FIRST READING
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
Brothers and sisters:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, “Abba, Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.
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Commentary on Gal 4:4-7
“God sent his Son, born of a woman.” This passage, taken as part of the Gospel proclaimed by St. Paul, provides the Galatians with the important fact that Mary gave birth to Jesus. He did not mystically appear to us. Jesus is (was) true man: meaning he went through the biological birth process. It also means that Mary, the Mother of God, went through the difficult physical process of giving birth.
St. Paul goes on to remind us that, through this action, we are all adopted by God and are entitled to call God our Father, “Abba,” a familial term of endearment (translated into American usage as “daddy”). This term would never have been used by contemporary Hebrews as it would have been considered too familiar.
CCC: Gal 4:1-7 1972; Gal 4:4-5 422; Gal 4:4 484, 488, 527, 531, 580, 702; Gal 4:5-7 1265; Gal 4:6 683, 689, 693, 742, 1695, 2766
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
Psalm 131 is an individual lament praying for harmony and humility among the members of the community. The singer proclaims trust in the Lord and peace, like children's contented peace, secure in the knowledge of the love and protection of their parents.
When the days were completed for their purification
St. Luke’s account of Jesus being presented at the Temple provides a unique insight into the Holy Family. They are faithful observes of the Law of Moses.
At the time, Jesus is presented at the temple as required by strict Jewish Law. This short description notes that Mary, the Mother of God, and Joseph, Jesus' foster father, returned to Nazareth following his presentation at the temple. Under the guidance of his parents, Jesus grew up, ready to take up his role as Savior and Messiah.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.
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Commentary on Ps 131:1bcde, 2,3
Psalm 131 is an individual lament praying for harmony and humility among the members of the community. The singer proclaims trust in the Lord and peace, like children's contented peace, secure in the knowledge of the love and protection of their parents.
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GOSPEL
A They returned to their own home of Nazareth.
The child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom.
The child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom.
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord.
When Mary and Joseph had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child, Jesus, grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
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Commentary on Lk 2:22, 39-40
St. Luke’s account of Jesus being presented at the Temple provides a unique insight into the Holy Family. They are faithful observes of the Law of Moses.
At the time, Jesus is presented at the temple as required by strict Jewish Law. This short description notes that Mary, the Mother of God, and Joseph, Jesus' foster father, returned to Nazareth following his presentation at the temple. Under the guidance of his parents, Jesus grew up, ready to take up his role as Savior and Messiah.
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B Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth,
where he was subject to them.
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
Our Lady of Nazareth II
FIRST READING
May the fullness of Christ's message live within you.
Colossians 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:
St. Paul exhorts the Colossians with a litany of positive attitudes that culminate in the cardinal axiom of the faith: “love one another.” He goes on to implore them to let the peace of Christ control their every action and to praise God constantly through Jesus, God’s only Son.
This is the introduction to the family hierarchy of the era described by St. Paul. This entire section of the letter is a discourse on harmony within the family of Christ. It is important to note the instruction given in the first part of this reading. Paul describes the Christian rules for relationships; “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.” The consistent focus of the passage brings home the Pauline ideals of harmony and unity within the Christian family.
CCC: Col 3:14 815, 1827, 1844; Col 3:16-17 1156, 2633; Col 3:16 2641
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
Happy they who dwell in your house!
O LORD of hosts, hear our prayer;
Psalm 84 was used to celebrate pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem (3 times a year). In these strophes the singer extols the virtue of those that are faithful and concludes with praise to the “anointed” king “our shield.”
GOSPEL
He went and lived in a town called Nazareth.
When the magi had departed, behold,
When Herod had died, behold,
The account also mentions that all that happens is in accordance with what has been prophetically revealed. The first reference, indicating that the Messiah was to be called out of Egypt, is a reference to Hosea 11:1. The second reference is less clear as there is no specific Old Testament biblical reference to Nazareth. It is possibly a confusion with the term “neser.” The Old Testament texts are Isaiah 11:1, where the Davidic king of the future is called "a bud" (neser) that shall blossom from the roots of Jesse, and Judges 13:5, 7 where Samson, the future deliverer of Israel from the Philistines, is called one who shall be consecrated (a nazir) to God.
“What a mystery that God, in order to protect his Son, the uncreated Wisdom, now has to do so through the mediation of men! Have we sufficiently reflected on the fact that, after the Incarnation, the Father and the Spirit relate to the Son in a new way; that is, no longer to the Word as divine only, but also and necessarily to the Word as incarnate Man?” [1]
B Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth,
where he was subject to them.
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.
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Commentary on Lk 2:41-52
In this account Jesus is discovered after three days (possibly symbolic to the three days in the tomb). This narrative from St. Luke tells the only story from the gospels of Jesus growing up as a boy, part of the family with Mary and Joseph. (There are numerous stories found in the apocryphal gospels that attribute miraculous abilities and acts to the young Jesus but these are considered to be of a tradition similar to the boyhood stories of other ancient heroes such as Cyrus and Alexander by those affirming the canon of the Bible). In this account Jesus is discovered at the temple, engaged in discourse with “teachers,” implying he was in the outer halls of the temple. This would have been completely consistent with Jewish Law. The implication, based on Joseph's and Mary’s reaction to Jesus' actions in the temple, is that they do not completely understand their son’s mission at this point in his life.
We note that he is listening and answering questions and is not presuming upon his station to brag or put himself forward. When Mary and Joseph found him, we are told that Jesus asked “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” This statement connotes a familiarity with God the Father, for the first time identifying that relationship over the role fulfilled by St. Joseph, his foster father.
Above all, the Blessed Virgin Mary treasures the gift of her son, knowing the greatness in him and beginning to understand the sorrow that had been predicted.
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Our Lady of Nazareth II
FIRST READING
May the fullness of Christ's message live within you.
Colossians 3:12-17
Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one Body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another,
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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Commentary on Col 3:12-17
St. Paul exhorts the Colossians with a litany of positive attitudes that culminate in the cardinal axiom of the faith: “love one another.” He goes on to implore them to let the peace of Christ control their every action and to praise God constantly through Jesus, God’s only Son.
This is the introduction to the family hierarchy of the era described by St. Paul. This entire section of the letter is a discourse on harmony within the family of Christ. It is important to note the instruction given in the first part of this reading. Paul describes the Christian rules for relationships; “Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.” The consistent focus of the passage brings home the Pauline ideals of harmony and unity within the Christian family.
CCC: Col 3:14 815, 1827, 1844; Col 3:16-17 1156, 2633; Col 3:16 2641
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. (cf. 5a) 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.
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Commentary on Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10
Psalm 84 was used to celebrate pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem (3 times a year). In these strophes the singer extols the virtue of those that are faithful and concludes with praise to the “anointed” king “our shield.”
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GOSPEL
He went and lived in a town called Nazareth.
When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
Out of Egypt I called my son.
When Herod had died, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel,
for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
He rose, took the child and his mother,
and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea
in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there.
And because he had been warned in a dream,
he departed for the region of Galilee.
He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth,
so that what had been spoken through the prophets
might be fulfilled,
He shall be called a Nazorean
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Commentary on Mt 2:13-15, 19-23
The story of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt is provided in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Angelic messengers are sent to keep Jesus from harm, and guide St. Joseph, the father of Jesus. (Verses 16-18 which are omitted in this reading tell the story of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem whose feast we celebrate on December 28.) The actions that follow accomplish the task of saving Jesus from Herod. It is also reminiscent of Moses’ flight from Egypt and subsequent return which triggered the salvation event – the Exodus.
The account also mentions that all that happens is in accordance with what has been prophetically revealed. The first reference, indicating that the Messiah was to be called out of Egypt, is a reference to Hosea 11:1. The second reference is less clear as there is no specific Old Testament biblical reference to Nazareth. It is possibly a confusion with the term “neser.” The Old Testament texts are Isaiah 11:1, where the Davidic king of the future is called "a bud" (neser) that shall blossom from the roots of Jesse, and Judges 13:5, 7 where Samson, the future deliverer of Israel from the Philistines, is called one who shall be consecrated (a nazir) to God.
“What a mystery that God, in order to protect his Son, the uncreated Wisdom, now has to do so through the mediation of men! Have we sufficiently reflected on the fact that, after the Incarnation, the Father and the Spirit relate to the Son in a new way; that is, no longer to the Word as divine only, but also and necessarily to the Word as incarnate Man?” [1]
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[1] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 89
[1] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 89
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