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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings, Dec. 27, 2009
By Jean Denton
Catholic News Service
December 27, The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Cycle C Readings:
1) Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Psalm 128:1-5
2) Colossians 3:12-21
Gospel: Luke 2:41-52
Here we are amid that time of year Americans call "the holidays" which, culturally, extends roughly from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day. It ends -- some would say mercifully -- when people return to their routine.
A centerpiece of the holidays is the gathering of family. We come together to celebrate traditions and joyfully remember how we are bound to one another.
So why did my mid-November parish bulletin advertise a number to call for counseling if the stresses of family and the holidays become overwhelming? Why did my friend complain that her daughter-in-law isn't much for attending holiday gatherings with "the other side of the family"?
Just before the Thanksgiving break, the instructor of a college class I'm taking told students to feel free to call him during the next week "preferably between the hours of 3 and 8 p.m. Thursday." The class laughed, knowingly. "Mother-in-law?" someone asked. "Anybody I'm related to," he responded. It was a joke, but as the adage goes: Many a truth has been spoken in jest.
It's not easy to be family.
But God gives us family to help us understand how he loves us. So today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. The readings call us to honor our parents, respect our children as they mature to independence and, in unity, to dedicate ourselves to God.
However, Paul's Letter to the Colossians addresses the reality of the family's more difficult challenges in living together and loving each other. Calling us to imitate Christ's patience and compassion, he goes to the heart of the matter when he says to bear with one another and forgive each other as God has forgiven us.
At an interreligious discussion, I recently heard a Protestant minister explain that, "among Christians, the intent of forgiveness is reconciliation.
"If your brother sins against you," she said, "you must persist in forgiveness. Because what can be worse than losing your brother?"
Being family can be stressful. Emotions run high and feelings run deep, but that's because we care so much.
So we must persist. We must be patient and understanding. We must bear with one another and forgive.
Because what can be worse than losing your family?
QUESTIONS:
What is a difficult situation in your family at present? How can forgiveness and reconciliation in your family honor your relationship with God?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body" (Colossians 3:15).
END
Copyright © 2009 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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