Numbers 6:22-27 / Galatians 4:4-7 / Luke 2:16-21
As we begin the new year, we surely want to begin it well. As it is said, all’s well that ends well.
So we had the count-down last night, we had well-wishes for each other, and we have entered into the new year quite well.
But we also know that we need to begin the new year well with God’s blessings. And that’s why we are here for Mass.
We want to give thanks to God and to invoke His blessings on this first day of the new year.
And the Lord God wants to give us His blessings. In the 1st reading, the Lord instructed Moses how to invoke the blessings from the Lord.
This first day of the year is also the eighth day after Christmas. The number 8 has the biblical meaning of a new creation.
As we heard in the gospel, when the eighth day came, and the child was to be circumcised, Mary and Joseph gave Him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before His conception.
So the Word-made-flesh, the God-with-us, the Saviour has a name – Jesus – and it is by this name that we are saved and received God’s blessings.
And on this eighth day after Christmas, we also honour Mary as the Mother of God. We heard in the 2nd reading, when the appointed time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law.
Mary is this woman. Her role is God’s plan of salvation is remembered on this day and we honour her and offer her our devotion.
The honour and devotion that we offer Mary today, she will treasure and ponder them in her heart. And from her heart she will offer them to Jesus, together with our prayers, our intentions, our needs and our petition slips.
Let us also stay in Mary’s heart and keep watch with her in prayer, especially in praying the Rosary.
With Mary, all’s well that ends well, because all will end in the heart of Jesus our Saviour.
And may the Lord bless us and keep us. May the Lord let His face shine on us and be gracious to us. May the Lord uncover His face to us and brings us peace.
1 John 2:18-21 / John 1:1-18
Every story has an ending. As we come to the last day of the year 2018, the story of this year has come to the last page and going on towards the last few words.
Whatever the story has been, for better or for worse, good times or bad, happy or sad, the story of 2018 is coming to an end.
Yes, every story has an end. But in life, every end is a new beginning. Because the story of life has endings and beginnings, and one is connected to another.
The 1st reading begins with these words "these are the last days". But the gospel begins with these words "In the beginning".
So it is like what the caterpillar calls an end, the world awaits for what it will call a butterfly.
We may have experienced distress and turmoil and as the year comes to an end, we may wonder what the new year brings.
But just as a butterfly is a sign of hope and new life, we look forward with hope and continue to believe in the Word-made-flesh who lives among us and who give us life and light.
Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, and in Him are our endings and beginnings and it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.
So we give thanks for the 2018 story and we look forward with a joyful hope as we begin a new story for 2019.
By now we would have opened up all our Christmas presents and we will know from the presents we have received if we have been naughty or nice.
Of course we had been nice and I hope that we are happy with the presents we have received.
And by now we would have finished or are finishing the festive foods that were prepared for the Christmas season, foods like the stuffed turkey, honey baked ham, sausages, pudding and fruitcake.
And talking about the fruitcake, it can be used to describe the theme of the celebration for this weekend which is the feast of the Holy Family, and hence the reflection is on the family.
It is said that the fruitcake can be used to describe the family in that it is mostly sweet and fruity, but with some nuts, and some got more nuts that others.
Indeed, the family is like a fruitcake, there are some nuts in it, and some nuts are pretty hard. A bite on a hard nut and the pain gets to the brain.
But no matter how many nuts, or how many hard nuts, it is still a fruitcake and not a nut cake.
Today, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, the Gospel passage tells us that even for the Holy Family, life is not always sweet and fruity.
The gospel recalls that occasion when Mary and Joseph brought the 12 year-old Jesus to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.
When they were on their way home after the feast, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents’ knowledge.
And when they failed to find Him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for Him everywhere. And after three long anxious days, they finally found Him in the Temple.
They were overcome when they saw Him, and we can imagine what this “overcome” means. And in this “overcome” state, we can imagine how emotional Mary was when she said, “My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been looking for you.” (!!!)
The reply Jesus gave didn’t make any sense to Mary and Joseph, but it was like biting on a hard nut in a fruit cake. The exchange was tensed, and though nothing more was said, we could imagine how awkward the situation was.
So it was not all that sweet and fruity for the Holy Family. Mary was left wondering and pondering. Joseph might be thinking that it could be easier to build a house for God than to bring up the Son of God.
Yet, Mary and Joseph would have recalled and remembered the teachings from the 1st reading about the relationships between parents and children.
And the second reading also gives us practical advice on family life and relationship.
And with the feast of the Holy Family coming immediately after Christmas, we will realise that Jesus came to be among us so as to unite us to the family of God, with the Holy Family as the model.
But as we know, family life is challenging, whether as the family of God or in our own families.
And even though we want to be home for Christmas, things may not be always sweet and fruity.
There is this story over the recent holidays about a man who booked 6 flights just to spend Christmas with his flight attendant daughter.
The daughter had to work on the 24 and 25 December which means Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! So her father decided to spend Christmas with her in the sky. When it comes to love, the sky is the limit.
The story goes that when the flight attendant daughter found out that she had to work on Christmas, the family came out with a plan.
The mother stayed at home to take care of the pets while the father booked the 6 flights that his daughter would be working on.
So, at 30,000 feet up in the air, it was still Christmas with family. It was an amazing true Christmas story about a father and his daughter spending family time despite the obstacles and challenges.
Family life will always have its obstacles and challenges. No family is perfect just as there is not fruitcake without the nuts.
As much as when it comes to love, the sky is the limit, it was also out of love that Jesus came down to earth and was born into a family and to show us how to live as the family of God.
We turn to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as we ask for their prayers that our families will be blessed to live like the Holy Family.
1 John 2:3-11 / Luke 2:22-35
On this fifth day in the octave of Christmas, the Church celebrates
the optional memorial of St. Thomas Becket, bishop and martyr.
He was
born in London and after studying in Paris, entered the service of
Archbishop of Canterbury, became Lord Chancellor under King Henry II in
1155, and in 1162 Archbishop of Canterbury.
He
went from being "a patron of play-actors and a follower of hounds" to
being a "shepherd of souls" as he absorbed himself in the duties of his
new office, defending the rights of the Church against king Henry II. This
prompted the king to exile him to France for six years.
After
returning
to his homeland he endured many trials, and agents of the king
travelled to Canterbury and fell upon the bishop while he was attending
evening prayer.
His
priests rushed to his aid and tried to bar the church door; Thomas
opened it himself with these words: The house of God will not be
defended like a fortress. I gladly face death for the Church of God.
Then to
the soldiers: I command it in the Name of God: No harm may be done to
any of mine. Thereupon he cast himself on his knees, commended his flock
and himself to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Denis and other
holy patrons of the Church, and with the same heroic courage with which
he had withstood the king's laws, he bowed his holy head to the
sacrilegious sword on December 29, 1170."
St. Thomas
Becket saw the light, the real light that was already shining, as the
1st reading puts it, and hence he was courageous in life as in death.
Like
Simeon in the gospel, St. Thomas Becket also saw the light, and it was a
light that shone in the darkness, a darkness of rejection and
persecution and trial and finally martyrdom.
St. Thomas
Becket became a beacon of light for the Church, so much so that in
1539, king Henry VIII ordered his remains to be burned, and that was
like 400 years after his death.
Yes,
darkness can never overcome or overpower the true light. May we see that
light, follow that light, be enlightened by that light and become
beacons of light.
1 John 1:5 - 2:2 / Matthew 2:13-18
There are many ways to address a problem. Of course the most civilized way is through dialogue and negotiation.
But at the root of the problem, the thing is that someone is feeling threatened or put in a negative or inferior position.
The result is of course fear, in that fear will make a person react in such a way that can be hostile and violent, and dialogue and negotiation is out of the question.
Such was the case of king Herod when he heard of the news of the newborn king of the Jews.
And then when he learnt that the wise men that he sent to find out more about this newborn king outwitted him, he was furious and he ordered the killing of all male children who were two years old or under.
It was certainly an act of atrocity, and furthermore it was an extremely violent and cruel act against the weak and defenseless.
Like the blood of Abel, the blood of those infant innocents cry out against this atrocious, violent and cruel act.
Their cries should also make us face our fears so that we don't act in a hostile or violent way against others, whether children or adults.
Moreover, let us heed the call of justice and that is to protect those who are weak and who cannot defend themselves against aggression.
1 John 1:1-4 / John 20:2-8
According to some accounts, St. John lived to a ripe old age whereas the other Apostles were martyred as they went out to preach the Good News.
There were also reports that St. John also had suffered persecution and was plunged into boiling oil from which he miraculously escaped unscathed.
There is also the notion that John became a disciple as a very young man, and hence he is often portrayed as the young, beardless apostle at the Last Supper images.
The letters of John and the gospel according to John are accredited to his authorship, and in the gospel of John, he is often identified as the "disciple whom Jesus loved".
Indeed, the theme of love is prominent in the letters and in the gospel. St. John was not only in the inner circle together with St. Peter and St. James, he was also a witness to the Resurrection, as we heard in the gospel.
But St. John is also a witness to the love of Jesus and he experienced it such that he even wrote it down in the gospel.
It is said that St. John preached this message of love right up to his ripe old age.
St. John not only says that he is the disciple whom Jesus loved, he is also saying that we are the disciples whom Jesus loves.
Let us ask for his prayers that we will experience the love of Jesus as he did and go out to proclaim that message of love.
Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 / Matthew 10:26-27
If we look up on the images of St. Stephen, there are various portrayals of him .
Some will picture him holding a palm branch to symbolize the victory of martyrdom.
Some will show his martyrdom by stoning as we heard in the 1st reading, which was a slow, painful and gruesome death.
But quite a number of pictures will also show him dressed in a deacon's vestment, which actually is a sort of apron to indicate that the ministry of the deacon is for service of God and the Church.
On one hand he is pictured as holding a censer to indicate his role in the liturgical service of the Church.
On the other hand he is pictured holding a miniature church. This is to indicate his role and his influence on Church especially during its infancy that was filled with turmoil and turbulence.
In today's liturgy, we honour St. Stephen as the First Martyr and with his death came along the path of blood that was laid out for those who would witness to Christ with their lives.
Yet St. Stephen and those that laid their lives down were only following what their Lord and Master Jesus had done and given them the example.
Jesus Christ came into the world to show God's love and we celebrated the great and joyful feast of His birth yesterday.
He came to save us. Yet He had to lay down His life on the cross in order to redeem us from sin and eternal death.
On the cross God forgave us our sins. As for St. Stephen, as his life came under a pile of stones, he too said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them".
On this feast of St. Stephen, let us ask for forgiveness for our sins. And let us also ask for the grace to forgive others too.