Ur Sunday Dose: EMMANUEL: God with us! (PART TWO)

Dec. 26, 2010
Feast of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Si 3,2-6.12-14||Col 3,12-21
Mt 2,13-15.19-23

EMMANUEL: God with us!
(Part Two)

And to prove to you that this is a continuation, here is the last paragraph of yesterday's reflection...

We should never forget this, guys. There should be no other reason of the celebration but Jesus Christ. He is God-with-us! He is Emmanuel! Let us welcome him with open hearts, and joyful spirits!

Let us celebrate this with our family together. Remember, Jesus came in the midst of Mary and Joseph. Likewise it is best if we celebrate this as a family, welcoming the glorious King in all his humble state.

I am walking through the streets of Tanza, and see children accompanied by their parents, going to their godparents to ask for their Aguinaldo. It's good to see such view in our streets, aside from the fact that the parents want their children to be in good condition as they are doing this.

In Christmas, we celebrate the coming of God as man. Today, we celebrate the family, the chosen instrument by God for man to be saved. Jesus did not come in the midst of jungle animals and lived in the obscurity of the forest. He did not came in the sea and lived there with the fishes.

Jesus came as Man, and to the human family he dwelt, there he grew and was formed to be a rightful citizen. He came to know of the Law, the usual household errands and carpentry through his parents, Mary and Joseph. Through the careful eye of these two grateful parents, the Emmanuel truly dwelt within the human confines, living like them in all things except sin.

===

Through the example of the Holy Family, we come to realize that every family - each and every family of the world - is a manifestation of the Emmanuel. God dwells within each and every family which lives in love, trust prayer and peace. (First and Second Reading)

Even to the point that to save him, Joseph took him and Mary to Egypt to live there for some time. Herod that time is furious with the new-born king, fearing that he may overtake the throne sometime soon. This is also the reason why there are the Holy Innocents, offering their juvenile lives for the savior. (Gospel Passage)
But the newborn king is not after the riches of the world; he is after winning the hearts of men and offering it to his Heavenly Father. He is after our conversion, he is after our sanctity in living. And to do this, he willed that he dwell inside the human family, to share with their pains, sufferings, victories and joys.

We look into our own families, and ask ourselves, do we live like the Holy Family of Nazareth? Do we live as one, in humility, simplicity and praise, where the other is Christ? Or like Herod, do we support the actions of the world which are against the family and life?

===

It may be a special coincidence that the Solemnity of Christmas goes one day ahead of the Feast of the Holy Family. As yesterday we celebrate the coming of Jesus, the Emmanuel, today may we be reminded that Jesus lived, and first became Emmanuel in the Family. Through that, we shall always be guided in all our affairs and doings that God is the center of our homes, of our families.

Christmas would never be the same if we share it with the ones that we love. Let us spend the season with the group of people where God first manifested as Emmanuel: nowhere else but the family.

AND SO WE PRAY...

I believe in Jesus Christ and in the beauty of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.

I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world, in towns both large and small.

I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.

I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.

I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible:

I believe in the one whose cradle was a mother's arms, whose modest home in Nazareth had love for its only wealth, who looked at persons and made them see what God's love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.

I confess my ever-lasting need of God: The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.

I believe in God who gives us the best of himself. I believe in Jesus, the Emmanuel, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world. Amen.

(Christmas Creed)

BïTZëëlöG_122510 :)