Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 28, 2025: Put on love, that is, the bond of perfection...

Put on love, that is, the bond of perfection…

How do we live in relationship with God and other? 

    To live in relationship is to be blessed. This is the message of Psalm 128, which reminds us that to walk in God’s ways, to live the way God intends for us to live, is to embrace fully our relationship both with God and with other. Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways, the psalmist reminds us: relationship is at the core of human existence, and our awe – our fear of the Lord – allows us to cross any barrier to achieve it. 

    This weekend we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph with texts that remind us that relationship – family in its myriad forms – is a state or condition to be lived… and it takes work! Children, the Book of Sirach tells us, are to honor and revere their father as they obey a mother’s authority. Relationships change, they evolve, and yet we have no identity without them, just as we have no identity without God. And so, as Paul tells the Colossians, we must put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility gentleness, and patience, but over all these we must put on love. That love is the foundation of our relationship, the source of all other virtues combined, modeled in the death and rising of Jesus. Thus, what we live in relationship in our family is also meant to be lived in our identity as church, as we accept our subordination to God and to other as essential to the bond of love, the bond of perfection that keeps us together. 

    In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph will need to ground himself in loving obedience as he listens once again to the angel of the Lord who instructs him to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, and stay there until he is told otherwise. Out of love for his family, out of obedience to God, Joseph puts relationship first, that the prophecies about Jesus might be fulfilled. Jesus is blessed by his family as we are blessed with our relationship with God and with other. May we continue to live out that relationship as we walk in his ways, living the bond of perfection that is God’s love. 

This “vintage” post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 29, 2024: Son, why have you done this to us?

Son, why have you done this to us?
How anxious family life can cause us to be! 

    Family life can be so complicated! When, in the First Book of Samuel, the Hebrew woman Hannah finally, after much prayer, gives birth to a son, one might imagine that she will keep him close to hand. But in fact, Hannah, having received this gift of a son, surrenders her first-born to the Lord: I, in turn, give him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord. Hannah does not know how God’s plan is going to unfold, but she accepts this state of uncertainty and follows through on her promise to the Lord. 

    Mary, the mother of Jesus, will do the same, although not quite in the same way. Luke’s Gospel contains the only story we have of Jesus as a growing child, one who causes his parents some grief. Having gone with Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem and unbeknownst to them, Jesus remains behind in the temple – the lovely dwelling place of the Lord, as Psalm 84 tells us – sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. Naturally, Mary and Joseph have been looking for Jesus with great anxiety. They don’t immediately understand that Jesus must be in his Father’s house, astonishing all who hear him speak. It is one of what must have been many moments of revelation that perplexed the parents of Jesus. In the end, Jesus returns with them to Nazareth, and is obedient to them, though he, like Samuel, is ultimately dedicated to God his Father before all else. 

    Significantly, although Mary and Joseph do not yet fully understand this revelation that is their Son, and thus experience great anxiety, they do believe. Likewise, we may not fully understand Christ revealed; we do not know how God’s plan will unfold. Yet, like Mary and Joseph, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, we are called to believe, to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. It is in this way that we too become God’s children, and thus part of the ever-growing family that is holy, a family that has its origins in the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus himself. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 31, 2023: Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky...

Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky…

What does the family of God look like?  

   When, in Luke’s Gospel, Mary and Joseph take the baby Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord, they are reaffirming their participation in the extraordinary covenant which God has repeatedly established with God’s people. As we know from the story of Abram (later Abraham) in Genesis, God, who created us out of love, showers blessings on those who are open to his invitation. Abraham trusts that the Lord will make his own issue, his future son Isaac, his heir, but God’s promise is more extraordinary still: Abraham’s descendants, the Book of Hebrews tells us, will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. Faithful to God’s covenant, Abraham is in right relationship with God; that righteousness (or right relationship) is born of God’s love for his own, a covenant love, Psalm 105 tells us, that the Lord remembers forever, even though humankind may forget it. 

    The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph is a celebration of the covenant, of the love relationship between humankind and God, of the ties that bind us to God as well as to one another. The Incarnation – Jesus, divine yet born in all his humanity to very human parents – is the ultimate manifestation of God’s covenant, as the prophet Simeon recognizes upon taking the child Jesus into his arms: my eyes have seen your salvation, Simeon says. The presence of Simeon and the prophetess Anna in this scene reinforce the familial nature of the event, as their voices reaffirm that the invitation of God to covenant creates a family, a love relationship, that goes beyond the immediately biological. The Holy Family is our family; God’s love for us is parental, loving, compassionate. The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us of our place in God’s family, and celebrates the love that is ours thanks to the extraordinary invitation of the Lord to join him as witnesses to the redemption available to all humankind. 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 26, 2021: Beloved, we are God's children now...

Beloved, we are God’s children now…

How do you define family?

    In the Old Testament, the people of Israel defined family in terms of the larger community. When, in 1 Samuel, Hannah takes her son to the temple to dedicate him to the Lord, she is not abandoning him, but deepening their relationship with God, the source of their identity. Her act is a gesture of recognition that Samuel is a gift to her from God that she dedicates back to God. For Hannah and for Samuel, Psalm 84’s refrain, Blessed are they who dwell in your house, takes on new meaning with Samuel’s dedication. The psalmist yearns to be in the presence of the Lord, and is able to find his way to God in his heart, celebrating the relationship that is at the core of his very identity as well.

    In Luke’s Gospel, time spent in the temple does not merely allow Jesus proximity to God, but gives him the opportunity to identify God as his Father: Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? he asks his parents, who have returned to Jerusalem in a panic, looking for the son they fear has been lost. Jesus knows who he is; his identity in God, as God, is secure.

    Thus, in the New Testament, what constitutes family is related not to bloodlines, but to faith. 1 John reminds us that we are baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection and are therefore God’s children now. Our relationship with the Lord as children who inherit our identity is inspired by and brought about through the Lord’s love for us, lived out in our love for one another. Through Christ, the notion of family is broader than we might otherwise define it, and certainly broader than the limitations we normally place upon it. Only in the context of community do we find our true identity. Ultimately, we are called to one universal family in which everyone should belong, and know and live in Jesus Christ – as we prepare for our eventual home, a home that is perfect in love, and that is love, perfectly revealed.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 29, 2019: Put on love, that is, the bond of perfection...

Put on love, that is, the bond of perfection…

How do we live in relationship with God and other?

  To live in relationship is to be blessed. This is the message of Psalm 128, which reminds us that to walk in God’s ways, to live the way God intends for us to live, is to embrace fully our relationship both with God and with other.  Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways, the psalmist reminds us:  relationship is at the core of human existence, and our awe – our fear of the Lord – allows us to cross any barrier to achieve it.

  This weekend we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph with texts that remind us that relationship – family in its myriad forms – is a state or condition to be lived… and it takes work!  Children, the Book of Sirach tells us, are to honor and revere their father as they obey a mother’s authority.  Relationships change, they evolve, and yet we have no identity without them, just as we have no identity without God.  And so, as Paul tells the Colossians, we must put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility gentleness, and patience, but over all these we must put on love.  That love is the foundation of our relationship, the source of all other virtues combined, modeled in the death and rising of Jesus.  Thus, what we live in relationship in our family is also meant to be lived in our identity as church, as we accept our subordination to God and to other as essential to the bond of love, the bond of perfection that keeps us together.

  In Matthew’s Gospel, Joseph will need to ground himself in subordination as he listens once again to the angel of the Lord who instructs him to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, and stay there until he is told otherwise.  Out of love for his family, out of obedience to God, Joseph puts relationship first, that the prophecies about Jesus might be fulfilled.  Jesus is blessed by his family as we are blessed with our relationship with God and with other.  May we continue to live out that relationship as we walk in his ways, living the bond of perfection that is God’s love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 30, 2018: Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?

Where is our spiritual home, and how do we get there?

   We call God our Father, but what does it mean to be God’s children now, as the First Letter of John suggests we are?  John tells us that we are children because of the love the Father has bestowed on us in the gift and sacrifice of his Son Jesus.  If our hearts do not condemn us, that is, if we remain open to the love that is ours, if we keep his commandments and do what pleases the Lord, we can be confident in this intimate relationship with the Father and the Son, and enjoy our place in God’s family, residing with the Lord in his dwelling place, that sacred space where Psalm 84 situates the heart crying out for the living God. 

  In the First Book of Samuel, we have a hint of this intimate life with God when Hannah, the once-barren wife of Elkanah, entrusts her firstborn son Samuel to the temple in gratitude for God’s blessing in her life.  Without a son, unable to produce true family, Hannah is considered worthless in the eyes of her society.  When God blesses her with Samuel (and, subsequently, other children), Hannah, obedient to her vow, gives her son to the Lord, allowing Samuel to dwell in the Lord’s house, where, keeping God’s commandments, he will thrive.

   Likewise, at a young age, Jesus similarly finds the intimacy of his Father’s house a welcoming and intellectually fruitful dwelling.  When, in Luke's Gospel, having remained behind in Jerusalem after his parents have departed from the Passover feast, Jesus is found sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  He will return to Nazareth obedient in all things, preparing for that life which will culminate in opening humankind’s access to God.  We are God’s children now, because Jesus, God’s Son, came to dwell with us and remain in us, that we might ultimately dwell with God, seeing him as he is, our loving Father who invites us to infinite love and, ultimately, his eternal dwelling place.

Happy Feast of the Holy Family!

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com