Holy Family, Year A, 26.12.10

Sirach 3:3-7, 14-17/ Colossians 3:12-21/ Mathew 2:13-15, 19-23

The most prominent symbol of the feast of Christmas is none other than the Nativity crib.

The Nativity crib has to be the most prominent and the central symbol of Christmas.

Take that away and it is as good as taking the “Christ” out of the word Christmas, and as such it wouldn’t make sense.

Well the Nativity crib goes a long way back to the year 1223.

That year, St. Francis of Assisi set up the first Nativity crib, which would eventually spread across the whole Church.

His intention was to help the peasants, who were illiterate, to have a visual understanding of the situation and circumstances in which Jesus was born.

So there is the stable with a cow here, and a donkey there, and the baby Jesus lying in the manger, which was the feeding trough or the feeding tray of animals.

There is Mary and Joseph, and a couple of shepherds with a couple of sheep surrounding Jesus.

The scene is one of poverty, and it shows us that the Saviour of the world came in such humility.

Indeed the Nativity scene is a wonderful scene that is filled with many heart-warming aspects.

That is why as part of the Christmas celebrations, there is usually a Nativity play put up by children, to highlight the Christmas message.

Well there was this catechist who was preparing her children to put up a Nativity play.

As a warm-up to the preparations, she asked her children to write a composition on this very simple topic – Who do I want to be at Christmas?

Obviously they can say that they want to be Mary or Joseph or one of the shepherds or the angel or one of the wise men.

So after the children had written their compositions, the teacher collected it and was reading through it.

Then she read one that really surprised her, and she was stunned.

The topic was supposed to be – Who do I want to be at Christmas?

This composition began like this – At Christmas I want to be the tv in my house.
I want to take its place. I want to live like the TV in my house.
Have my own special place, and have my family around ME.
To be taken seriously when I talk.... I want to be the centre of attention and be heard without interruptions or questions.

I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives when it is not working.
I want to have the company of my father when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired.
And I want my mother to care for me !  Because when she is sad and upset, she ignores me...
And I want my brothers to fight to be with me...
I want to feel that my family just leaves everything aside, every now and then, just to spend some time with me.
And last but not least I can make them all happy and entertain them...
So at Christmas I want to be the tv in my house.
We may remember that last Sunday we saw some replies to a survey conducted among some parishioners.

We may have seen some needs like children wanting their parents to spend more time with them, communication problems between parents and teens, families not praying together, parents being worried about the influence of the internet on their children, etc.

Those were worrying trends, but Christmas has got good news for the family.

The profound message of Christmas is that when God came into the world, He was born into a family, the family of Mary and Joseph.

The Nativity scene was one of poverty. But it also shows the love and warmth of the family – the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

That is what makes the Nativity scene so attractive and heart-warming .

In it, we see the love and care Mary and Joseph had for each other and for the baby Jesus.

So even if there is a tv at that time, they won’t be watching it or paying much attention to it.

Simply because they had each other, and God was with them.

But if people wish they were a tv, or a handphone, or a computer game, then something is seriously wrong.

At Christmas, God became man so that He can be with us.

It is because God is with us that we can truly be with each other.
Well I am sure we know what a porcupine is. So let me ask you this : What sound do porcupines make when they kiss?
Answer : Ouch!

Let me share with you the story of the porcupine.

As we know, a porcupine has many needle-like spikes, actually it is called quills, on its body.

When it is threatened, it curls up and these quills deter its enemies from harming it.

But during winter or in a cold season, the porcupines will come together to share body warmth.

But as they huddle together, their quills also poke at each other, causing each other pain.

But if they stay away from each other, they will die from the cold.

Just as porcupines gather together when it is cold in order to survive, we are born into families to be nurtured in love and life.

But just like the porcupines gathered together will poke and prick each other, living together as a family can be difficult and painful at times.

But just as the porcupines will bear the pain in order to live, we too must bear with the failings of our family members in order to grow in love and forgiveness.

And we can bear this pain because Jesus has come to be with us. He is the Emmanuel – the God is with us.

And God is with us especially in our families.

And Jesus will help us bear the pain with our family members, because He Himself was pierced for our sins.

So as much as we have the Nativity scene here in church, let us also have that Nativity scene in our homes and in our families.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph care about our families.
God cares about our families.

Let us now look at the replies to that survey again.

Let us ask Jesus to make our families like the Holy Family.

And Jesus will do it. Because He knows what’s it like to be in a family.

A Note for Christmas

My dear brothers and sisters,

Wishing you a Merry and Blessed Christmas and may the celebration of the birth of Christ bring peace and joy to our hearts.

I want to give thanks to God for the many inspirations to make His "Word become flesh" in the daily readings of the liturgy. I also want to thank those whom I have not been able to acknowledge but from whom I got the ideas, the stories, the examples and the situations in life in which they shared their experience of God.

I give thanks to God if the reflections on the daily readings have helped you grow in faith, love and understanding of the ways of God.

Since it is Christmas, I have daringly posted a little tune to entertain you :)

I wished I could have given a better rendition of that popular carol. But I once read somewhere:

    Sing the songs that you can sing
    Forget about the perfect offering
    There's a crack in everything
    But that's how the light shines in.

Merry Christmas & God bless you.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxPj6PtwBMY

2nd Sunday of Advent 05.12.2010

Isaiah 11:1-10 / Romans 15:4-9 / Mathew 3:1-12
Sometimes it is difficult to say when does Christmas begin.

Yes, today is the 2^nd Sunday of Advent, which means that we begin the 2^nd week of Advent.

And that means to say that Christmas is about three weeks away.

But while the Church is waiting for another three more weeks for Christmas, it seems that for the rest of the world, Christmas celebrations have already begun.

So while in Church we sing “O come O come Emmanuel”, the world is already singing “Jingle Bells” and Santa Claus is already in town.

Just open the newspapers and it’s page after page of Christmas sales and special offers.

Come to think of it, I have never come across an Advent sale or Advent special offer.

So in the papers, over the radio, and on tv commercials, Christmas is in the air, and it began as early as November.

The world is telling us to make this Christmas special, and the media is spewing out special offers.

So there will be offers on special food to hold that special Christmas party.

And since we might be going for Christmas parties, then we might want to take up that special offer to buy that special car.

And not forgetting that special set of clothes to “wow” our friends at the parties.

And to fit into that special set of clothes, we might want to consider that offer to have a special figure for Christmas.

Unless we are going to play Santa Claus at the parties.

And then of course, the face. There are many special offers to give us that special look for Christmas.

We can even have a nose job to look like Rudolf!

Yes, the world is telling us to have a special Christmas with their special offers.

And we won’t deny it. We also want to have a special Christmas.

Well, on this 2^nd Sunday of Advent, the Church brings in a special guest.

Yes, indeed a special guest, with special clothes for the occasion as well as a special diet to go along with it.

It’s none other than John the Baptist.

And John the Baptist is going to tell us how to have a special Christmas.

Ok, be ready for this. It’s just a special word. And that is : Repent!         Yes, repent!   Sounds like some hangover talk right

Oh come on, we want to hear words like “party” “celebrate” “it’s the season to be jolly”.

But no!            Three weeks before Christmas, John the Baptist comes with a special message and it’s “Repent!”

Yes, repent!   And it comes along with an axe!

John the Baptist is telling us that if we want to have a special Christmas, then we have to do some cutting and chopping.

Yes, we will have to cut away and chop off everything that is blocking the way of the Lord into our hearts.

So what is it that we need to cut?    What is it that we need to chop off?

Maybe among other things we may need to cut away this idea of having a special Christmas.

The month of December is an anxious and stressful month.

Besides the stress of closing accounts and year-end reports, there is also the anxiety of preparing for Christmas and to make it special.

So there are Christmas decorations to put up, but we have to find them first, and then the lights may not work.

And I think that people may not request for a house blessing during this period of time.

Just imagine – you ask the priest to come and bless your house.

And the house is in a mess with Xmas decorations half done and you have to prepare a Xmas present for the priest even.

So better wait till after Christmas for house blessing.

Well, besides Christmas decorations, there is also the anxiety of getting special presents for the people who are special in our lives.

Because we also want them to have a special Christmas right

Well all this adds to the festive mood. But all this does not make Christmas special. In fact they are just ornamental.

We need to cut away the idea of an ornamental Christmas, and what we need to do is to make this Advent special.

We do that by preparing the way for the Lord, and we make a special place for Him this Advent.

We make a special place for the Lord, first and foremost, in our homes.

Earlier on I was talking about house blessing. Some time back I went to bless a house.

As I finished the prayers and was about to sprinkle the house with holy water, the little boy asked me : Father, why must use holy water to bless the house?

So I looked at the parents and asked : Do you know why?

They gave me that “google” look (searching … ) and in case they come up with something like … holy water will drive away the devil and those funny spirits, I quickly said :

Well, I use holy water to bless the house to remind us of our baptism and that our home is the first place to live out our baptismal promises.

So the home is a special place. Because God wants to be in our homes.

And hence we have to make our homes a special place for the Lord, we have to make our homes a special place for prayer.

Advent is the time to make a special place for the Lord at home.

Even if we don’t have an Advent wreath at home, we can dedicate a place and have the four Advent candles there, and light it and have our family prayer.

Already the two lighted candles tell us that we must hurry in making this Advent special.

We must hurry in making a special place for the Lord in our homes.

We must hurry in making a special time for the Lord in prayer, especially family prayer which is so lacking in families, and yet it is so important.

Let us make this Advent special, and only in doing so Christmas will be special.

Let us remember that Advent is a time for prayer, especially family prayer.

Yes, prayer is special. The rest are just ornamental.