Daily Gospel for Sunday, 29 December 2013
“Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words
of real life, eternal life.”(John 6:68, The Message).
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - Feast - Year A
Feast of the Day:
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Feast)
The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand
the life of Jesus — the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence.
May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind,
revive in us...
A lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life
is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and
inviolable character...
A lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the Carpenter's Son,"
in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law
of human work." — (Paul VI at Nazareth, January 5, 1964)
The Holy Family models for us what family life should exemplify.
It is a school of virtue for both parents and children. There we find God, and
learn how to connect with God and with others. The family is where love is
freely given without self-interest. It is where we learn to love, to pray and
to practice the gift of charity.
Pope John Paul II has said, “The family, more than any other
human reality, is the place in which the person is loved for himself and in
which he learns to live the sincere gift of self”.
Father, help us to live as the Holy Family, united in respect
and love. Bring us to the joy and peace of your eternal home.
Amen.
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - Feast - Year A
Saint of the Day:
SAINT THOMAS OF CANTERBURY
Bishop and martyr
(c. 1118-1170)
St. Thomas, son of Gilbert Becket, was born in Southwark,
England, in 1117. When a youth he was attached to the household of Theobald,
Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him to Paris and Bologna to study law.
He became Archdeacon of Canterbury, then Lord High Chancellor of
England; and in 1160, when Archbishop Theobald died, the king insisted on the
consecration of St. Thomas in his stead. St. Thomas refused, warning the king
that from that hour their friendship would be broken. In the end he yielded,
and was consecrated. The conflict at once broke out; St. Thomas resisted the
royal customs, which violated the liberties of the Church and the laws of the
realm.
After six years of contention, partly spent in. exile, St.
Thomas, with full foresight of martyrdom before him, returned as a good
shepherd to his Church. On the 29th of December, 1170, just as vespers were
beginning, four knights broke into the cathedral, crying: "Where is the
archbishop? where is the traitor?" The monks fled, and St. Thomas might
easily have escaped. But he advanced, saying: "Here I am—no traitor, but
archbishop. What seek you?" "Your life," they cried.
"Gladly do I give it," was the reply; and bowing his head, the
invincible martyr was hacked and hewn till his soul went to God.
Six months later Henry II. submitted to be publicly scourged at
the Saint's shrine, and restored to the Church her full rights.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - Feast - Year A
Sirach 3: 2 For the Lord honors a father above his children,
and he confirms a
mother’s right over her children.
3 Those who honor their father atone for sins,
4 and those who respect their mother are like
those who lay up treasure.
5 Those who honor their father will have joy in their own
children,
and when they pray
they will be heard.
6 Those who respect their father will have long life,
and those who honor[a]
their mother obey the Lord;
Footnotes:
a. Sirach 3:6 Heb: Other ancient authorities read comfort
12 My child, help your father in his old age,
and do not grieve him
as long as he lives;
13 even if his mind fails, be patient with him;
because you have all
your faculties do not despise him.
14 For kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
and will be credited
to you against your sins;
Psalm 128: The Happy Home of the Faithful
A Song of Ascents.
1 Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy,
and it shall go well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord bless you from Zion.
May you see the
prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your
life.
Colossians 3: 12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe
yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear
with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each
other; just as the Lord[a] has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above
all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed
you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ[b]
dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with
gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.[c] 17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Rules for Christian Households
18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the
Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your
acceptable duty in the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they
may lose heart.
Footnotes:
a. Colossians 3:13 Other ancient authorities read just as Christ
b. Colossians 3:16 Other ancient authorities read of God, or of
the Lord
c. Colossians 3:16 Other ancient authorities read to the Lord
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 2:
Matthew 2: The Escape to Egypt
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to
Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the
child, to destroy him.” 14 Then Joseph[a] got up, took the child and his mother
by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out
of Egypt I have called my son.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 2:14 Gk he The Return from Egypt
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother,
and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are
dead.” 21 Then Joseph[a] got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the
land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in
place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in
a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in
a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might
be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 2:21 Gk he
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - Feast - Year A
Commentary of the Day:
Pope Francis
Encyclical « Lumen fidei / The Light of faith », §52-53 (trans.
© Libreria Editrice Vaticana)
Faith and the journey of the family
Faith and the family: In Abraham’s journey towards the future
city (Heb 11,10), the Letter to the Hebrews mentions the blessing which was
passed on from fathers to sons (Heb 11:20-21). The first setting in which faith
enlightens the human city is the family. I think first and foremost of the
stable union of man and woman in marriage. This union is born of their love, as
a sign and presence of God’s own love... Grounded in this love, a man and a
woman can promise each other mutual love in a gesture which engages their
entire lives and mirrors many features of faith. Promising love for ever is
possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a
plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the
one we love. Faith also helps us to grasp in all its depth and richness the
begetting of children, as a sign of the love of the Creator who entrusts us
with the mystery of a new person. So it was that Sarah, by faith, became a
mother, for she trusted in God’s fidelity to his promise (Heb 11:11).
In the family, faith accompanies every age of life, beginning
with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their parents. This is
why it is so important that within their families parents encourage shared
expressions of faith which can help children gradually to mature in their own
faith. Young people in particular, who are going through a period in their
lives which is so complex, rich and important for their faith, ought to feel
the constant closeness and support of their families and the Church in their
journey of faith.
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