R. Alleluia, alleluia. Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 2:41-52 Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
From FAUSTI - Three times yearly, the celebrations recall the pilgrims to Jerusalem: for Easter, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Those who are far from Jerusalem can only go there once. Jesus enters into the obedience of His Family to the law of the Lord and goes to celebrate His Easter. He had already been to the Temple 12 years before to be offered to God (2:22). Now he comes back. Up to the age of 13 the child is a child of his parents who have received him as a gift. They have to teach him the Word that makes him son of God, the sole Father. From the age of 12 to 13 there is an apprenticeship that is definitive and then becomes an adult, "son of the law". who, like his parents, is called to know and fulfill the Will of God. Man becomes the Word that he listens. This has the power to generate him to a truly human life, that makes him free and responsible, capable of entering into dialogue with God. Some are never adult and free, but always remain small, in dialogue only with their exigencies. Jesus fulfils the obligation of the pilgrimage one year in advance, moved by the same desire that will push Him to Jerusalem to celebrate His Easter. His entire life will be an ascent, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where His Wisdom necessarily leads Him and keeps Him, always to being Son in obedience to the Father. The story anticipates the "Easter journey" of Jesus. Luke, after having outlined His prehistory through the fundamental lines of the promise, traces with vigorous perspective a plan of His future, revealing to us the Madness of His Wisdom, which will lead Him to the powerlessness that saves us. The three days of being in hiding in Jerusalem are the prelude to His death and resurrection. When the Easter days are ended, Jesus does not turn back. The others will have to go back to meet Him. But the mystery of His resisting in Jerusalem is not recognized by His parents. They cannot not think that He is in the "journey with the others". but His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Is 55:8). Jesus is not among the parents according to the flesh, because His parents are "those who listen to the Word of God" (8:21). The lost Son is "found" after three days in the Temple, in the Glory of God, "seated", now at the end of the fatigue, which solemnly teaches in the Word of God those who were the teachers of the Word. He, the Servant who resists three days in Jerusalem, is Wisdom who questions and answers to the promise of God. When they see Him, they are " deeply affected " and they tell Him all the sorrow of the loss and the anxiety of the search. Jesus does not reproach for the search. He reproachs for the way, precisely those who "do not know" and do not understand Father's plan. The first and final Word of Jesus is "Father". The paternity of God makes for inclusion of the whole Gospel. He "must" care for the things of the Father, because He is the Son who listens and answers for what the Father has said. Things of the Father" represent His Will, in which the obedient Son lives at home, to the point of being He the Word of the Father. In His pilgrimage, definitively concluded beside the Father whom He listens to and to whom He responds, the path that leads us to the Glory from which we departed, is open to us. Mary, who still does not understand, is model of the Church: "she preserves through time" these sayings, like a seed that will grow. Like her, the catechumen does not immediately understand the great mystery of Jesus' three days with the Father. And like her, he keeps the words in heart, learns them by memory, even if their understanding still escapes him. In this constant remembrance of the Word received, the heart gradually illuminates itself in the knowledge of the Lord.
Today, Sunday, December 30, 2018 First Reading First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
In those days Hannah conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him. The next time her husband Elkanah was going up with the rest of his household to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows, Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband, "Once the child is weaned, I will take him to appear before the LORD and to remain there forever; I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."
Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh. After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull, Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said: "Pardon, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request. Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD." Hannah left Samuel there. Responsorial Psalm Responsorial Psalm: Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10
R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
Happy they who dwell in your house! Continually they praise you. Happy the men whose strength you are! Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage. R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
O LORD of hosts, hear our prayer; hearken, O God of Jacob! O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of your anointed. R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
Second Reading Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. And so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them, and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
RispondiEliminaOpen our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 2:41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.
RispondiEliminaFrom FAUSTI - Three times yearly, the celebrations recall the pilgrims to Jerusalem: for Easter, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Those who are far from Jerusalem can only go there once. Jesus enters into the obedience of His Family to the law of the Lord and goes to celebrate His Easter.
He had already been to the Temple 12 years before to be offered to God (2:22). Now he comes back.
Up to the age of 13 the child is a child of his parents who have received him as a gift. They have to teach him the Word that makes him son of God, the sole Father. From the age of 12 to 13 there is an apprenticeship that is definitive and then becomes an adult, "son of the law". who, like his parents, is called to know and fulfill the Will of God.
Man becomes the Word that he listens. This has the power to generate him to a truly human life, that makes him free and responsible, capable of entering into dialogue with God. Some are never adult and free, but always remain small, in dialogue only with their exigencies.
Jesus fulfils the obligation of the pilgrimage one year in advance, moved by the same desire that will push Him to Jerusalem to celebrate His Easter. His entire life will be an ascent, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where His Wisdom necessarily leads Him and keeps Him, always to being Son in obedience to the Father.
The story anticipates the "Easter journey" of Jesus.
Luke, after having outlined His prehistory through the fundamental lines of the promise, traces with vigorous perspective a plan of His future, revealing to us the Madness of His Wisdom, which will lead Him to the powerlessness that saves us. The three days of being in hiding in Jerusalem are the prelude to His death and resurrection.
When the Easter days are ended, Jesus does not turn back.
The others will have to go back to meet Him.
But the mystery of His resisting in Jerusalem is not recognized by His parents. They cannot not think that He is in the "journey with the others". but His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Is 55:8).
Jesus is not among the parents according to the flesh, because His parents are "those who listen to the Word of God" (8:21).
The lost Son is "found" after three days in the Temple, in the Glory of God, "seated", now at the end of the fatigue, which solemnly teaches in the Word of God those who were the teachers of the Word.
He, the Servant who resists three days in Jerusalem, is Wisdom who questions and answers to the promise of God.
When they see Him, they are " deeply affected " and they tell Him all the sorrow of the loss and the anxiety of the search. Jesus does not reproach for the search. He reproachs for the way, precisely those who "do not know" and do not understand Father's plan.
The first and final Word of Jesus is "Father". The paternity of God makes for inclusion of the whole Gospel.
He "must" care for the things of the Father, because He is the Son who listens and answers for what the Father has said. Things of the Father" represent His Will, in which the obedient Son lives at home, to the point of being He the Word of the Father.
In His pilgrimage, definitively concluded beside the Father whom He listens to and to whom He responds, the path that leads us to the Glory from which we departed, is open to us.
Mary, who still does not understand, is model of the Church: "she preserves through time" these sayings, like a seed that will grow. Like her, the catechumen does not immediately understand the great mystery of Jesus' three days with the Father.
And like her, he keeps the words in heart, learns them by memory, even if their understanding still escapes him.
In this constant remembrance of the Word received, the heart gradually illuminates itself in the knowledge of the Lord.
Today, Sunday, December 30, 2018
RispondiEliminaFirst Reading
First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
In those days Hannah conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his household
to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband,
"Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."
Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:
"Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD."
Hannah left Samuel there.
Responsorial Psalm
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10
R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
Happy they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.
R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
O LORD of hosts, hear our prayer;
hearken, O God of Jacob!
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.
R./ Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.
Second Reading
Second Reading: 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
And so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.