The Holy Family – Lk. 2:41-52 (Dec. 27, 2015)

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is a popular one. It narrates the story of the Holy Family going up to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. Then the famous incident about the losing and finding of Jesus in the temple happened.

The story tells us of the parents looking for a lost son. The incident reminds me of the stories of ordinary contemporary families with children who have ‘gone astray.’ Some kids have gone to the extremes of experimenting drugs, crimes, early pregnancies and the like. Other kids, especially those in adolescent years, are simply out of sync with their parents. While they don’t seem to understand their parents, their parents too are at a loss on how to rationalize some, if not most, of their actions. In those cases, the parents would mostly exhaust their means ‘to find’ the child. They resemble Joseph and Mary’s efforts of looking for Jesus among their relatives and friends hoping that he was still with the caravan. Parents, at least those who are sincere with their roles as parents, are – even in moments of misunderstanding – mostly looking after their children. So, when parents and children don’t meet eye to eye, good parents are those who look for their kids in the caravan by asking friends and relatives for advice. There are cases when a son or daughter mistakes a parent’s gesture as an offense to freedom when what the parent was trying to do is to figure out a way of helping the son/daughter arrives at a mature decision. In these cases then, it always helps for children to also open up their hearts and minds. “To understand” is not just the parents’ task, it is also equally a child’s task. The latter demands ‘understanding’ from parents, but sometimes, they are unwilling to commit themselves to the same task towards their parents. If only, they’d realize that all these days, months or years their parents are ‘looking for them among friends and relatives in the caravan,’ then perhaps they’d appreciate more and will understand better their parents.

The story on the other hand tells us about the parents who do not understand the actions of the son: “Son, why have you done this to us?” (Lk. 2:48) The parent did not understand that the son “must be in his Father’s house” (Lk 2:49). This reminds me of those occasions when parents themselves lacked the requisite understanding. Parents, even the most sincere and honest among us, are oftentimes tempted to ‘impose’ on our young. In moments of differences, parents are tempted more to demand that they’d be listened to rather than to remind themselves that it’s their primary task to listen. Sometimes, the young in a home wander away because s/he has not found the much needed ‘love and understanding’ from those people whose ‘love and care’ can be unconditional.

Finally the story points to us a way to holiness as a family. The son went down with his parents and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them (Lk 2:51a). Perhaps, if children could find a way to become truly obedient - and will learn to also regulate their own desires so they could fruitfully journey with their parents - then perhaps, our families could become more holy. Moreover, if parents like us could only behave like Mary, who knows how to endure things and have learned how to ‘keep them in her heart’ – if only our love could be as unconditional as Mary’s – then our families would really be holy. 

The Visit of the Shepherds Lk 2:15-20 (Christmas day)

The Gospel account from Luke speaks here of the visit of the shepherds. Commentators of Luke would tell us that Luke’s mention of the shepherds is in line with Luke’s emphasis on the place of the lowly in the plan of God. The six-verse gospel reading tells us of a happy story about the birth of the Messiah: it tells us about the shepherds’ eagerness to go to Bethlehem to witness the announcement of the angels about the birth of the Messiah (Lk. 2:15); it tells us about the amazement of those who heard the proclamation of the shepherds about angels’ announcement (Lk. 2:18); and it tells us about the shepherds who praise and glorify God for all the things that had heard and seen (Lk 2:20). Such was the first story of Christmas relayed by Luke. It was full of hope; it allows the witnesses to expect for something glorious to come because the savior has already been born.

Reading the passage again during this Christmas time, I wonder if we could still behave like those shepherds.

How many among us (even among Catholics like me) who still have the heart that could openly believe and embrace what the angels have said to them. Does our world today not tell us that it is more rational to first verify what has been said. Will we immediately respond with “Let us go to Bethlehem”? Or, will we rather reserve a reasonable space of doubt; will we not instead choose to become indifferent first and wait for others to first verify for us the purported event. Often in our time, people learn about the Good news. There still remain to be fragments of good news in our often fragmented world, but they become less and less meaningful because many of us become more and more cynical about them. Perhaps, this is the first invitation of the reading for today. We are invited to be open to the good news. Let our hearts be touched by the good news of salvation, and let us be moved to also respond with “Let us go to Bethlehem.”

Secondly, the gospel reading tells about the amazement of those who heard the shepherds’ pronouncement about the angels’ message. But, I also wonder if there are still many of us who are still amazed of others’ proclamation of the good news. If we have become cynical about what we have heard, other people have also oftentimes become cynical about our own proclamation. But, we may ask: why is this so? Then, perhaps, the gospel reading also invites us to look at ourselves? If we are people of faith, and if we are people of the good news, how credible are we still for the task of proclaiming the good news for others? Do we still have the authority to speak of the love of God for the people? Do we still sound credible for our hearers to receive our words with amazement? Or have we rather fed the culture of cynicism because of our lack of power to witness in our lives the good news that we speak?

Thirdly, the gospel reading tells us about the praise and glory that the shepherds have offered to God because of what they have heard and seen. I again wonder: How many of us are still willing to find the hands of God in the many things that we receive? Do we still have the courage to recognize our giftedness, that is, to understand that we are not solely responsible for most of the things that we possess? Do we still have the humility to recognize that what we have, even those things that we have acquired through out hard work, are with us because of the contribution of numerous others whom we worked with and encountered each day? It takes a humble heart to still have the courage to praise and glorify God for the things that we have heard and seen.

Looking at the current standards of the world, the shepherds’ gesture may have become less and less popular in our time. It’s perhaps no wonder why those people who still manage to behave in our time like these shepherds are still thought of as ‘less rational’ and more of like fanatics and superstitious people. Faith oftentimes is identified with irrationality. But, for those who truly believe, reason never becomes a hindrance for the exercise of their faith. 

VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY TO HER COUSIN ELIZABETH

LK 1: 39-45

VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY TO HER COUSIN ELIZABETH

Today’s Gospel was taken from Luke (1: 39-45). It is about Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. The priest’s sermon in the Mass that I attended this afternoon has highlighted the mention about ‘Mary leaving in haste to meet her cousin, Elizabeth.’ The homily asked: ‘why did Mary have to leave in haste?’

Perhaps, one important conjecture that we could make as to why Mary had to see her cousin, Elizabeth, and she would even have to leave in haste, is to say that Mary perhaps, at this time, was also searching for a kind of explanation or meaning about her situation. We have of course heard of Mary’s fiat when she told the angel Gabriel, “Let it be done unto me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), but just like any normal person, she was also perhaps looking for a logical explanation about her situation. Why was she chosen? Why would she have to be pregnant when she had not known any man (Lk 1:34)?

One thing perhaps that we could learn from Mary’s predicament at this time is the fact that doubts do not necessarily equal to unbelief. In Mary’s case, it was quite clear, when she raised the question in verse 34, she already had the faith that moved her to pronounce the fiat in verse 38. Mary was and is always faithful. But, her faith does not also mean that she will not seek an explanation on was said to her by the Angel. Faith in this case does not take away the need to grapple with reason.

In the annunciation, Mary has given us an important lesson in faith. When we believe, it does not mean that we could no longer ask questions, and that we could no longer doubt. Sometimes, it is precisely our belief that may make us raise the questions and entertain some doubts. But the questioning and doubt of a believer is always one that leads to deeper faith, and not one that leads to faith’s abandonment. Such is Mary’s example in the annunciation.

The same perhaps can be said about the visitation. Mary is ‘leaving in haste.’ But why? Here we could see that the visitation account is a sequel of the annunciation. Even the questions of Mary revisit her at this moment. This could perhaps allow us to see why she needed to see Elizabeth. She needs to find answers for some of her questions, and Elizabeth is perhaps one of the best persons to go to.

Having conceived John at an age when Elizabeth thought that she could no longer get pregnant should not have also surprised Mary because that is basically the very same condition that she is in at the time of the visitation. The visit is an expression of trust, it’s an expression of a search, it speaks of a pilgrimage where the faithful engages himself in a pilgrimage towards the truth of the matter.

The visitation then also teaches us a thing or two. It first reminds us that we have many companions in our journey. There are many things in our life that may be difficult to explain. There could be many things in our life that is hard to bear, and some of them even would seem to be illogical. Mary’s gesture in her visit to Elizabeth invites us to trust others in our pilgrimage. Our stories may be personal, and could be owned by no one else but ourselves, but there are also stories in other peoples’ lives that are analogical to our own. In such case, it would be our conversations that will help us find the answers to some if not many of our questions. Though we might need to be cautious, we do not have to be afraid about mentioning our dilemmas to others.

Mary’s leaving in haste may have told us of the urgency of the search for explanations and answers. But, precisely, it is the act of ‘leaving’ that allows her ‘to arrive’ at Elizabeth’s house, and thereby bring the grace of Christ to Elizabeth while in return being bestowed with the kind of assurance that a co-pilgrim like Elizabeth could provide. Mary is inviting all of us to ‘leave’ or to ‘abandon’ many things in our life; where such ‘leaving’ becomes pre-requisite for our openness to others. We need not to be afraid to be exposed to vulnerabilities and uncertainties. What we need is to be reminded always that those deficiencies may not forever become a weakness. Our lack and deficiencies could sometimes be needed and are therefore instrumental in our journey to be able to commune with others, and therefore render ourselves open to the wisdom that only our co-pilgrims could provide.