The importance of “please”, “thank you”, and “sorry” in families
“And I want to repeat these three words: may I, please, thank you, sorry. Three essential words! We say please so as not to be forceful in family life: “May I please do this? Would you be happy if I did this?”. We do this with a language that seeks agreement. We say thank you, thank you for love! But be honest with me, how many times do you say thank you to your wife and you to your husband? How many days go by without uttering this word, thanks! And the last word: sorry. We all make mistakes and on occasion someone gets offended in the marriage, in the family and sometimes – I say – plates are smashed, harsh words are spoken but please listen to my advice:
“don’t ever let the sun set without reconciling.”
Peace is made each day in the family: “Please forgive me”, and then you start over. Please, thank you, sorry! Shall we say them together? [They reply “yes”] Please, thank you and sorry. Let us say these words in our families! To forgive one another each day!”
Pope Francis (2013)
God sets a father in honour over his children; a mother’s authority He confirms over her sons…………… Sir 3:2
REFLECTION – Today, in the joyful atmosphere of Christmas, the Church, reliving with fresh wonder the mystery of Emmanuel, God-with-us, leads us to contemplate the Holy Family of Nazareth. From contemplation of this admirable model, the Church draws the values to hold up to the women and men of all times and all cultures………St John Paul
PRAYER – Holy Family of Nazareth, we pray for your help, that we may be granted the strength and courage to stand against all those who seek to destroy the life of traditional families. St Joseph, we pray too for your special intercession, as the Protector of the Holy Catholic Church. Amen (St John Paul)
Our Morning Offering – 30 December JESUS, Son of God and Son of Mary, bless our family.
Graciously inspire in us the unity, peace and mutual love
that You found in Your own family in the little town of Nazareth. MARY, Mother of Jesus and Our Mother,
nourish our family with your faith and your love.
Keep us close to your Son, Jesus, in all our sorrows and joys. JOSEPH, Foster-father to Jesus, guardianand spouse of Mary, keep our family safe
from harm. Help us in all times of discouragement or anxiety. HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH,
make our family one with you. Help us to be instruments of peace. Grant that love,
strengthened by grace, may prove mightierthan all the weaknesses and trials through
which our families sometimes pass.
May we always have God at the centre of our hearts and homes until we are all one family,
happy and at peace in our true home with you.
Amen
The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Catholic Church in honour of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family. The primary purpose of this feast is to present the Holy Family as a model for Christian families. Since the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the feast is celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, the Sunday between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day (both exclusive), or if both Christmas Day and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God are Sundays, on 30 December (always a Friday in such years). It is a holy day of obligation only if it falls on a Sunday.
CorreggioThe Holy Family (Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire ) by Joos van Cleve
The members of the Holy Family are the patrons of the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Holy Cross Sisters are dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Holy Cross Brothers to St. Joseph and the Priests of Holy Cross to the Sacred Heart. The Sons of the Holy Family is another religious congregation devoted to the Holy Family
A pious practice among Catholics is to write “J.M.J.” at the top of letters and personal notes as a reference to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as the Holy Family.
The feast was instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1893
RubensMichelangelo The Doni Tondo, The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist
There are few private devotions associated with this day, though the blessing of children by their parents, the renewal of marriage vows (even if just privately) and consecration of the family to the Holy Family are a few.
Consecration to the Holy Family
O Jesus, our most loving Redeemer, who having come to enlighten the world with Your teaching and example, willed to pass the greater part of Your life in humility and subjection to Mary and Joseph in the poor home of Nazareth, thus sanctifying the Family that was to be an example for all Christian families, graciously receive our family as it dedicates and consecrates itself to You this day. Please protect us, guard us and establish among us Your holy fear, true peace and concord in Christian love: in order that by living according to the divine pattern of Your holy family we may be able, all of us without exception, to attain to eternal happiness.
Mary, dear Mother of Jesus, Mother of God and Mother of us all, by the kindly intercession make this our humble offering acceptable in the sight of your Son and obtain for us His graces and blessings.
O Saint Joseph, most holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, help us by your prayers in all our spiritual and temporal needs; that so we may be enabled to praise our divine Saviour Jesus the Christ, together with Mary and yourself, for all eternity. Amen.
Say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be three times.
Unknown Flemish Artist 1601Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi) 1499
Thomas was a strong man who wavered for a moment but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
No one becomes a saint without struggle, especially with himself. Thomas knew he must stand firm in defense of truth and right, even at the cost of his life. We also must take a stand in the face of pressures—against dishonesty, deceit, destruction of life—at the cost of popularity, convenience, promotion and even greater material comforts!
St. Thomas, pray that we have the courage to stand for what is right!
“If all the swords in England were pointed
against my head, your threats would not move me.
I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the
Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kep the faith. From now on a merited crown awaits me….2 Tm 4:7
REFLECTION – “Remember then how our fathers worked out their salvation; remember the sufferings through which the Church has grown and the storms the ship of Peter has weathered because it has Christ on board. Remember how the crown was attained by those whose sufferings gave new radiance to their faith. The whole company of saints bears witness to the unfailing truth that without real effort no one wins the crown.”……….St Thomas a Becket (Saint of the Day)
PRAYER – Lord of glory, help me to attain the crown of glory You hold out to me. Grant me the grace to make a continuous and dedicated effort to lead a good life until the very end. St Thomas a Becket Pray for us! Amen
Father,
throughout the ages You inspire
heroic men and women
to preach Your gospel
and proclaim the truth of Your love.
We pray that the example
of St Thomas a Becket
may encourage us to stand up
for what it right;
to hold to what is true;
and to love even those who persecute us,
for the sake of He
who is love, light and truth
in union with the Holy Spirit, amen.
The Holy Innocents are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day. But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest treasure God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and graced by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
We praise you, O God,
we acclaim you as Lord;
the white-robed army of martyrs praise you. (from the Te Deum)
REFLECTION – “These then, whom Herod’s cruelty tore as sucklings from their mothers’ bosom, are justly hailed as “infant martyr flowers”; they were the Church’s first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.”… St. Augustine
PRAYER – O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed and proclaimed on this day, not by speaking but by dying, grant, we pray, that the faith in You which we confess with our lips may also speak through our manner of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Holy Innocents Pray for us! amen
O God,
Whose praise the martyred Innocents
did this day proclaim, not by speaking
but by dying.
Destroy in us all the malice
of sinfulness, that our lives
may loudly proclaim our faith
which our tongues profess.
Through the Christ Child, Your Divine Son,
whom You sent to save us
and for Whom the Holy Innocents’
shed their blood Amen.
It is a long way from being eager to sit on a throne of power or to call down fire from heaven to becoming the man who could write: “The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).
After the Resurrection and Pentecost, St John spent his life in bearing witness to Jesus and saw in the Incarnation the very foundation of his existence, all that he was. There is really no other way – and if we love Him we have no choice but to prove it in word and deed, in our love for everyone!
We have seen his glory.
The glory of an only Son
coming from the Father,
filled with enduring love………Jn 1:14
REFLECTION – The Word is visible to the heart alone, whereas flesh is visible to bodily eyes as well.
The Word was made flesh so that we could see it, to heal the part of us by which we could see the Word………….St Augustine
PRAYER – Invisible God, help me to see Jesus made flesh as a visible reflection of You. Let me thus come to know You, be filled with love for You and desire to be with You forever. St John, you who so loved the Lord, please pray for us! Amen
Nativity Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian (AD 306-373)
The feast day of Your birth
resembles You, Lord
Because it brings joy to all humanity.
Old people and infants alike
enjoy Your day.
Your day is celebrated
from generation to generation.
Kings and emperors may pass away,
And the festivals to commemorate
them soon lapse.
But Your festival
will be remembered until
the end of time.
Your day is a means and
a pledge of peace.
At Your birth heaven and earth
were reconciled,
Since You came from heaven
to earth on that day
You forgave our sins and wiped
away our guilt.
You gave us so many gifts on the day
of Your birth:
A treasure chest of spiritual medicines
for the sick;
Spiritual light for the blind;
The cup of salvation for the thirsty;
The bread of life for the hungry.
In the winter when trees are bare,
You give us the most succulent
spiritual fruit.
In the frost when the earth is barren,
You bring new hope to our souls.
In December when seeds
are hidden in the soil,
The staff of life springs forth
from the virgin womb, amen.
… a gift of love wrapped in human flesh and
tied securely with the strong promises of God.
… angelic music in the form of a carol
and oratorio with a celestial descant.
… “glory to God,” “good will to man,”
and “joy to the world.”
… “peace on earth” for those who accept it
and live in unity with God’s will.
… a man on duty tending sheep, or machine,
who senses the upward call and stops to worship.
… a tall green tree which serves as festive altar
for any household which discovers the true meaning behind it all.
… a ringing bell calling a distraught humanity
to gladness and hope.
… a glowing hearth gently placed
in the winter of man’s loneliness.
… an altar to which man can bring his heartache for comfort,
his lostness for guidance and his sin for forgiveness.
… the sparkle of anticipation and the steady light of faith
in the eyes of a little child as he hears the old, old story.
… the shining star of hope in the sky of all mankind.
… more than words can tell,
for it is a matter for the heart to receive, believe and understand
Celebrating the CHRISTMAS SEASON 26 December: The FEAST of ST STEPHEN
“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.” Daily Meditation: The gates of heaven opened for Stephen, the first of the martyrs; in heaven, he wears the crown of victory. Entrance Antiphon
We remember the first martyr today to emphasize the invitation we have
as followers of Jesus to witness to his presence in our world, even when
it is unpopular, counter-cultural, or may even cost us our lives.
May we ask for the grace today to pray for our enemies and to
surrender even our lives in sharing this Good News with others.
Closing Prayer:
God of all great love,
you know how full of courage Stephen was
and how full of fears I am.
Help me to have the strength to be a witness for my faith,
standing up for those who are weaker,
speaking out for what I believe
and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.
Lord, give me a share in your compassion and understanding
that I might pray for those who oppose me,
those who ridicule me,
and those who dismiss me.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
“Above all, St Stephen speaks to us of Christ, of the Crucified and Risen Christ as the centre of history and our life. We can understand that the Cross remains forever the centre of the Church’s life and also of our life. In the history of the Church, there will always be passion and persecution. And it is persecution itself which, according to Tertullian’s famous words, becomes “the seed of Christians”, the source of mission for Christians to come.”
~~~~ Pope Benedict XVI – General Audience delivered by Pope Benedict XVI in January 2007
Image “The Stoning of St Stephen by Adam Elsheimer 1604
God is love and he who lives in love lives in God and God in him…..1 Jn 4:16
REFLECTION – Love is the source of all good things. It is an impregnable defense and the way that leads to heaven. Those who walk in love can neither go astray nor be afraid. Love guides and protects them and brings them safely to their journey’s end……….St Fulgentius
PRAYER – Loving Father, pour forth Your love into my heart and help me always to act in accord with it. Let me be ruled by Your love in all things so that I may experience it completely with You in Heaven. St Stephen you are an example of total love, pray for us all! Amen.
O sweet Child of Bethlehem,
grant that we may share with all our hearts
in this profound mystery of Christmas.
Put into the hearts of men and women this peace
for which they sometimes seek so desperately
and which You alone can give to them.
Help them to know one another better,
and to live as brothers and sisters,
children of the same Father.
Reveal to them also Your beauty, holiness and purity.
Awaken in their hearts
love and gratitude for Your infinite goodness.
Join them all together in Your love.
And give us Your heavenly peace, amen.
It is appropriate that today, Christmas Day 2016, we adopt the practice of praying this great prayer, EVERY DAY!
The Benedictus was the song of thanksgiving uttered by Zechariah on the occasion of the birth of his son, John the Baptist.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Benedictus is part of Lauds because it is the song of thanksgiving for the coming of the Redeemer in the first part of the canticle.
It is believed to have been first introduced by Benedict of Nursia. According to Durandus, the allusion to Christ’s coming under the figure of the rising sun had also some influence on its adoption. It also features in various other liturgical offices, notably at a funeral, at the moment of interment, when words of thanksgiving for the Redemption are specially in place as an expression of Christian hope.
The Benedictus
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
He has come to His people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of His servant David.
Through His holy prophets He promised of old
that He would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant.
This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship Him without fear,
holy and righteous in His sight all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare His way,
to give His people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever, amen
Christmas is not the end of Advent. It is a real season of the Church year. We usually miss it because the consumer society that some of us live in has nothing to offer us, except for days to return gifts. Too often, within days after Christmas day, the decorations are down and it is over.Lorenzo Costa
This year, let’s try to really celebrate Christmas and the days that follow. Let’s enter a new Season, which has its own spirit and desires and graces.
Special Feasts begin the season and we continue the story, so that we enter more deeply into the story of Jesus’ coming to be one with our life, but also that we might enter more deeply into how Jesus comes this year to bless each of us.
CHRISTMAS DAY
“Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.”
Daily Meditation: All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God. John 1
We plan to celebrate the family Christmas morning, with our traditional customs,
perhaps with a Christmas tree gift sharing with the children.
When we come to church to celebrate our faith together,
there is a different feel than midnight Mass or even an early
morning Mass.
Still, the choir draws us in immediately.
We look at each other and smile and we see the bright eyes of
the elderly and single friends around the community.
We know why we are here, and it is easy to join in the singing.
Let us give thanks today. Let us repeat the sounding joy of a faith-filled Christmas.
Let us go forth to share glad tidings with our family and friends.
Let us help our Lord usher in an age of justice and peace,
beginning in our our hearts this day.
In times past, God spoke in partial and various way to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son. Hebrews 1
Closing Prayer:
This day feels so different already, dear Lord.
You promised the glory of this day by the birth of Jesus.
So humble, so simple, such a complete act of love.
Make me one of your people of the light
and help me to be faithful to your word.
I am filled with the joy of the world
and ask you to fill my heart
with a longing for your justice and peace.
My savior – you are here with me on this day,
bringing life to the waiting world.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life, amen.
On this day, the Church focuses especially on the newborn Child, God become human, who embodies for us all the hope and peace we seek. We need no other special saint today to lead us to Christ in the manger, although his mother Mary and Joseph, caring for his foster-son, help round out the scene.
But if we were to select a patron for today, perhaps it might be appropriate for us to imagine an anonymous shepherd, summoned to the birthplace by a wondrous and even disturbing vision in the night, a summons from an angelic choir, promising peace and goodwill. A shepherd willing to seek out something that might just be too unbelievable to chase after and yet compelling enough to leave behind the flocks in the field and search for a mystery.
On the day of the Lord’s birth, let’s let an unnamed, “non-celebrity” at the edge of the crowd model for us the way to discover Christ in our own hearts—somewhere between skepticism and wonder, between mystery and faith. And, like Mary and the shepherds, let us treasure that discovery in our hearts.
The precise dating in this passage sounds like a textbook on creationism. If we focus on the time frame, however, we miss the point. It lays out the story of a love affair: creation, the deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, the rise of Israel under David. It climaxes with the birth of Jesus. From the beginning, some scholars insist, God intended to enter the world as one of us, the beloved people. Praise God!
And a Holy and Happy Christmas to All! May the Christ Child live in your hearts!
“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day,
even every moment in the interior temple
of your spirit, remaining like a baby in
the bosom of the heavenly Father,
where you will be reborn each moment
in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.”
St. Paul of the Cross
“Meister Eckhart once said: ‘What good is it that Christ was born 2,000 years ago if he is not born now in your heart?’
“Lord, we do far too much celebrating your actual coming in our hearts. I believe in God, but do I believe in God-in-me? I believe in God in heaven, but do I believe in God-on-earth? I believe in God out there, but do I believe in God-with-us?
“Lord, be born in my heart. Come alive in me this Christmas! Amen.”
Mary gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger…………Lk 2:7
REFLECTION – “The One who is seated on the throne of heaven is laid in a stable.
A God Who is beyond access is touched by the hands of human beings!”………………..St John Chrysostum
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, let me welcome Your Son as my Redeemer now. Then help to go to meet Him with confidence when He comes to be my Jude at the end of my earthly life. Lord Jesus, the Christ who came to us as a Babe, I love You! Amen
Let the just rejoice,
for theirJjustifier is born.
Let the sick and infirm rejoice,
For their Saviour is born.
Let the captives rejoice,
For their Redeemer is born.
Let slaves rejoice,
for their Master is born.
Let free men rejoice,
For their Liberator is born.
Let All Christians rejoice,
For Jesus Christ is born.
The Barbadori Altarpiece is a painting by Filippo Lippi, dated to 1438 (detail)
“A child is born to us, and a son is given to us” -Isa. 9:6
CONSIDER that after so many centuries, after so many prayers and sighs, the Messiah, whom the holy patriarchs and prophets were not worthy to see, whom the nations sighed for, “the desire of the everlasting hills,” our Saviour, has come; He is already born and has given Himself entirely to us: “A child is born to us, and a son is given to us.”
The Son of God has made Himself little, in order to make us great.
He has given Himself to us, in order that we may give ourselves to Him.
He has come to show us His love, in order that we may respond to it by giving Him ours.
Let us, therefore, receive Him with affection.
Let us love Him and have recourse to Him in ill our necessities.
“A child gives easily,” says St. Bernard; children readily give anything, that is asked of them. Jesus came into the world as a child in order to show Himself ready and willing to give us all! good gifts: “The Father hath given all things into his hands.” If we wish for light, He has come on purpose to enlighten us. If we wish for strength to resist our enemies, He has come to give us comfort. If we wish for pardon and salvation, He has come to pardon and save us. If, in short, we desire the sovereign gift of divine love, He has come to inflame our hearts with it and, above all, for this very purpose, He has become a child and has chosen to show Himself to us worthy of our love, in proportion as He was poor and humble, in order to take away from us all fear and to gain our affections.
“So,” said St. Peter Chrysologus, “should He come who willed to drive away fear and seek for love.” And Jesus has chosen to come as a little child to make us love Him, not only with an appreciative but even a tender love.
All infants attract the tender affection of those who behold them- but who will not love, with all the tenderness of which they are capable, a God whom they behold as a little child, in need of milk to nourish Him, trembling with cold, poor, abased and forsaken, weeping and crying in a manger, and lying on straw? It was this that made the loving St. Francis exclaim: “Let us love the child of Bethlehem, let us love the child of Bethlehem. Come, souls and love a God who has become a child and poor, who is so lovable and who has come down from heaven to give Himself entirely to you.”
“Christ is the Morning Star,
who, when the night of this world is past,
gives to His saints the promise of the light of life,
and opens everlasting day.”
– St Bede the Venerable
“It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.”
-St Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“He was created of a mother whom He created. He was carried by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy. He, the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.” – St Augustine
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us……..Jn 1:14
REFLECTION – The sun’s rays light up the world without separating themselves from the sun. In like manner, the Son of God comes down to earth to enlighten us without separating Himself from the Father with Whom He is entirely one………..St Anthony of Padua
PRAYER – Come Lord Jesus and give me new courage, for I trust in Your love. By Your renewed coming at Christmas and in the Eucharist, raise me to heavenly glory. On the Memorial of Sts Tarsilla and Emiliana, we implore them to Pray for us, amen.
Let Your goodness Lord appear to us, that we
made in Your image, conform ourselves to it.
In our own strength
we cannot imitate Your majesty, power and wonder
nor is it fitting for us to try.
But Your mercy reaches from the heavens
through the clouds to the earth below.
You have come to us as a small child,
but you have brought us the greatest of all gifts,
the gift of eternal love.
Caress us with Your tiny hands,
embrace us with Your tiny arms
and pierce our hearts with Your soft, sweet cries.
Amen
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