The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

Year of Saint Joseph

Year of the Family "Amoris Laetitia The Joy of Love"

In other years: Saint Stephen, the first martyr

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 68 The Assignment of Impossible Tasks

Mass: Sirach 3:2-7, 12-14 or 1 Sam 1:20-22, 24-28; Resp Ps 128 or Resp Ps 84; Col 3:12-21 or 1 Jn 3:1-2, 21-24; Lk 2:41-52

Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.

OPEN OUR HEARTS, O LORD, TO LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF YOUR SON.

(Gospel versicle, Mass)

The following text from a Christmas sermon* by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was read after Communion at our Mass on Christmas Day. I thought it fitting for today as we reflect upon the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, they who took their place among the lowly and let God alone be high. Jesus 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 (Lk 2:52).

When God chooses Mary as an instrument, when God wants to enter this world in the manger in Bethlehem, this is not an idyllic family occasion, but rather the beginning of a complete reversal, a new ordering of all things on.

We cannot come to this manger in the same way we would approach the cradle of any other child. Something will happen to each of us who decides to come to Christ's manger. Each of us will be judged or redeemed before we go away. Each of us will either break down or come to know that God's mercy is turned towards us. All who at the manger finally lay down all power and honor, all prestige, all vanity, all arrogance and self-will; all who take their place among the lowly and let God alone be high; all who see the glory of God in the lowliness of the child in the manger; these are the ones who will truly celebrate Christmas.

MARY, HOUSE OF GOLD,

JOSEPH, HEAD OF THE HOLY FAMILY,

SAINT STEPHEN,

PRAY FOR US.

*It is possible to find the complete sermon on www.sermoncentral.com. 

Today's photo: Our made by hand creche, detail.

© Gertrude Feick 2021

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: RB 5:1-13

Mass: Jm 4:13-17; Resp Ps 49/Mt 5:3; Mk 9:38-40

Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

(Resp Ps 49/Mt 5:3)

Pope Francis writes about this Beatitude and its relationship to holiness in Gaudete et Exsultate, 67-70. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, grant us purity of heart.

The Gospel invites us to peer into the depths of our heart, to see where we find our security in life. Usually the rich feel secure in their wealth, and think that, if that wealth is threatened, the whole meaning of their earthly life can collapse. Jesus himself tells us this in the parable of the rich fool: he speaks of a man who was sure of himself, yet foolish, for it did not dawn on him that he might die that very day (cf. Lk 12:16-21).

Wealth ensures nothing. Indeed, once we think we are rich, we can become so self-satisfied that we leave no room for God’s word, for the love of our brothers and sisters, or for the enjoyment of the most important things in life. In this way, we miss out on the greatest treasure of all. That is why Jesus calls blessed those who are poor in spirit, those who have a poor heart, for there the Lord can enter with his perennial newness.

This spiritual poverty is closely linked to what Saint Ignatius of Loyola calls “holy indifference”, which brings us to a radiant interior freedom: “We need to train ourselves to be indifferent in our attitude to all created things, in all that is permitted to our free will and not forbidden; so that on our part, we do not set our hearts on good health rather than bad, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest”.

Luke does not speak of poverty “of spirit” but simply of those who are “poor” (cf. Lk 6:20). In this way, he too invites us to live a plain and austere life. He calls us to share in the life of those most in need, the life lived by the Apostles, and ultimately to configure ourselves to Jesus who, though rich, “made himself poor” (2 Cor 8:9).

Being poor of heart: that is holiness.

Monday of the Thirty-Fourth, or Last, Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: RB 48:1-9

Mass: Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20; Resp. Psalm (Dn 3); Luke 21:1-4

She, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.

The magnanimity of the poor widow makes me question

whether or not I’ve given up everything to follow Christ.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Saint John of Capistrano

Readings of the day: RB 18:7-11; Resp. Psalm (Luke 1); Luke 12:13-21

Too much stuff? Do not fear, storage is here—mini-warehouses, self-storage, mini-storage, storage containers, public storage—storage everywhere! Today’s gospel makes me think of all the stuff we have accumulated. There’s clutter here and clutter there; now we’ve nowhere to put it. I recently lived near a new housing development. On weekends the neighborhood was part of my running route. It was amazing how many houses could be built in the period of one week. Perhaps more amazing was that there seemed to be more square footage for the garage then there was for the actual living space of the humans that were to inhabit the house.

Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years,

rest, eat, drink, and be merry!

BUT GOD SAID,

“You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”

Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself

but is not rich in what matters to God.”

Kyrie eleison.

SAINT JOHN OF CAPISTRANO, PRAY FOR US.