Sunday in the Octave of Christmas - Holy Family

In the gospel, we find the angel of the Lord warning St. Joseph in a dream that King Herod wants to kill the Christ-Child, since He feared a threat to his throne. But Joseph did as the angel told him in a dream and took the Child and His mother to Egypt, where they stayed for a time. They stayed there until they heard news of King Herod's death. When they found it safe to return, Herod's son, Archelaus, took over the throne. St. Joseph was still apprehensive about this situation, and so he took the Child to Galilee and settled in Nazareth. Thus was it made known that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and became known in His ministry as a Nazarean.

Today, we hear of many news about Bethlehem sets being vandalized and Nativity plays being parodied in a bad light. It seems that the world once again wants to kill the spirit of the Christ-Child by killing the spirit of Christmas. But many Catholics and fellow Christians still respect the spirit of Christmas, want to keep it as an enduring and undying Christian tradition for succeeding generations of their families. These Catholics and Christians know that just as the Lord God saved His Son from the clutches of King Herod, so shall He be faithful with all Catholics and Christians who want to save the spirit of Christmas from being destroyed.

This Sunday, we also celebrate and honor the feast of the Holy Family. The Holy Family - St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, and Jesus, the Christ-Child. A perfect family. One that all Catholics and Christian families would truly want to emulate in virtue. There are still many families who are able to faithfully live their Christian life and strengthen the family's bonding and links with each other. These families are often living ordinary lives - families in the West and the East, the North and the South, living out the Gospel values and witnessing with a simple presence to other people in their neighborhood.

Perhaps the gospel this Sunday calls us to trust more and more in the divinity of Christ, more than what we see as the usual securities in the world. If we do trust in Christ's divinity and power, then we would not be assailed with anxieties and be troubled when everything around us seems to be falling apart or crumbling. The more we make our hearts filled with the spirit of the Holy Family, rather than with the spirit of Herod, then we will be assured of God's protection. We can also ask the special intercession of St. Joseph, patron of the Catholic Church, to protect our families from the onslaughts of the world's values which tempts us to displace God's rightful place in the center of our hearts and lives. May Christ our Light always remain in our families and dispel the darkness of sin and the darkness of greed for power and riches.

St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church, pray for us.

4th Sunday of Advent - Year A

God-is-with-us
From the Old Testament prophecy in the book of Isaiah, we learn that the Christ to be born will be called, Immanuel - a name in Hebrew which means, God-is-with-us.

As we hear also the Gospel passage, we learn that God's message to Mary through the angel Gabriel, is a message of joy for sinful humanity: she, by her simple "yes", would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit (in the purity of her being Immaculate Conception) the Word of God made flesh, Jesus.

What does the name of our Lord mean for us today? Many of us who are very politically involved know by experience, that the inordinate desire for power and influence can dangerously risk our focus on God. We know that if we cling to such securities, we will soon realize at the end how we have lost sight of what is essential. The gospel reminds us that the Way to saving our soul is to follow the simplicity of Jesus - a man who entered our human history by incarnating Himself as a baby. His birth came about quietly; without fanfare or ostentatious display - something totally counterculture to what we usually are familiar with.

It is awesome to realize that God's wisdom of simplicity overpowers our desire for sophistication and complexity. By emptying Himself and taking the form of a little Babe in a manger, God teaches us to seek the Divine even in ordinary, commonplace realities. It is truly a mystery of faith to see with a contemplative eye how the Creator of the Universe entered at a specific time of our human history and taught us the Christian values of humility, obedience, and purity.

God-is-with-us. The Lord takes on our human flesh to make it known that He is on our side. If the Lord's incarnation helps us to understand that God is really on our side, do we also extend this act of solidarity with others? Sometimes we can get so engrossed with the daily grind of day-to-day living that we forget this truth of our Christian faith. The Lord has set an example for us. He showed us how much we are loved by literally being with us - taking upon Himself the same conditions we are always faced with: pain, suffering, toil, and death. When we remember this truth, it would be easier for us to bear any suffering that may come our way. Let us thus be grateful to God our Father, for revealing His love to us through His Son, Jesus. And let our gratitude be expressed by following Christ in the many ways we can.

3rd Sunday of Advent - Year A

'Blest is the man who finds no stumbling block in Me'
The 3rd Sunday of Advent is what we traditionally call 'Gaudete Sunday' - a special Sunday in Advent which means 'joyful Sunday'. This Sunday in Advent reminds us that Christmas is nearing. The rose or pink candle of the Advent wreath is lit, and signifies that the coming of Christ is just around the bend.

In this 3rd Sunday of Advent, we hear Jesus performing many good deeds and miraculous actions: miracles which make the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, and the sick cured. But John the Baptist and his disciples still doubt and want to be sure that Jesus is really the Christ. So, they ask Him plainly, "Are you the One who is to come or should we look for another?"

If we imagine placing ourselves in this gospel scene, (putting ourselves besides John and his disciples), would we also ask the same thing? Or would we rather not be involved, then wait and see whether this Jesus was really the Messiah foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament.

As we consider well our lives as Christians, where there times in our life that we doubted that Jesus would really save us from whatever problems, trials and difficulties we experience? What did we do to our relationship with God during this time? Did we seek prayer and the help of the Church through the Sacraments? Or did we silently rebel inside and were tempted to give up our Catholic faith?

When Christ came into the world preaching, teaching and healing, He performed many miraculous deeds which astounded people of His time. Those who believed in Him became His disciples, but whose who doubted did not give Him any attention. They just dismissed the reality that the Messiah is Someone who would usher in a spiritual kingdom instead of a political one. And since Jesus also prioritized love above the Law, the Pharisees and the scribes rejected Him and His leadership.

As we experience our world today and see so many things happening around us, what do we focus on: do we look at the negative events or do we see the positive events that are happening? If we look at the negative side of things, then this would surely raise some doubts for us about the good that God has created in the world. But if we have a positive outlook in life, faith in Christ and His saving action today would be easier.