DECEMBER 29, 1999
WORSHIP SERVICE
SCRIPTURES
·First Reading Sirach 3: 2-6, 12-14
·Psalm Ps. 128:1-5
·Second Reading Col. 3:12-21
·Gospel Luke 2:22-40
REFLECTION
Once again, do allow me to take this opportunity to greet everyone a Blessed Christmas, and I pray that the LORD had blessed your gatherings with His presence. Our Readings tonight clearly bring out the theme of family. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, I shall expound on each Reading accordingly and conclude with some practical Directions for the Community.
The First Reading speaks of the magnitude of the 4th Commandment, which is the only commandment with a promise. Its truth is beyond reproach that it has become the cornerstone of biblical law and ethics. It teaches that the love and obedience of children towards parents will bring lasting roots and blessings. In contrast, those who disobey will be uprooted from their very foundation. Strikingly, Sirach also points out that honoring parents has the power to atone for sin, which, normally, can only be accomplished by sacrificial offerings. Sirach also emphasizes the care for parents most especially when they have surrendered to the powers of time and age. In summary, this passage conveys the immeasurable blessings of obedience.
Our Psalm Reading, which gives us the Promise for the week, is a blessing given by temple priests to families and pilgrims as they ascend to the Temple to celebrate the New Year. It presents to us the ideal Jewish family, whose very lives revolve around the LORD and are guided by His Word. The outcome of such righteousness and reverence produces abundant fruits of labor, as well as peace and harmony in the family. The last verse suggests that if families live according to the ways of God, they and the community as a whole prosper.
In the Second Reading, which is the source of our Order, St. Paul exhorts his readers to uphold godly obligations and to practice invariably Christian virtues. Meekness, patience, compassion, and kindness all reflect an essential virtue, which is humility. Only a humble person can be forgiving and truly thankful because only he realizes that everything comes from God. As a result, he is able to attain peace and prove the genuineness of his love, which is the fruit of the Spirit that binds everything in perfect harmony and enables him to conquer the empire of the flesh. The Reading concludes, appropriately, with directions for the family, where the virtues are fundamentally applied and tested.
Lastly, St. Luke describes the Holy Family in our Gospel, whose obedience and faithfulness to the Word are quite evident. He presents them as the first stewards of God’s Love and the very model of Christian families and communities. St. Luke also reminds us of two Jewish ceremonies. According to Exodus 13, every firstborn male is considered holy and belonging to God. Hence, the child must be redeemed or bought back, in a manner of speaking, with an offering of 5 shekels, which is equivalent to a man’s 3-week work. This ceremony is called Redemption of the First-born and symbolizes Christ’s eventual return to Jerusalem to offer His life for man’s redemption. The second ceremony is the Purification after Childbirth. Leviticus 12 decrees that a woman is unclean physically and is not permitted to share in any religious ceremonies for forty days, if the child was a boy, or for eighty days, if the child was a girl. At the end of purification, she is to offer a lamb or two turtledoves. Mary offers the latter, which is called the Offering of the Poor.
The subsequent verses acquaint us with two characters. The first is Simeon, a faithful elderly prophet, who, upon seeing the Divine Child, is moved by the Holy Spirit to express his joy in a canticle of thanksgiving called the Nunc Dimittis. The main point of the canticle is that the long-awaited Messiah has now come, as prophesied in the book of Isaiah. Simeon’s ensuing prophecy summarizes the double mission of the LORD Jesus Christ to the Jews and the Gentiles, as well as His tragic fate in fulfilling that mission. The prophecy concludes with a warning that the Blessed Mother’s heart shall be pierced with a sword, which symbolizes sufferings that will culminate at the Cross. The second character is Anna, a devout elderly prophetess, who prayed daily in the Temple and whose words confirm the truth of Simeon’s prophecy. Among the many people in the Temple, God chooses Simeon and Anna to reveal the divine purpose of the LORD’s birth. The spiritual considerations behind this revelation are their virtues of piety and patience, which merit the abundance of God’s grace. The Gospel ends with the Holy Family’s return to Nazareth and under the pastoral care and stewardship of Joseph and Mary, the Divine Child grew in wisdom and in strength, indicating His obedience to His parents; and the favor of the LORD was upon the Child.
Essentially, our readings remind us of our responsibilities and duties in the family. In the encyclical Familiaris Consortio, which is a component of our Christian Discipleship Formation Program (CDFP), Pope John Paul II highlights the family as the foundation of formation where love and knowledge of God are infused and where children and parents alike share the value of pastoral care. Moreover, it describes the family as a “domestic church,” the foundational Church where holiness is awakened, nurtured and lived out. The Second Vatican Council further elevates the family as a center of faith and mission, a witness to the message of Christ and an agent of transformation. The family, therefore, is a living reality that is called to be a vessel of peace, defender and herald of the Word, temple of the Spirit, and steward of God’s love.
DIRECTIONS
As a union of encountered families, empowered by the Holy Spirit and led by the Word, we are exhorted to observe the following directions:
1. Obey unwaveringly the LORD’s commandments and teachings as exemplified by the Holy Family because love for God is manifested, primarily, through obedience.
2. Daily study and meditate on the Word of God so that it may dwell richly in our hearts. Such discipline could not BUT benefit every aspect of our family and community life, from enriching our LWG/WSC to the joy of serving, from piety in intercession to perseverance in all good works. The LORD says in Luke 8:21, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
3. Exercise pastoral care, primarily, in the family. Familiaris Consortio, again, reminds parents that their first task is to implant in each child a deep love for God. Once that is awakened, an inner urge to draw near and follow His ways will also be awakened. It also reminds that parents and not the school are the primary teachers and equippers in the family, especially in matters of faith and morals, which are being threatened by decadence and the poison of materialism.
4. Forgive. Repeatedly, the Word has shown us that forgiveness is the key to inner healing and freedom from spiritual bondage. With this in mind, let us allow the Holy Spirit to unearth the hurts, which we have buried alive. For if we are infected with unforgiveness, how could we merit the peace and love of Christ?
With the Holy Family as our model and as we approach the Jubilee Year, let us resolve sincerely to act with the love that binds the strands of life together and makes them perfect. PRAISE TO YOU, LORD JESUS CHRIST!
SUGGESTED SONG: WE ARE THE LORD’S OWN FAMILY
