INTRODUCTION
This is the last Sunday of the year in which the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family. We not only commemorate this Feast but more importantly, it is a day in which we are meant to offer all the members of our own families on the altar for God’s blessing. The feast equally reminds us that we are all part of a human family and at the same time we belong to God’s family, the Church. In both families, we enjoy privileges and responsibilities. In them also we are called to work for the good of every single member. In other words, our biological and religious families must be a place where the members have a sense of belonging, and enjoy love, peace and unity.
FIRST READING: Genesis 15:1-6; : 21:1-3
Abraham’s story began with his call, when his name was Abram. God told him, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you” (12:1-3). God’s promise to make of Abram a great nation implies that Abram will have a legitimate heir.
Abram was 75 years old at the time of his departure from Haran (12:4). He was married to Sarai (later Sarah), but they had no children—and at their age they had no reason (except God’s promise that he would make of Abram a great nation) to believe that they would ever have a child.
In today’s reading God told Abram, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” (15:1-2). God responded, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir. Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your seed be” (15:4-5). This promise is very specific. Abram will have a child—a legitimate heir. Abram “believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness” (15:6).
But Sarai, out of frustration because she had been unable to bear children for Abram, told him to go in to her slave-girl, Hagar, so that Hagar might bear a child for him (16:2). Yes, she grew weary of waiting for God to keep his promise to Abram, and felt a need to take matters in her own hands. Abram did as she asked, and Hagar conceived a child. Hagar then began to look with contempt on Sarai, who complained bitterly to Abram (16:5). Abram gave Sarai permission to do as she would with Hagar, and Sarai acted so harshly that Hagar ran away into the wilderness (16:6). An angel found her there and told her that she would bear a son who would have so many descendants that they could not be counted. The angel told her to name her son Ishmael (the Hebrew: yismael—which means “God hears”).
Meanwhile, the chapter 21 of today’s reading affirms that God finally visited Sarah as He earlier promised. A divine visit (paqad) is usually to show people favor (Genesis 50:24; Exodus 3:16; 1 Samuel 2:21) but is sometimes to punish them (Exodus 20:5; Isaiah 10:12). God altered nature and made Sarah to conceive at a very old age. Biologically, it is more unusual for an old woman to become a mother than for an old man to become a father because a woman’s reproductive system typically shuts down much earlier than a man’s. However, the narratives show that this birth doesn’t depend on Abraham and Sarah, but on God. It is God’s will that the child be born. As the Lord asked Abraham earlier, “Is anything too hard for Yahweh?” (18:14).
The name Isaac was given to him by Abraham. It is the duty of a father to name the child just as we will see in the case of John the Baptist. Abraham (because at this time God had already changed his name) gave his son the name given by God himself (17:19).
The birth of Isaac introduced a new line of story in the life of Abraham. Apart from the fact that Isaac became the first legitimate son born to Abraham, it was through him also that Abraham’s home became a family in a strict sense of it.
This account prefigures the Holy Family of Nazareth in the sense that both cases demonstrate the omnipotence of God capable of operating on nature in an extraordinary way.
SECOND READING: Hebrew 11: 8.11-12.17-19
Hebrews 11 is a chapter containing pericope of teaching on faith. First, the verse 1 lays down the definition of faith, and then the subsequent verses are litany of persons who made faith visible through their lives. These people heard God’s promises and believed them in spite of waiting a very long time to see the promises fulfilled—some promises were never fulfilled in their lifetime. For instance, Abraham didn’t live long enough to see the nation that sprang from his seed.
The chapter defines faith as the assurance hupostasis—which stands for reality of things hoped for and the elegchos—a proof or certainty of things not seen.
The taste of this passage could be felt in the measure in which it links to the first reading. The author affirms that nothing else could have made Sarah to believe that she will conceive in spite of being past the age (Heb. 11:11). He (the author) teaches his audience that faith is capable of anything and that it is by faith that we can interaction with God and understand His language even when we do not yet have a full grasp of it. The faith which the author of the letter to the Hebrews speaks about is not just a professed faith but faith that cooperates with God to achieve His designs.
GOSPEL : Luke 2:22-40
The birth of Christ was revealed by three kinds of witnesses in three different ways — first, by the shepherds, after the angel’s announcement; second, by the Magi, who were guided by a star; third, by Simeon and Anna, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Today’s Gospel describes the Presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple. It was intended to ritually redeem Jesus who was the first born in the family and where Mary herself will have to be ritually purified. Mary and Joseph were pious Jewish couple, who understood the need to fulfill their religious obligations as expected of them by the Law. Luke shows how the Holy Family went into the Temple to accomplish the Jewish practice of the purification of the mother after childbirth and the presentation of the child. It is a ritual of Hypapánte –the Purification of Mary (by the offering two pigeons in the Temple), the Presentation of the Lord (by prayers and a sacrifice offered in the Temple to redeem or buy the firstborn male child back from the Lord).
According to Leviticus 12:2-8, a woman who bore a child was considered unclean for forty days following the birth of a son or eighty days following the birth of a daughter. Although Mary, the most holy of women, ever-Virgin, was exempt from these precepts of the Law, because of her miraculous conception, she chose to submit herself to the Law just like any other Jewish mother. Joseph and Mary showed their total submission to Law and obey the norms prescribed by the Old Testament. Apart from being partaking in what was the custom of the time, the Holy Family adhered to the strict prescription of the Torah. Yes, Exodus 13:2, 12-13 prescribes that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued to be God’s special property, a rite of redemption was performed. The Law also commanded that the Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim — for example, a lamb or, if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Furthermore, the Book of Numbers 18: 15 taught that since every Jewish firstborn male child belonged to Yahweh, the parents had to “buy back” (redeem), the child by offering a lamb or turtledoves as a sacrifice in the Temple. The price of redemption for a human baby is five shekels of silver (Num 18:15-16). Jesus never needed to be “bought back,” as He belonged wholly to the Lord, but Joseph kept these laws as an act of obedience to God.
The unique nature of the visit of the Holy Family into the Temple was given through the prophecy of Simeon. Simeon’s canticle (verses 29-32) consists of two stanzas: the first (verses 29-30) is his act of thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah. The second (verses 31-32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men. The canticle highlights the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception — something foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 2:6; 42:6; 60:3; Psalm 28:2). While Simeon blessed Mary, he warned her that her child would be “asign of contradiction,” and that she would be “pierced with a sword.” Simeon was prophesying both the universal salvation that would be proclaimed by Jesus and the necessity of suffering in the mission of the Messiah. Jesus came to bring salvation to all men, yet He would be a sign of contradiction because some people would obstinately reject Him — and for this reason He would be their ruin. But for those who would accept Him with faith, Jesus would be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this life and raising them up to eternal life. The Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph marveled, but not because they did not know who Christ was. They were in awe at the way God was gradually revealing the mystery behind their child.
Another voice of testimony that accompanied the event was that of the prophetess Anna. She was an eighty-four-year-old widow who spent her days in the Temple in fasting and prayer, waiting for the promised Messiah. She was rewarded with the joy of seeing her Redeemer as a Baby. In her excitement, she praised God and introduced the Infant to others around her as the expected Messiah. Supernatural hope grows with prayer and age! Anna was pre-eminently a woman of great hope and expectation that God would fulfill all his promises. She is a model of godliness for all believers as we advance in age. Advancing age and the disappointments of life can easily make us cynical and hopeless if we do not have our hope placed rightly. Anna’s hope in God and His promises grew with age. She never ceased to worship God in faith and to pray with hope. Her hope and faith in God’s promises fueled her indomitable zeal and fervor in prayer and the service of God’s people. We grow in hope by placing our trust in the promises of Jesus Christ and relying not on our own strength, but on the grace and help of the Holy Spirit. After completing the presentation and redemption of baby Jesus and the ritual purification of Mary and the meeting with Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary understood more fully their responsibilities before God to protect the child as they return to Nazareth- a home that will see to the growth of the Baby in wisdom and favour of God.
LIFE MESSAGES:
1) IN EVERY HOLY MASS WE ARE PRESENTED TO THE LORD
Although we were officially presented to God on the day of our Baptism, and in some other places during child dedication. But we never stop to present ourselves and our dear ones on the altar before God our Father through our Saviour Jesus Christ again and again at every Holy Mass. Hence, we need to live our daily lives with the awareness both that we are dedicated people consecrated to God and that we are obliged to lead holy lives.
2) IT IS ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT HELPES US TO RECOGNIZE JESUS IN US AND IN OTHERS
All those who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, no matter how insignificant their lives seem in men’s eyes, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In His plan of redemption, God makes use of these simple souls to do much good for all mankind. In other words, The Holy Spirit employs ordinary men and women with simple faith as His instruments to bear witness to Christ, His ideals and teachings, just as He used Simeon and Anna. The Holy Spirit reveals the presence of the Lord to us when we are receptive and eager to receive Him. Let us be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us to recognize the indwelling presence of the Lord with us and in others. (cf. Fr. Antony Kadavil)
3) WE NEED TO REBUILD OUR FAMILIES
According to the Holy Father Pope Francis, “The family is a precious treasure: we must always support and protect it”. It is the first place each one of us needs to be loved and cared for. It is a place of dialogue and communication. Communication builds confidence. It heals wounds and relieves accumulated pains in the heart. Are our families a place of communication whereby each one feels free to express his problems and desires? How often do we gather together as a family to eat, to pray and to work? Do we have common vision, common goal and common project in our families? Are our families a living hell for the members? Why do we feel free and more secured outside than in our families?
The Holy Family of Nazareth leads us today on a school of family togetherness. Baby Jesus with his Mother Mary and with St Joseph are a simple but so luminous icon of the family. They shed a light of hope that should encourage us to offer human warmth in those family situations in which, for various reasons, peace is lacking, harmony is lacking, and forgiveness is lacking. May our concrete solidarity not diminish especially with regard to the families who are experiencing more difficult situations due to seperation, domestic violence, illness, poverty, rejection, unemployment, discrimination, the need to emigrate for various reason.
PRAYER
Jesus, Mary and Joseph help us to understand the need to love and accommodate each other. And for the families who do not enjoy the warmth of each other, we pray that you may reinstall peace, heal their broken homes, lighten their burdens and bring them back to live, to love and to care for one another. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
