Sunday, December 29, 2013. 

Today's Liturgical Reading by Daily Flash, Goa. 

Feast of Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

First Reading : Sirach 3:3-7, 14-17 [Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14] or 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28; Second Reading : Psalm 127[128]:1-5; Colossians 3:12-21 or Psalms 83[84]:2-3, 5-6, 9-10; 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; Gospel : Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 or Luke 2:41-52. [Please share today's Gospel.]

First Reading : Sirach 3:3-7, 14-17 [Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14] 

2 for the Lord has given fathers authority over their children and given children the obligation to obey their mothers. 3 If you respect your father, you can make up for your sins, 4 and if you honor your mother, you are earning great wealth. 5 If you respect your father, one day your own children will make you happy; the Lord will hear your prayers. 6 If you obey the Lord by honoring your father and making your mother happy, you will live a long life. 7 Obey your parents as if you were their slave. 8 Honor your father in everything you do and say, so that you may receive his blessing. 9 When parents give their blessing, they give strength to their children's homes, but when they curse their children, they destroy the very foundations. 

10 Never seek honor for yourself at your father's expense; it is not to your credit if he is dishonored. 11 Your own honor comes from the respect that you show to your father. If children do not honor their mothers, it is their own disgrace. 12 My child, take care of your father when he grows old; give him no cause for worry as long as he lives. 13 Be sympathetic even if his mind fails him; don't look down on him just because you are strong and healthy.14 The Lord will not forget the kindness you show to your father; it will help you make up for your sins. 15 When you are in trouble, the Lord will remember your kindness and will help you; your sins will melt away like frost in warm sunshine. 16 Those who abandon their parents or give them cause for anger may as well be cursing the Lord; they are already under the Lord's curse.

Humility

17 My child, be humble in everything you do, and people will appreciate it more than gifts.

Psalm 128:1-5

The Reward of Obedience to the Lord

128 Happy are those who obey the Lord,
    who live by his commands.

2 Your work will provide for your needs;
    you will be happy and prosperous.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home,
    and your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 A man who obeys the Lord
    will surely be blessed like this.

5 May the Lord bless you from Zion!
    May you see Jerusalem prosper
    all the days of your life!

Or 

1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28

20 So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, “I asked the Lord for him.”

21 The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised. 22 But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of the Lord, where he will stay all his life.”

24 After she had weaned him, she took him to Shiloh, taking along a three-year-old bull, a bushel of flour, and a leather bag full of wine. She took Samuel, young as he was, to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 After they had killed the bull, they took the child to Eli.26 Hannah said to him, “Excuse me, sir. Do you remember me? I am the woman you saw standing here, praying to the Lord. 27 I asked him for this child, and he gave me what I asked for. 28 So I am dedicating him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he will belong to the Lord.” Then they worshiped the Lord there.

Psalms 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10;

2     How I want to be there!
    I long to be in the Lord's Temple.
With my whole being I sing for joy
    to the living God.
3 Even the sparrows have built a nest,
    and the swallows have their own home;
they keep their young near your altars,
    Lord Almighty, my king and my God.

5 How happy are those whose strength comes from you,
    who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
6 As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,
    it becomes a place of springs;
    the autumn rain fills it with pools.

9 Bless our king, O God,
    the king you have chosen.

10 One day spent in your Temple
    is better than a thousand anywhere else;
I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God
    than live in the homes of the wicked

Second Reading : Also read Psalm 127; 

Colossians 3:12-21 

12 You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you.14 And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. 15 The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.17 Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

Personal Relations in the New Life

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what you should do as Christians. 19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents always, for that is what pleases God. 21 Parents, do not irritate your children, or they will become discouraged.

OR 

Also read Psalms 83; 

1 John 3:1-2, 21-24; 

Children of God

3 See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children—and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God. 2 My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.

21 And so, my dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage in God's presence. 22 We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 What he commands is that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as Christ commanded us. 24 Those who obey God's commands live in union with God and God lives in union with them. And because of the Spirit that God has given us we know that God lives in union with us.

Gospel : 

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 

The Escape to Egypt

13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill him. So get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.”

14 Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

The Return from Egypt

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go back to the land of Israel, because those who tried to kill the child are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went back to Israel.

22 But when Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea, he was afraid to go there. He was given more instructions in a dream, so he went to the province of Galilee 23 and made his home in a town named Nazareth. And so what the prophets had said came true: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Or 

Luke 2:41-52

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

41 Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. 42 When Jesus was twelve years old, they went to the festival as usual. 43 When the festival was over, they started back home, but the boy Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents did not know this; 44 they thought that he was with the group, so they traveled a whole day and then started looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 They did not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem looking for him. 46 On the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting with the Jewish teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his intelligent answers. 48 His parents were astonished when they saw him, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried trying to find you.”

49 He answered them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?” 50 But they did not understand his answer.

51 So Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favor with God and people.

Focus: "Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what you should do as Christians. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them." (Colossians 3:18-19)

Fruit: Today I will assess whether I have been living up to my promises to my spouse and family.