Question of
the Week |
December 30, 2007
Joseph listened to God and obeyed.
Why do I think listening to and obeying God is hard at times?
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January 6, 2008
The Magi followed a star to find Jesus.
Who or what leads me to Jesus today? |
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Uniform of Christ
If a person were to wear a long white coat [1] what would we presume their profession is? A doctor or dentist of some sort! If a person were to wear a two-piece blue pajama-like uniform called scrubs, what would we presume their profession is? A surgeon or specialized nurse of some sort! If a person were to wear navy blue shirt and pants with a badge on the upper arm and a belt with a gun in it, what would we presume their profession is? A police officer or sheriff or some sort!
We know these uniforms well and come to expect certain behavior from people who wear them. We would be dismayed if one of the above people were to act disorderly in some way while wearing one of their uniforms. Indeed, if they were not in their uniform, and we knew who they were, we would be equally dismayed or somewhat taken aback if they were not acting in a manner their uniforms called for them to act.
When we were baptized we put a uniform of the white garment and we call this the garment of Christ. We shroud ourselves in Christ It is the same white garment that a priest wears under the Mass vestments as a reminder as priests we are first baptized Christians before being a priest. Indeed we are all called to symbolically wear this as a uniform for life. We are all called to put on the garment or the uniform of Christ every day. Even if we are not wearing that uniform, people have a certain expectation that Christians act a certain way.
In other words, we are called to be Christ-like at all times, whether we are wearing the white garment or not, in much the same way all the professions I mentioned earlier. If we are honest we know this is hard work. Sometimes we get better at it and sometimes worse and the challenge is to always plugging away at it. To always choose Christ; to always live the examples that Christ gave us.
Today we celebrate the Feast Day of the Holy Family and we hold up the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph as an example to all families as how it is to be family. The second reading from letter to the Colossians gives us examples of what it means to put on Christ. It gives us examples of what it would be like to live out those Christian value and virtues in a family. We are called to be compassionate and kind. We are called to be gentle and patient. We are called to bear with each other's weaknesses. We are called to forgive one another. Above all of these, we are called to put on the apron of love.
This week of all weeks seems most appropriate to celebrate the Holy Family because we have been inundated with family for Christmas. We celebrate family in a wonderful way - how we gather at Christmas with our extended family as well as our immediate family. There are some in our community who hold to the ideal of the Holy Family and their family unit seems to be harmonious in every way. But for most of us, our family has a few cracks in the foundation. The tensions that exist seem to come to the surface all the more at times like Christmas when we see more of each other. Often those tensions rise up to the surface and bubble over into arguments mostly occurring over the dinner table. If we are honest with ourselves these Christian values of being patient and humble, kind and gentle with one another is really hard work. Indeed it seems hardest in our own family unit because we know how to press each other's buttons, and we do it very well at holiday times.
So today as we celebrate the Holy Family, we are called not to give up on the ideal. We are called to set our mind back to Christ. To center ourselves back onto Christ and what He would have us do in our family. Starting with going back to putting on that garment of love, return back to forgiving one another, to start being gentle and being kind with one another.
Now for some families that is easy because we have a nucleus family that is healthy. There are other families that have not got such a healthy environment and it is very hard to hear these words. There are some with broken marriages who are now feeling the pain all the more at this time of year and the reality of a broken family or raising their children as single parents is feeling a little overwhelming. There are others who have lost their spouses to death and this pain becomes all the more difficult at this time of year because the vacancy at the table is more poignant. There are other families that have not been functional for a long time and the idea of an ideal mother and father just does not exist in their family. And the only way they can bind together is as siblings as brother and sister, or maybe even adopting others as family and they hold together the fabric of family love we best they can. There are still others in our community who are gay and will never identify to the whole reality of ideal family; how difficult it is for them to hear these words today.
No matter what our circumstances are, we are called to not give up on the ideal of love in the family unit. We are called to not give up on love and the garment of love, which we are called to clothe ourselves in: to put on the garment of Christ is to put on that apron of love and it requires hard work with daily choice. It requires of us to make a commitment again this week, to honor the Holy Family by making our families holy and working harder at being patient, working harder at being kind, working harder at being gentle and forgiving and bearing with one another's grievances. As Christ has forgiven us, we are to forgive others. Today, may we recommit ourselves to putting on the uniform of Christ, the garment of Christ, which is the apron of love. |
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Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Psalm: Sunday 45
Reading 1
Sir 3:2-6, 12- 14
God sets a father in honor over his children;
a mother's authority he confirms over her sons.
Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
and preserves himself from them.
When he prays, he is heard;
he stores up riches who reveres his mother.
Whoever honors his father is gladdened by children,
and, when he prays, is heard.
Whoever reveres his father will live a long life;
he who obeys his father brings comfort to his mother.
My son, take care of your father when he is old;
grieve him not as long as he lives.
Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
-a house raised in justice to you.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 128:1- 2, 3, 4-5
R. (cf. 1) Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Reading II
Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Wives, be subordinate to your husbands,
as is proper in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives,
and avoid any bitterness toward them.
Children, obey your parents in everything,
for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children,
so they may not become discouraged.
or
Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Gospel
Mt 2:13- 15, 19-23
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
"Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child's life are dead."
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He shall be called a Nazorean. |
