Feast of the Holy Family - December 30, 2018 (Deacon Thill)

We pray what we believe…We believe what we pray…

     so it behooves us to pay attention to what we pray…

        for in doing so we can pay attention to and learn what we believe.

In our Opening Prayer of today’s Mass (the Collect) we prayed that we would…

     “practice the virtues of family life and the bonds of charity.”

In our Baptism preparation class we hope to inspire new parents with this

    thought…

        “God is giving you this child…and in doing so He is saying to you,

            ‘Here, this is one of Mine; take care of them for Me.’”

                 God intends for us to raise our children in the faith.

 We are not called to live extra ordinary lives…but to live ordinary lives…

                  and we are called to live our ordinary lives in extra ordinary ways.

Placing our lives at the service of God’s plan…

                                 is how…we live our ordinary lives in extra ordinary ways.

READING 1   (1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28)

      -Hannah…living her ordinary life in extra ordinary ways…

           brings her son Samuel to the temple and dedicates him to the Lord.

              We do that with our children in the Sacrament of Baptism.

      -we are to…

           -bring children to faith…to the Lord.

GOSPEL   (Luke 2:41-52)

      -Mary & Joseph living ordinary lives in extra ordinary ways…

         bring Jesus with them to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover.

How or What do we do to bring children to faith…to the Lord?

READING 2 AND THE GOSPEL

      -we may be called children of God…for that is what we are.

      -the love of the Father has been bestowed on us.

      -we have a future full of hope.

      -we shall be like God.

      -we shall see God as He is.

      -in obedience we

                 -do what pleases the Lord.

                 -we obey His commandments.

                 -we will receive from Him whatever we ask.

                 -we do what he wants and how He wants us to do it.

                 -we love.

      -we are called to

                 -to grow in our walk/journey of faith.

                 -to advance in wisdom…grow in wisdom.

      -believing in Jesus…the Lord remains in us…we remain in Him.

      -the Lord gives us the Spirit.

      -we are called to love one another.

Living this is the How or What we do to bring children to faith…

                                                                                 bring children to the Lord.

WE ARE ABLE TO BRING CHILDREN TO FAITH…

                                                                    BY BEING CHILDREN OF FAITH.

Who are the CHILDREN we are talking about?

   In the word CHILDREN…     

      -HEAR THIS…

              Parents…grandparents…aunts and uncles…one another…

                 biological children…

                    families (our nuclear family, our extended family,

                                                    our Church family, our community).

 -we are all a part of…therefore connected…as family.

      -we are all children of God.

CLOSE

   We are to live ordinary lives…

                               but live those ordinary lives in extra ordinary ways.

 Placing our lives at the service of God’s plan…

                                is how…we live our lives in extra ordinary ways.

        At this altar…through Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist…

                                            we receive grace and strength to do just that.

Today, Scripture presents to us Hannah, Jesus, Mary and Joseph…

               as beautiful examples of those

                          who placed their lives at the service of God’s plan.

We are called to live our ordinary lives in extra ordinary ways…

                                             by placing our lives at the service of God’s plan.

        Today our challenge is…how well are we doing this?

As we consider today

                       THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH…

      We could hear a call…listen, listen, listen…

            to a new beginning…

                to the awareness that we live our faith in relationships…

                    a relationship we call family…

                       and to the profound truths we learn

                                            from The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.