By: FR. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
Feast of the Holy Family (Year B)
Sir 3:3-5, 14-17 / Ps 128:1-5 /
Col 3:21-21 / Lk 2:22-40
FAMILY: WHERE GOD’S LAW IS FULFILLED
Word: It cannot be by mere chance that St. Luke insists five times on the “accomplishment” of the law. Let us see them: First, When the days were completed…according to the law of Moses… (Lk 2:22); second, just as it is written in the law of the Lord… (Lk 2:23); third, and to offer the sacrifice… in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord (Lk 2:23); fourth, when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law… (Lk 2:27); and fifth, When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord… (Lk 2:39).
Though Jesus is “Son of God”, Mary and Joseph make sure that Jesus obeys the human laws. Such is the authenticity and depth of the Incarnation. Jesus does not consider himself to be “privileged”.
The journey to Jerusalem is most significant. Mary and Joseph took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord… (Lk 2:22). Scriptural scholars have commented that “Indeed, it is the summit of these two chapters which Luke dictates to the infancy—of John the Baptist as well as of Jesus. But, intentionally, Luke leads Jesus through a path contrary to that of John.”
The annunciation to Zechariah had taken place in the official and prestigious context of the priestly worship in the Temple (Lk 1:5), but his son John disappears “into the wilderness” (Lk 1:80). On the other hand, the annunciation to Mary had taken place in the despised village of Nazareth (John 1:46), but her son Jesus is recognized as “the Messiah” in the Holy City of Jerusalem (Lk 2:27; 2:37).
Furthermore, it is surprising that, according to Luke, Jesus is recognized not by the officials authorities, the priests and scribes, but by obscure and poor people. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon… righteous and devout… There was also a temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer. (Lk 2:25-37). Though these two representatives of “ordinary people”, the entire people of “the poor whom God loves” is already coming to meet the Lord.
Simeon and Anna, led by the Holy Spirit, are able to discern the Presence which others cannot see. They have given this small baby Jesus dazzling titles: salvation, the light, the glory. The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him (Lk 2:33).
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Order: Simeon and Anna represent the poor. Both of them are “old”. Old are those category of people whom society tends to forget and not to respect (Sirach 3:13). Besides, Anna is a “widow”, that is in biblical vocabulary, poverty personified since she has lost all that assured her place in society in which the husband alone has legal rights.
Quoting various lines from the Documents of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, these are what we have found: “In the Philippines today, God calls us most urgently to serve the poor and the needy. The poverty of at least half of the population is a clear sign that sin has penetrated our social structures” (PCP II, 122).
PCP II is calling the Church of the Philippines to be “Church of the Poor”. What then is the “Church of the Poor”? It “is one whose members and leaders have a special love for the poor” (PCP II, 126). “This special love is a love of preference for the poor. It is not an exclusive or excluding love in such a way that there is no room in a Christian’s heart for those who are not poor (PCP II, 127).
The “Church of the Poor” is “one where, at the very least the poor are not discriminated against because of their poverty, and they will not be deprived of their ‘right to receive in abundance the help of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially that of the word of God and the sacraments from the pastors’” (PCP II, 128).
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Realities: The great American short story expert, O. Henry, wrote a famous Christmas story. It is about a young married couple who were very much in love. Christmas was approaching and they wanted to give a present to one another. But they were very poor and had no money for presents. So each one, without telling the other, decided to sell his or her most precious possession. The girl prized above all else her long golden hair. She went to a hairdresser and had ii cut off. She then sold it to buy a lovely watch chain for her husband’s watch. He, in the meantime, went to a jeweler and sold the only watch he had to buy two beautiful combs for his beloved’s hair.
On Christmas, they exchanged their gifts. At first they cried, then they laughed. There was no hair for the comb, and no watch for the watch chain. But there was something more precious and that was the idea behind their gifts: each had deprived self of the best to give to the other. A gift is no gift if it does not cost us something, if it does not contain a part of ourselves.
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Direction: Lord, make us really poor in heart that we may be able to recognize You, in the poor appearances in which You hide Yourself. Amen.