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                Today's Readings
    

Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. Then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not stand up against him because of his wisdom, and the Spirit that prompted what he said.

They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘Look! I can see heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.’ All the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they made a concerted rush at him, thrust him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’

   

Matthew 10: 17-22

‘Be prepared for people to hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them and to the gentiles. But when you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you. ‘Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will come forward against their parents and have them put to death. You will be universally hated on account of my name; but anyone who stands firm to the end will be saved.

                R. Did you think of the prayers of St. Stephen,
                how it helped Paul.?

                    The companion to this is the scripture
                about Paul –
 

                R. What a gift the martyr Stephen was
                to show us how he was in loving
                God, first.

                    It is very good this is celebrated
                the day after Christmas.

                    Jesus came to give us life.
                We must see the gift we have been
                given in the Church, paid for with the Blood
                of the Martyrs who followed in
                the footprints of Jesus, who died
                on the cross.
 

Psalm 118: 24

This is the day which Yahweh has made,
a day for us to rejoice and be glad.

                R. This is the day, God has given
                us and it was paid for with His life –

                What a gift we have today –

                    Rejoice and Be glad –

                    It is our turn to give our lives
                and help in the work of redemption.
   

                    From the Introduction of Blue Book 11

                R. In justice we are to give
                in our lives what we received.

                    Life is about giving and
                receiving. A person just sitting
                on their pity-pot, majorly feeling
                sorry for themselves most of their
                lives, is not being just to leave
                behind what they should,
                for what has been given to them.
 

  Feast of the Holy Family

Fr. Joe's St. Boniface Church

December 30, 2012

INTRODUCTION – (1 Samuel 1: 20-22, 24-28; 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; Luke 2:41-52) Our first reading takes us back over 1000 years before Christ, just before there were kings in Israel. Hanna (the first person mentioned) was unable to conceive a child. If a woman in that culture could not conceive, it was looked upon as God’s punishment for something. Her husband had two wives and the other wife used to taunt Hanna at every chance she could get. Hanna prayed very hard to be able to have a child. In her prayer she made an interesting promise. She promised that if she had a male child, she would dedicate the child to God and give him back to the service of God. She did have a child she named Samuel. Today’s reading is the account of her returning Samuel back to God. She took him to where the Arc of the Covenant was kept, which was at Shiloh at the time, and entrusted him to the high priest, Eli, who would raise and educate and train Samuel in God’s ways. Samuel became a great prophet and was the one who chose the first two kings of Israel: Saul and David. The story prepares us for the gospel of the finding of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve. When Jesus tells Mary he must be about his Father’s business (or his Father’s house, as it is often translated), I suspect Mary knew someday she would have to give Jesus back to God the Father.

HOMILY – As a husband and wife were dressing to go out for New Year’s Eve, the wife asked her husband: “do you think this dress makes me look fat?” He said to her: “do you think this shirt makes me look stupid?”

    A mother wrote in to Reader’s Digest that the highlight of her trip to the zoo with her children was a peacock showing off its plumage. The four year old son was particularly taken with it and that evening when the dad came home he couldn’t wait to tell his father: “Dad, guess what! I saw a Christmas tree come out of a chicken.”

    Overheard at the beauty parlor was a married woman complaining to her hair dresser about her husband. She said “things have gotten so bad, I’m thinking of getting a divorce. What do you think?” Her hair dresser replied: “that’s a serious question. I don’t think I’m qualified to give an opinion. You better consult another hair dresser.” (from Reader’s Digest: Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010, pg 188)

    A wife sat down on the couch next to her husband who was flipping channels on the TV. She asked: “what’s on the TV?” He said “dust!” Then the fight began.

    One could go on for a long time with funny stories about families. If your family is not perfect, you’re not alone. There are lots of dysfunctional families around. Some dysfunctions are tragic; others are just plain funny. I’ll bet even the Holy Family, most likely the perfect family, had a few things happen in their relationships that gave them a few laughs. The story we hear today, the only event recorded about Jesus when he was growing up, was not funny at all. Joseph and Mary were in anguish. They must have thought that as parents they were irresponsible and awful failures.

    Luke tells us the holy family went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover - a seven or eight day event. In the Temple there was a section where the women prayed and worshipped and a different section for the men. Since Jesus was twelve years old, he could have stayed with Mary in the women’s section or he could have stayed with Joseph in the men’s section. At age 13 he would have been obligated to join the men. Not only did the men and women pray separately, they would gather together into groups (for safety) and they would travel separately. So apparently when Joseph and Mary returned to Galilee after Passover, they both assumed Jesus was in the group with the other parent. No one knows how it was that Jesus missed out on joining either group. Ann Rice, in her book: Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, describes the possibility that on this particular visit to Jerusalem, Jesus found out from the scribes and Pharisees about the things that happened when he was born, the shepherds who found him, the magi who were looking for him, the killing of infant boys in Bethlehem by King Herod. He had inklings that he was somewhat different before this time, but someone among the Jewish elders told him about all the unusual things that happened at his birth and the whole revelation dumbfounded and exhausted him, so much so that he missed the caravan going back to Galilee. That whole description that Ann Rice gives us in her book is pure speculation, but it’s one that makes sense to me. Behind this explanation is the assumption that Jesus did not have clear knowledge yet of who he really was. Some theologians think Jesus knew who he really was from the very beginning, while others believe it wasn’t until Jesus was an adult that he knew he was Son of God. It’s a debate that will never be answered in this life. I just gave you Ann Rice’s explanation because she helps me imagine what might have happened.

    Luke tells us even Mary and Joseph did not understand what he said to them as to why he had not joined them on the way back home. It shows the perfectly human side of the holy family; what family hasn’t had to go through times of crisis. At the same time it implies the divine nature of Jesus. Whether Jesus’ answer is translated “in my Father’s business” or “in my Father’s house,” the reference is to God and Jesus’ very unique relationship with him. How blest we are that Jesus shares his special relationship with the Father with us by sharing God’s life with us through grace and teaching us to pray to God as Our Father. Amen.