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| “Holy Family below the Oak” by Raffaello Sanzio 1518 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Note: In Dioceses of the United States all of the
options below are available. The
readings specific to the C Cycle (*) are 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28,
Psalm
84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10, 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24, and Luke 2:41-52.
Reading 1: Sirach 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.
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Commentary on Sir 3:2-6,
12-14
This reading from
Sirach is essentially an exposition of the Commandment to Honor your father and
mother. I goes into greater length about the positive benefits that come to the
person who does so and does link to early Hebrew belief that the honor received
by the father of a household was transferred to the children (just as in the
omitted verses 8-11, the sins are also transmitted to the children).
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Or
*First Reading: 1 Samuel
1:20-22, 24-28
In those days Hannah conceived, and at the end
of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since
she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband
Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his
household
to offer the customary
sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining
to her husband,
“Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear
before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a
perpetual nazirite.”
Once Samuel was weaned,
Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old
bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin
of wine,
and presented him at the
temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy’s father had
sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother,
approached Eli and said:
“Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near
you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and
the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to
the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall
be dedicated to the LORD.”
Hannah left Samuel there.
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Commentary on 1 Sm 1:20-22, 24-28
The story of the birth of
Samuel to the previously barren Hannah is strikingly parallel to the conception
and birth of St. John the Baptist. Both
mothers, Hannah and Elizabeth dedicated their sons to God. In the case of Samuel his mother here offers
him as a “Nazirite: from the Hebrew word nazir, meaning "set apart as
sacred, dedicated, vowed." The nazirite vow could be either for a limited
period or for life. Those bound by this vow had to abstain from all the
products of the grapevine, from cutting or shaving their hair, and from contact
with a corpse. They were regarded as men of God like the prophets; cf Amos 2:11-12. Examples of
lifelong nazirites were Samson (Judges
13:4-5, 7; 16:17), Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11), and John the
Baptizer (Luke 1:15). At the
time of Christ the practice of taking the nazirite vow for a limited period
seems to have been quite common, even among the early Christians; cf Acts 18:18; 21:23-24, 26.”[4]
In this case Hannah dedicates
Samuel for life – she left him to be trained with the Priests.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 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.
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Commentary on Ps
128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Psalm 128 is a
song of thanksgiving. It begins here with the typical blessings for following
and having faith in the Lord. This selection features the blessing a family
brings to the faithful using the symbolism of vines and olives so favored by
even the Lord. It also supports the creation of woman and the marriage theme in Genesis 2:18-25. It is the logical extension of the two becoming
one flesh and the children flowing from that union.
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R. (cf. 5a) Blessed are they who dwell in your house,
O Lord.
How lovely is your dwelling
place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for
the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
R. Blessed are they who
dwell in your house, O Lord.
Happy they who dwell in your
house!
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength
you are!
Their hearts are set upon the
pilgrimage.
R. Blessed are they who
dwell in your house, O Lord.
O LORD of hosts, hear our
prayer;
hearken, O God of Jacob!
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of
your anointed.
R. Blessed are they who
dwell in your house, O Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10
Psalm 84 was used to celebrate pilgrimages to the Temple
in Jerusalem (3 times a year). In these strophes the singer extols the virtue
of those that are faithful and concludes with praise to the “anointed” king “our shield”.
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Reading II: Colossians 3:12-21
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.
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Commentary on Col
3:12-21
Here we have the
rather controversial family hierarchy of the era described by St. Paul. This
entire section of the letter is a discourse on harmony within the family of
Christ. It is important to note the
instruction given in the first part of this reading. Paul describes the
Christian rules for relationships; “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”.
When the
subordinated relationships are described below, equality in membership in the
family is established.
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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.
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Commentary on Col
3:12-17
This option omits
the hierarchical relationship descriptions.
Its focus remains consistent, however, driving the Pauline ideals of
harmony and unity within the Christian Family.
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Or
*Second Reading: 1 John
3:1-2, 21-24
Beloved:
See what love the Father has
bestowed on us
that we may be called the
children of God.
And so we are.
The reason the world does not
know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s
children now;
what we shall be has not yet
been revealed.
We do know that when it is
revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he
is.
Beloved, if our hearts do not
condemn us,
we have confidence in God and
receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name
of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as
he commanded us.
Those who keep his
commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he
remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave
us.
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Commentary on 1 Jn 3:1-2, 21-24
In this selection from St. John’s first epistle we are reminded that we are
all, through our Baptism, adopted children of God and hence, part of his
family, the family of the faithful. St. John goes on to remind us of the
obligations of that adoption; first, that we believe in Him, Jesus Christ, the
Only Son of God. Second, following the formula of the Great Commandment is that
we should love one another.
The ending of the chapter speaks of Christians living a life of faith in
Jesus and how, in that faith, they are assured, through mutual love that we are
in the Lord and the Lord also resides in us. In adhering to this most important
of commandments the Lord becomes indwelling. As a consequence of our obedience,
the love of Christ and love of each other naturally follows.
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Gospel: Luke 2:41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went
to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years
old,
they went up according to
festival custom.
After they had completed its
days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind
in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know
it.
Thinking that he was in the
caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among
their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to
look for him.
After three days they found
him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the
teachers,
listening to them and asking
them questions,
and all who heard him were
astounded
at his understanding and his
answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this
to us?
Your father and I have been
looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must
be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand
what he said to them.
He went down with them and
came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these
things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom
and age and favor
before God and man.
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Commentary on Lk 2:41-52
This narrative from St.
Luke’s Gospel tells the only story from the Gospels of Jesus growing up as a
boy, part of the family with Mary and Joseph. (There are numerous stories found
in the apocryphal gospels that attribute miraculous abilities and acts to the
young Jesus but these are felt to be of a tradition similar to the boyhood
stories of other ancient heroes such as Cyrus and Alexander). In this account Jesus is discovered after
three days (possibly symbolic to the three days in the tomb) at the Temple,
engaged in discourse with “teachers”, implying he was in the outer halls of the
temple – this would have been completely consistent with Jewish Law.
We note that he is listening
and answering questions and is not presuming upon his station to brag or put
himself forward. Finding him, we are
told that Jesus asked “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This statement connotes a familiarity with God the Father, for the first time
identifying that relationship over the role fulfilled by St. Joseph.
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Reflection:
The sacred texts give us a
unique view of the Holy Family. They
were living very typical lives in spite of the miracle of the child’s birth and
all that had happened regarding their flight to Egypt and the intense search
that Herod had made for the Christ Child.
We are given the story of Jesus, now twelve years old, one year short of
the age at which he would have undergone his bar mişwāh.
The Holy Family would have
come up to Jerusalem with a large number of family and friends from their home
village. This explains why Jesus would
not have been missed for some time after the group began its return to
Nazareth. Jesus could have been (as
assumed to have been) with family or friends; possibly with his cousins (St.
John the Baptist could have been with that group).
Any parent can imagine the
fear that must have stricken them when they realized that their son was not
with the caravan. Joseph would have
remembered his dream and Mary would have remembered the words of Simeon about
the sword of sorrow that would pierce her heart. The panic they felt would have been
excruciating, especially given the identity of their son. We can imagine their prayers as they begged
the Father in heaven to keep him safe and bring him back to them.
Three days they endured that
empty fear; fear that their Holy Family would not be whole again. Then to their wonder and intense relief they
found him, sitting with the teachers of the faith in the temple precincts. We can almost see Mary rush to him, Joseph
right behind. We can see Jesus looking
somewhat surprised at Mother Mary’s question.
He would never purposely cause his Beloved Mother pain (he must have
known what she was yet to endure). He
would never have purposely disrespected St. Joseph. His question would have been innocent “Didn’t
you know I would be here?” What a telling question. The innocence of his question tells us he
presumed his Holy Parents knew his mission, knew what he must do; knew as much
as he did about God’s plan for him.
The story concludes with the
family returning to Nazareth and Jesus growing up as an obedient son – an
example even in his youth. We recall
this story today as we remember the bond of love between mother, father and
Christ Child. They are the example of
what all Christian families hope to be and struggle to achieve. We celebrate our status as adopted children
of God who, through his Son, offers us a place in his heavenly home and we look
forward to a day of great unity and reunion in his Kingdom.
Pax
In other Years: Sixth
Day in the Octave of Christmas
[2]
The picture is “Holy Family below the Oak” by Raffaello Sanzio 1518
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on Numbers 6:1-3
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