21-Dec-2014 Dear Friend, The young and the not so young want to celebrate family by their presence as well as by their presents. Some realize that they never appreciated family fully until they had left it. Something similar can happen to each of us. We often do not appreciate the best things in life until they are lost to us. We take family and friendships for granted until we no longer have them. At Christmas we remember that God is at home with us! Do we take that for granted? Let’s celebrate God’s presence in our home! -Fr. Jude Sunday Refl. Holy Family: “Love, respect, share together, to stay together as one family!” 28-Dec-2014Ecclesiasticus 3: 2-6, 12-14 Colossians 3: 12-21 Lk. 2: 22-40
In today’s reading about two hundred years before Christ, the Book of Ecclesiasticus put together wise counsels on how to lead a life pleasing to God, it contains today’s section on the relationship between parents and children. “Honour your father and mother and you will live a long life.” It adds a religious motivation that those who honour their parents atone for their sins. The Book though does not seem to be talking about small children but about the duties of adult children towards their aging parents. In today’s world with people living longer, society is often intolerant and unmindful of the elderly. Our duties and responsibilities towards the old become more complex. Are our family relations based on truth and love? The bitter truth for parentsA mother was shocked to hear her son tell a lie. Taking the youngster aside for a heart to heart talk, she graphically explained what happened to liars. “A tall black man with red fiery eyes and two sharp horns grabs little boys who tell lies and carries them off at night. He takes them to Mars where they have to work in a dark canyon for fifty years! Now” she concluded, “you won’t tell a lie again, will you, dear?” “No, Mum, replied the son, gravely, But…But…..you tell better lies Mum!” – Children learn to tell lies from the elders. With them it does not work to say, ‘Do as I tell and not as I do.’G. Francis Xavier in ‘Inspiring Stories’ In today’s gospel Luke begins the narrative with Mary and Joseph in obedience to the Law of Moses, consecrating their first-born son, Jesus, “to the Lord” with a symbolic offering of two turtle doves , which were given by those too poor to offer a lamb. Perhaps Luke wishes to emphasize that the Messiah does not come with pomp in richness; he is not born of the rich and famous but of simple poor human beings whose greatest riches is their faith. Luke’s main focus is on Simeon and Anna, a just couple who were waiting for the coming of the Messiah. Simeon with eyes of faith recognizes in this frail child the long awaited Messiah. Taking the child in his arms, Simeon prays the memorable prayer ‘Nunc Dimittis, Now, Master you may let your servant go in peace.” He predicts that this child will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel”. He warns Mary that that her son will be a sign that is contradicted and that a sword will pierce her. This is not a reference to Mary at the foot of the Cross, but to the “sword that divides”. Mary’s initial yes is challenged and deepened as her son’s life unfolds. The presence of Anna, the eighty four old prophetess who has lived her whole life in faith concludes the narrative. She gives thanks and “spoke about the child to all who are awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.” Once again Luke concludes this narrative focusing on people who are ready to wait in faith for God’s plan to unfold in time. Mary, the young mother and Anna the elderly widow are united in bringing forth God’s word to the waiting world. Faith is a relationship with God which depends not so much on what we do but how we respond to God who takes the initiative, and leads all the way. We need to be open and grateful for God choosing us. “May it be done unto me according to thy word.” AttachmentIn the middle of the night a young boy wakes up in a hospital bed. He feels very frightened and very alone. He is suffering intense pain: Burns cover forty percent of his body. Someone had doused him with alcohol and then had set him on fire. He starts crying out for his mother. The nurse leaves her night-post to comfort him; she holds him, hugs him, whispers to him that the pain will go away sooner than he thinks. However, nothing that the nurse does seems to lessen the boy’s pain. He still cries for his mother. And the nurse is confused and angry: it was his mother who set him on fire. The young boy’s pain at being separated from his mother – even though she had inflicted such cruelty on him – was greater than the pain of his burns. That deep attachment to the mother makes separation from her the worst experience a child can undergo.Denis McBride in ‘Seasons of the Word’ Home a Great TreasureGeorge was in his seventies. He had never married. Most of his life he was a sailor travelling the oceans of the world. He had no home of his own. His nephew, Bill, always liked Uncle George, so he invited him to live with Bill, his wife and five children. It was a mutually agreeable arrangement. George now had a home; while Bill’s family could travel the world in imagination as they listened to Uncle George recount his experiences. At times Bill became bored and discontented with family life. How nice it would be to roam the world carefree. He even expressed this wish. One evening, as Uncle George was telling of some faraway place, he mentioned a map of buried treasure. The idea stuck in Bill’s mind so that when Uncle George died a few years later, Bill went through the old man’s few belongings. Sure enough, there was an envelope addressed to Bill. In it was a map. With shaking fingers and pounding heart he tried to figure out where the treasure was located. Finally he pinpointed the spot. It was his own home, the very spot where he was right now. Uncle George had truly left him a treasure, the realization that his own home, his own family, was a treasure. Application: How much do we work at making our home a treasure?Gerard Fuller in ‘Stories for all Seasons’ The Cosby ShowOne of TV’s highest rated programmes of all time was The Cosby Show. It was a weekly sitcom about an upper-middle-class black family, which for all practical purposes, had become America’s First Family. In a feature article about Bill Cosby, Newsweek magazine said that his show about the Huxtables is endearing not cutesy, its parents are hassled but never hapless and there is clowning but no guff. The Cosby Show was popular because the family situations it portrayed had an air of universality and reality about them. Any family could identify with both the irritations and misunderstandings that arise on the show, and with the truly humourous and heartwarming things that happen. While Dr. Cliff Huxtable, his lawyer wife Clair and their four children may not be the perfect counterpart of the Holy Family, they do picture for us in modern terms what some of the qualities of family life should be. The seven ‘C’s of family life are: commitment, communication, compatibility, compassion, confession, conviviality, and children. They sum up today’s readings about how to become a holy family instead of a broken family.Albert Cylwicki in ‘His Word Resounds’ We wanted to stay together…In his new book, ‘All Rivers run to the Sea’, Elie Wiesel recalls the terrible moment when his family had to make a critical choice. The war was coming to an end, but the deportation of Jews continued. Elie, his parents and three sisters faced deportation from their village in Hungary to the concentration camp in Berkenau. Maria, a Christian and the family’s house-keeper, begged the Wiesels to hide in her family cabin in the mountains. At first the Wiesels declined, but Maria persisted. The family gathered at the kitchen table for a family meeting: should they go with Maria, or stay and take their chances. The family decided to stay. Elie Wiesel remembers: “But why?” Maria implored us, her voice breaking. “Because” my father replied, “a Jew must never be separated from his community. What happens to everyone happens to us as well.” My mother wondered aloud whether it might not be better “to send the children with Maria.” We protested: We’re young and strong. The trip won’t be as dangerous for us. If anyone should go with Maria, it’s you. After a brief discussion, we thanked Maria. “My father was right. We wanted to stay together, like everyone else. Family unity is one of our most important traditions… the strength of the family tie, which has contributed to the survival of our people for centuries…” The war did not end soon enough for the Wiesels. Only Elie and two of his sisters survived. His mother, father, and youngest sister died in camps.Quoted in ‘Connections’ Newsletter Becoming a saint at home!There was a young lad who decided to become a saint. He went down to the library and got a couple of books on the lives of saints, in the hope that he might find one who could be his role model. He actually chose St. Simon Stylites, one of the most unusual saints in the calendar. Simon lived many centuries ago and the story is that he lived on top of a very high pillar in the middle of the town square. What drew the young lad to select him was, well, if you are going to be a saint, you might get as much publicity out of it as possible! I mean, everybody in town knew Simon, and everybody knew he was a saint, despite the fact that if he were alive today, he’d probably be locked up! The problem our young friend had was that there was no pillar in the middle of the town square. He opted for humble beginnings, so he got a chair in the kitchen, and stood on it. Shortly after that, his mother wanted to get to the sink, so he had to move his chair. Then it was his sister trying to get to the fridge, and he had to move again. Shortly afterwards, his brother came in the back door, bumped into him, and knocked him off the chair onto the floor. Eventually, he had to abandon his efforts, and as he put the chair to one side, he declared with complete conviction “No, it’s not possible, it’s just not possible to become a saint at home!” The reality is that it is not possible to become a saint anywhere else! Bloom where you are planted, just as the seed of Jesus’ message must grow in the heart in which it is planted.Jack McArdle in ‘And that’s the Gospel truth’ May we enjoy being part of the family of God! Fr. Jude Botelho botelhoj...@gmail.com PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
