A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 8, n. 5)
Holy Family, Year C – December 27, 2009 *
“We Are God’s Children”
BIBLE READINGS
I Sm 1:20-22, 24-28 // I Jn 3:1-2, 21-24 // Lk 2:41-52
(N.B. Series 8 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year C from the perspective of the Second Reading. For reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C based on the Gospel reading, please scroll up to the “ARCHIVES” above and open Series 2. For reflections based on the Old Testament reading, open Series 5.)
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
The beauty of Christmas is enhanced by the feast of the Holy Family. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born into a human family in order to make of us God’s family. This Sunday’s feast of the Holy Family gives us a glimpse of family life lived in accord with God’s will. Moreover, it presents a vision of a wider and more inclusive family – the family of God.
The divine plan to build a universal, all-inclusive family is made possible through various personages destined by God for that saving purpose. Once weaned, the young boy Samuel, whose name means “God granted”, was brought to the temple in Shiloh and dedicated to the Lord by his mother Hannah (cf. I Sm 1:20-22, 24-28). The vocation and mission of Samuel to be God’s prophet prefigure the fulfillment in Jesus of the divine plan of salvation for the family of humankind.
The feast of the Holy Family invites us not only to reflect on the family of Nazareth – Jesus, Mary and Joseph - as the model of Christian families. This feast also helps us to consider the family of God conceived by the miracle of Christmas and born from the pierced side of Christ crucified. This Sunday’s Gospel reading (Lk 2:41-52) underlines Jesus’ total dedication to the Father’s saving will. It likewise evokes the cosmic role of Jesus in reclaiming God’s people for their true Father in heaven, making them children of God.
The Second Reading (I Jn 3:1-2, 21-24) delineates the meaning and implication of being members of God’s family. We became God’s own children by the love he bestowed on us through his dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ. The biblical scholar Bruce Vawter remarks: “In the truest and most absolute sense, God’s gift of love has been the gift of his only Son as savior of the world. It is this gift that has made it possible that we be called children of God.” Indeed, the saving grace of the magnanimous God becomes present to us on the condition that we respond in faith to his Son Jesus Christ and if we love one another. By keeping the twofold commandment of faith in Jesus Christ and love of neighbor, we fully experience the presence of God, which is made evident by the gift of the Spirit.
The liturgist Aelred Rosser concludes: “We will truly become the family of humanity, the family of the Church, the family of God, when all the stereotypes are gone, when all the ancient grudges and prejudices and fears are gone, when we look at ourselves and every human being as the family member each one of us … [We need] to follow Jesus … the one whose birth at Christmas altered the universe forever – and made us all one family. Jesus cherished differences and saw great potential in the weak and the sinful, the odd and the outcast. He also saw potential in the proud and obstinate, the coldhearted and the cynical, the angry and the resentful … He saw that pride is really insecurity, obstinacy is really fear, hardheartedness and cynicism and resentment are really pain in disguise … The more of us whose vision is lighted by faith, the more the human race will become a human family.”
The following Christmas story is heartwarming (cf. Kelly Stewart Harcourt, “Starring Dad” in GUIDEPOSTS, December 2009, p. 42-44). Kelly remembers the tremendous love shown to them by their parents one Christmas morning. She reminisces on the unforgettable role played on that day by their dad, famous actor Jimmy Stewart of the It’s a Wonderful Life fame, where he played the part of George Bailey in that wonderful Christmas film. The spirit of love at work in the domestic setting of the Stewart family gives us a glimpse of the awesome love bestowed by God the Father on his own children.
It was 1958. Judy and I were seven and our family was spending the holidays in Hawaii. You’d think we’d be thrilled, but we were wondering if it would even feel like Christmas so far from home. There’d be no singing carols on the piano bench next to Dad, his long fingers gracefully skimming across the keys. No Christmas dinner in the formal dining room. And what really mattered – how would Santa know where to bring our presents? We asked about it night after night in our prayers, and Mom assured us again and again that Santa would find us, even in Hawaii. But there’d be no chimney to slide down in a hotel room. How would he even get in our room?
Christmas Eve the hours dragged by. Finally, Mom announced, “It’s time for little girls to get to bed. Santa won’t come until you’re sleep.” She was already in her nightgown and Dad had on his blue-and-white-striped pajamas. Even with his long arms the sleeves fell past his wrists. Judy and I got in bed and looked at each other. We didn’t have to say a word to know we were thinking the same thing. This didn’t feel like the night before Christmas at all. There wasn’t even a place to put our stockings! Mom and Dad kissed us goodnight and for the first time in my young life I fell sleep dreading Christmas morning.
The next thing I knew Mom was shaking me, “Dad went out to get a newspaper and then there was a knock on the door,” she said. “Wake up and see who’s here.” I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. There was Santa! “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, Kelly and Judy!” our visitor said, laughing merrily, his voice deep and powerful. It was really him. White beard, red suit, black boots and a big belly – though he was taller than I’d imagined. Santa sat down and Judy and I scrambled onto his lap. I felt so comfortable, as if I’d sat there hundred times. Everything about him felt so … familiar.
I looked closely at Santa. I didn’t recognize his face, covered by mounds of white beard. But I’d seen those hands before, those long fingers. And sticking out ever so slightly from one red sleeve was the cuff of his pajamas with those blue and white stripes. Mom and Dad were trying to fool us that Santa had come! “So, Santa, how ya doin’?” I asked, punching him playfully on the shoulder. Judy looked at me in astonishment. With a wink I shared my skepticism. She nodded – now she knew what our parents were up to. “Yeah, Santa ole boy,” Judy joined in. “Long trip, eh? How are those reindeer doing?”
“Ho! Ho!” Santa boomed. “Why they’re having breakfast. They eat hay and mangoes here in Hawaii. They sure do like soaking up some sun before we head back to the North Pole.” On and on Judy and I went. We couldn’t break him. He had an answer for everything, delivered with that jolly booming voice and twinkling eyes. By the time we hugged our visitor goodbye and he reminded us to be good girls, my stomach was churning. What if he was the real deal? What happened to little girls who were rude to Santa?
Mom told us to wash our hands before breakfast and then we’d see what Santa had brought us. She seemed irritated. In the bathroom with Judy, I was nearly in tears. “I think that really was Santa”, I whispered. “He didn’t sound like Dad at all.” “We were so mean to him”, Judy said. “She’ll tell Dad when he gets back from the store. They’ll be so disappointed in us.” But Judy thought of something far worse. “What if Santa takes our presents away? What if he leaves us with coal?”
There was no doubt what was in store for us. And we’d brought it upon ourselves by not trusting Mom and Dad. We walked out to the breakfast table quaking. There sat Dad. “Merry Christmas!” he cried, sounding just like George Bailey. “I hear Santa dropped by. Boy, I wish I’d been here.” We went to his chair and he lifted us up onto his lap, his long arms hugging us close. Soon we were telling him all about Santa and everything we’d said and done. He didn’t scold us. In fact, he laughed so hard there were tears rolling down his cheeks. Like he was hearing it all for the first time.
I’ve long forgotten what Santa brought us that year. But I will never forget the greatest gift of that Christmas – the knowledge that Mom and Dad loved us so much that they would do everything in their power to help make our prayers come true.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
How does the story of the birth of Samuel and his consecration inspire you? Do you consider yourself a gift from the Lord and that you are lovable and precious? Do you realize that a life of consecration is a “gift” offered back to the Lord?
What insights do you glean from Jesus’ enigmatic response to Mary and Joseph: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Do we realize that, like Jesus, we are called to be in our “Father’s house”?
How does the amazing affirmation that God the Father has bestowed upon us so much love that we are now called “the children of God” affect us? How do we act on our vocation and destiny as God’s very own children? What do we do to make the divine plan of creating “the family of God” a felt and lived reality?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
we thank you for your gift of love – your only Son Jesus Christ,
the savior of the world.
By the Christmas mystery of the Word made flesh,
we were conceived.
And by the Easter mystery of your Son’s “life through death”,
we were born from his pierced side as Church,
the new “family of faith”.
Gracious Father, how wonderful you are!
You bestowed upon us so much love
that we are now called the “children of God”.
Filled with the Holy Spirit
and configured into the image of your Son Jesus,
we desire to live fully our vocation
as your very own children.
Help us, O loving Father, to serve your divine plan
to make all peoples the “family of God”.
Give us also the grace to promote the “family of creation”.
Help us to care for the earth
and to have concern for all living things.
O compassionate God,
may we go back, again and again, to the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Teach us to learn from Jesus, Mary and Joseph
the meaning, beauty and the task of family life.
Fill our hearts and our homes with the joy of Christmas.
Let us rejoice as a “family of faith” and as a “family of God”,
now and forever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Beloved: see what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” (I Jn 3:1a)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTION PLAN: In this feast of the Holy Family, by your acts of charity and justice to the members of your natural family and the suffering members of the human society, endeavor to promote the divine plan of creating the all-inclusive “family of God”.
ACTION PLAN: That we may truly belong to the “family of God”, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR: A Weekly Pastoral Tool (Year C, vol. 6, # 5).
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US