A Homily – The First Sunday of Christmas (Year C)

First Reading - 1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 83(84):2-3,5-6,9-10 ©

Second Reading - 1 John 3:1-2,21-24 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Acts 16:14

The Gospel of the Day - Luke 2:41-52 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 If you regard the reading from Samuel as narrative that extoling the virtue of giving thanks to God for the good things we receive in this life, and go no further than to accept the piety of Hannah as a woman intent on keeping her promises, then you would be reading this passage well.

 If you go further, by accepting the notion that God, the creator of the universe, that God actually granted her prayer when she became pregnant with Samuel, then you would be mistaken; God does not intervene in the lives of human beings; God does not work miracles like magic in the wombs of barren women.

 If you accept the notion that Hannah was being pious when she made sacrifices at the temple as a thanksgiving for what she perceived was God’s answer to her prayers than you would be compounding your mistakes, for there is nothing pious in the act of animal sacrifice, God does not desire it, and unless the food you offer is distributed to the poor, then nothing good comes from it.

 Be mindful.

 There is wisdom in the writings of Ecclesiasticus…there is also falsehood, they are both present in the same reading.

 Honor your father and mother, but do not expect a reward for it, neither from heaven or even from them, for there are no guarantees in this life.

 Honor you mother and father, your sister and brothers, your cousins, your aunts and uncles, your nieces and nephews, honor them all. Honor your teachers and your classmates, your co-workers and your employers, honor the stranger who comes into your midst…honor them.

 To honor people is good in its own right; you honor yourself in doing so, and through the service you give to everyone, both near and far from you, through that service you also serve and honor the living God who dwells within them.

 Do this without thought of reward to yourself, because you will not be rewarded in this life, and the reward you will receive in the life to come is the same for everyone.

 Know this.

 The divine spirit does not desire that you be afraid. Do not fear God; there is no blessing in it. Fear is not a blessing, it is the seed bed of anger on the path to sin and darkness. Rather trust in God, have faith and confidence in God’s love and in God’s word.

 Remember God’s servant Job…remember that the sun will burn you as readily as it will warm you; scorch the earth as easily as it feeds the crops. Remember that God sends the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.

 If you find yourself asking:

 Where is the house of the God?

 It is not a palace or a temple. God does not dwell in Zion, for God is everywhere, speaking in the heart of every person as if in God’s own temple. God is not a king, neither is God a lord, nor a Great God among lesser gods or the ruler of many gods.

 The divine spirit is infinite and beyond our comprehension; God is present in all places at all times; there is no place where God is not. The divine spirit embraces everyone.

 Look into your own heart, and into the heart of your neighbor, you will see the face of God peering back at you, and it is there that true worship takes place…happy are they who see the spirit of God.

 The divine spirit is loving, compassionate and wise. God created all of us with the capacity for these qualities. However, God also created us in freedom and we are capable of much more; we have a capacity for goodness, as well as its opposite and it is easy to fall into darkness.

 Know this.

 God has chosen you as God has chosen everyone; we are all God’s children, it is for each of us to accept the divine mission and follow Jesus along the way; peace will follow when we do, and God is patient…God will wait for us.

 Be loving and compassionate, humble and just…be merciful, showing good will toward all of your sisters and brothers. Serve god through the service you give to humanity.

 A life of faith requires support and nourishment, we need it from those closest to us. It is not absolutely necessary, but it is most helpful. You may practice your faith in isolation, but it is more difficult. The life of faith is not meant to be lived in a vacuum, it is meant to be lived through relationships and in community.

 Consider the teaching of the apostle; live a life of prayer; yes, do everything for God’s sake (to the extent that you are able, but do nothing in God’s name. Do what you do in your own name; take responsibility for your actions, both good and bad, whether they were well intentioned or ill, whether you have succeeded or failed.

 If you are living and working for God, in whatever industry you find yourself in, in whatever capacity, at whatever calling has come to you; if you keep to the way before you, then you will be living and working on behalf of your neighbor, your sisters and brothers, all of your fellow human beings. You will be working for the benefit of all people, now and in all generations to come.

 If your work does not allow to you to do this…abandon it.

 Remember.

 When you are preaching and speaking to others about the faith, you are speaking to the children of God. There is nothing you can do to affect their salvation. There salvation, as yours, has already been accomplished by God.

 Love is its own reward, do not seek anything else in return; love simply, accept it as you find it in the spirit with which it is given.

 Nothing good comes from believing in a name, it is only in loving, and in the act of caring that good things come through us and to us. Faith is not belief in a particular doctrine, or article of dogma, to have faith is to trust in God…trust and be discerning.

 Beware of false prophets, go, look to everyone around you, especially those who claim to be “true believers.” Look to yourself. We are all imperfect, and we all possess false (errant) understandings of who God is. Each of us in our own way confounds our knowledge of the truth with our hopes and desires for ourselves. Therefore we must trust God while being mindful that the divine spirit is beyond each and every proposition we generate.

 The purpose of the church is to foster trust in God, to nurture faith, in the image of God that was present in Jesus, the same image that is present in you. Trust God and forgive, accept forgiveness and allow yourself to love…to be loved, you are worthy of it, as is everyone, and you no-more than anyone.

 God dwells within the obedient and the disobedient, the faithful and the unfaithful alike. God lives in all people, God knows you and God knows them, God knows us, even as we know ourselves…God knows us better.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today:

 The narrative is a myth; it does not give us any reliable information about who Jesus was, or his relationship with his parents, even though it purports to do so. It does tell us something about what the author of Luke wanted us to believe about Jesus, namely, that his parents were faithful and observant Jews. He wants us to believe that they went to Jerusalem for the Passover as the law required, that they were counted and dutifully made the required offerings at the temple.

 The authors of Luke were trying to tell us that Jesus was wise beyond his years, that he was capable of self-direction, that he had a sense of mission and purpose for his life, even as a child. They also wanted us to believe that Jesus understood at this early age, long before his adult ministry began, that he was, in a unique way, a child of God. Luke wants us to understand that his submission to the authority of his parents was voluntary.

 The unfortunate thing is that instead of informing us about who Jesus is, it muddies our understanding by mythologizing him, instead the reading only tells us what the authors of Luke wanted us to believe, what their followers hoped was true.

 Though they could not foresee this, these writings would come divide the Christian community from itself and precipitate centuries of bloody conflict over the question of Jesus’ divinity, his humanity, and the relationship between the two.

 I contend that the man who was Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua son of Joseph, would have been aghast at these developments. Jesus spent his life and went to his death as a champion of justice, as an advocate for mercy, as a healer and a humble advocate for the poor, hungry, the homeless, the sick, the widow and the orphan.

 Luke’s narrative is therefore a cautionary tale, reminding us of the necessity to cleave to the truth at all times, to separate our hopes, our desires, and most importantly our fears, from the values we wish to convey to our posterity

 Then and only then do we honor God, then and only then do we show the reality of our faith.

 

First Reading – 1 Samuel 1:20-22,24-28 ©

This is the Child I Prayed For: He is Made Over to the Lord.

Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, and called him Samuel ‘since’ she said ‘I asked the Lord for him.’

When a year had gone by, the husband Elkanah went up again with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow. Hannah, however, did not go up, having said to her husband, ‘Not before the child is weaned. Then I will bring him and present him before the Lord and he shall stay there for ever.’

When she had weaned him, she took him up with her together with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the temple of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was with them. They slaughtered the bull and the child’s mother came to Eli. She said, ‘If you please, my lord. As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord granted me what I asked him. Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is made over to the Lord.’

 

Alternative Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 83(84):2-3,5-6,9-10 ©

They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

  Lord, God of hosts.

My soul is longing and yearning,

  is yearning for the courts of the Lord.

My heart and my soul ring out their joy

  to God, the living God.

They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.

They are happy, who dwell in your house,

  for ever singing your praise.

They are happy, whose strength is in you,

  in whose hearts are the roads to Zion.

They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.

O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer,

  give ear, O God of Jacob.

Turn your eyes, O God, our shield,

  look on the face of your anointed.

They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord.

 

Second reading – 1 John 3:1-2,21-24 ©

We are Called God's children, and That is What We Are

Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are.

Because the world refused to acknowledge him, therefore it does not acknowledge us.

My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.

My dear people, if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience, we need not be afraid in God’s presence, and whatever we ask him, we shall receive, because we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that he wants.

His commandments are these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he told us to.

Whoever keeps his commandments lives in God and God lives in him.

We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Acts 16:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Open our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke – 2:41-52 ©

Mary Stored Up All These Things in Her Heart

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

  Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.

  He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.

 

A Homily – The First Sunday of Christmas (Year C)