple. Their lifestyle was humble and simple. But
yet the family enjoyed peace, love and unity. Indeed, happiness and joy
in life is not dependent on how rich we are or what food we eat or where we
live, but whether there is love, care and acceptance in a home.
St Paul exhorts us, “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.” If we live by this rule, then there will be peace and unity in
the family.
The Holy Family
certainly was not spared the complexity and challenges of family life. They faced every trial that our
families face today, although in different context. Right from the
outset, Joseph was faced with the persecution of King Herod. He had to
leave Bethlehem for Egypt, a foreign land 300 miles away that took them across
the desert. He had to eke out a living as a refugee in Egypt where he
knew no one as a displaced family. He must have wondered where to find
the basic necessities of life to feed the family.
Today, the family is
under threat, external and internal, symbolized by King Herod and King
Archelaus. Herod
is the symbol of the world that seeks to destroy the lives and future of
innocent children, the unity of the family through political interference and
social pressure. Archelaus is the symbol of the interior world in each
one of us when we need to deal with our fears, anxieties, values and priorities
of life. The world today is promoting values that destroy the institution
of marriage and family. Marriage today is no longer considered a sacred
event but just a social event where we have some fun and thrills even. People
today get married up in the sky or down in the sea.
The separation between
companionship and procreation comes at a time when technology has also enabled
children to be produced in the laboratory and implanted in the womb of another
person. With Social
Egg Freezing, IVF, Surrogate motherhood, procreation is no longer seen as a
personal act of a husband and wife that comes from the intimate love between
them. Such use of technology will also result in greater destruction of
human embryos. There is also a growing concern of eugenics as well, when
technology is directed towards a qualitative selection of embryos and a
consequent destruction of those embryos that are of lesser quality. We
are creating a superhuman race where only the strong and powerful can live. There
is also the attempt to normalize transgender, same sex union, divorce and
abortion.
But perhaps, the real
challenge is from within, rather than without. Instead of listening to
the voice of the Lord, we listen to the voice of the world. Instead of being firm in our Christian
values, we imbibe the values of the world, whether it is with regard to
marriage, family, education or lifestyle. We want to behave like the
world. Instead of listening to the Word of God and walking by faith, we
are Catholics living like pagans. The responsorial psalm tells us, “O
blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!” St Paul
exhorts us, “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.”
Today, we are called to
learn from the Holy Family. We call this family “holy” because the parents sought
to do the will of God in everything, and they brought up the child in
accordance with what God wanted for Him, so that He could fulfill His mission
in life. It is considered a holy family because it is truly a model of
conjugal love, wholesome upbringing of the child Jesus according to values as
taught in the scriptures, in collaboration, with each doing his or her part in
the process. Without these values being taught and lived out in our
families, which is the fabric and rock of society, what will result is the
gradual erosion of the institution of marriage and family life. It was Joseph
and Mary’s acceptance of the inconveniences, the suffering, the sacrifices, the
poverty, fears and worries that would have impressed on Jesus as He grew
up. They teach us about the dignity and value of humble work, which
is seen not just in terms of economic value only but as contributive to
society. Most of all, they were a praying family. Mary and Joseph were
contemplatives, always listening and pondering over the Word of God. In
solitude, they found strength to do God’s will, discerning what He was asking
of them.
This is why, more than
ever, we need a strong Christian community to help us to build our family
together. If the world has
become so secular and the values are selfish, individualistic, materialistic,
then the only way to protect our faith is to belong to a community. But
not just any community, it must be a faith community where we come together not
just for socializing but in Christian fellowship, which means, praying
together, reading the Word of God together and sharing our faith and life with
one another. Only by coming together as a community, can we find support
for our personal faith and as a community, journey together. Unless we
belong to a faith community, we will not be able to withstand the onslaughts of
the secular, materialistic and individualistic propaganda of the world. I
cannot say enough and remind the Church of the importance of building
communities, especially for the young people. Without a faith community,
they will not grow in their faith and eventually, when love is lacking in the
community, they join another community outside the Church where they can find
acceptance and love. The Church is a family of families.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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