LESSONS FROM THE HOLY FAMILY

To individuals, families and the communities!

December 28, 2025: Solemnity of the Holy Family
Ecclesiasticus 3: 2-6,12-14; Colossians 3: 12-21; Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Increasing number of Homes for the Aged, Orphanages, Day care centres and Night shelters for the kids on the streets, alarming rate of divorces and split families, the ridiculous family feuds and meaningless stand offs among the relatives within a family... these are no strange scenes today in a Christian Community! And much more, these are vivid testaments of a collapsing Christian faith.

Christian faith is a faith of a Community, from the earliest times known it is experienced, lived and shared in a community; and the basic unit of the community is the family. That is the reason for using the beautiful term, 'domestic church' referring to the family. It is there, that the Church grows from a seed to a seedling and then to an orchard of God's love. The Solemnity today, intends to rekindle in us our respect for families, our commitment to living our faith in our families and as families to become the nuclei of God's love that can give birth to a whole new world, a world of love, peace, joy and fellowship.

The Holy Family of Nazareth presents to us a wonderful project towards this dream:

To the Families: BE GOD CENTERED! The first reading invites us to reflect on the fact that a Christian Family is constituted by God. It is not merely the man and the woman who come together to make the family, but it is the Lord who brings them together. The second reading affirms the same in the words of St. Paul, who elsewhere points out that marriage should lead to mutual sanctification of the partners (1 Cor 7:14). As long as God is the centre of a family, the family will remain united, bonded in the love of God.

God was at the centre, in the Holy Family... God commanded, the family carried out. They listened to God, obeyed God and took directions from God. There were difficult commands to carry out, but they carried out. There were terrible issues involved, they stuck together. There were challenges to face, they did it all without losing their serenity. All because they had God, right at the centre of their family...they listened to God and took directions from God! Do we as a family, listen to God and take directions from God?

To the Individuals: BE FAMILY CENTERED! The individualistic and materialistic tendencies of the society at large, have begun to affect the individual families drastically. Individuals within a family, far from thinking of the well being of the other, have begun to calculate the gain they have from the rest of the family and stoop to dirty levels of hurting the other for one's own good!

The Good of the Family was the uppermost criterion in the Holy Family... Mary did not mind the running around, be it when she was still carrying or after the delivery; Joseph did not mind taking up the burdens of transferring them every time; all that was in their mind was the Good of the Family and Jesus was no exception as Luke says in his Gospel, "he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them' (Lk 2:51). Do we as individuals, place the good of the others in the family before my own interests?

To the Churches: BE COMMUNION CENTERED! The Local Churches, that is the parishes, are essentially God's Family of families. In the wise and eternal plan of our loving Lord, the Universal Church in the world is the communion of Churches in various nations, namely the dioceses; the Diocesan church is the communion of the local parish churches; the Parish church has to be the communion of the domestic churches, that is the Family! All of us united in the name of the Father, Son and the Spirit, who invite us to form one, big, universal family of loving hearts - that family which is called the REIGN OF GOD.

The Holy Family did everything with just one objective in mind: that God's will be done. Mary said that to Angel Gabriel: Let it be done unto me according to your will, and ever since she did nothing but obey the Lord with thanks, praise and reflection in her heart. Joseph carried out every command that was given to him without speaking a word of doubt or objection - all for the will of God to be done. Do we as part of a parish church or a faith community, do our part to grow in our communion with each other, towards forming one, big, God's family - the Reign of God? 

This year we shall be missing out on the feast of the Holy Innocents, but they are certainly and succintly presented to us by the background of the Gospel when we read shuttling of the Haly between Egypt and Bethlehem. Let us take to heart the lessons from the Holy Family today...and as families be God centered, as individuals be Family centered and as a Parish be Communion centered.

Joy - the sign of Christian life and ministry

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 27, 2025: Remembering St. John, the Evangelist
1 John 1:1-14; John 20: 2-8

The Christmas joy continues, even as we commemorate St.John the Evangelist today. "The Joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus," says the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, no. 1. Though the Gospel today draws our attention to the scene of the resurrection, the message is more focused on the all important encounter with Christ that redefines one's life. When a person encounters Christ in all earnestness, there is a choice, a categorical choice for Christ and Christ's mission!

As St. Paul affirms that it is no merit that an apostle proclaims the Word, but woe to him if he does not (1 Cor 9:16), today we see John explaining that in the first reading: I am called to announce Christ, not merely because others will benefit from it; but primarily that my joy may be complete (1 Jn 1:4). That is the Christmas joy too, the joy of beholding the revelation of God's love and sharing it with the other.

For a Christ-ian, a joy-filled proclamation of Christ is the only way to live his or her life - joyfully proclaiming Christ in every word, every action and every choice that is made, at every moment of one's daily life. 

The Reign Dream

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

December 26, 2025: St. Stephen, the first Martyr

Acts 6: 8-10, 7: 54-59; Matthew 10: 17-22

Persecutions and Martyrdom have never been alien to Christian Faith. St. Stephen is the first Biblical evidence to it. Continuing in the line of the prophets and persons of God who have been treated at will by the world in the Old Testament, we see Jesus and most of his disciples facing the same end in the New Testament.

Religious fanaticism and the consequent discrimination and communalism is dangerously being justified these days as patriotism and conservatism! Be it the secularistic values that is spread globally, or the anti-secular system that is being forced into the fabric of tolerance and conviviality in great enviable traditions, the hate speeches and hidden agenda... these are signs of anti-Reign elements in the world today.

St. Stephen knew what it meant to suffer for the Reign and die for Christ; it meant suffering for the things that really matter; it meant standing for true beliefs and convictions that can elevate your spirit to the heavens open and the angels coming down!

It was Stephen who also imitated his Master literally: While Jesus prayed for those who crucified him and offered his spirit into the hands of his loving Father, Stephen prayed for those who stoned him and surrendered his spirit into Jesus' hands. What an example for us to emulate! Not only praying what Stephen prayed but seeing what he saw: the open heavens - that is open hearts, high ideals, profound humanity, in short, the Reign dream!