THE HOLY FAMILY
(Reflection for the First Sunday After Christmas, December 26, 2021)
Luke 2: 41-52
(Reprinted, with permission, from “O, Come Emmanuel: Advent and Christmas Prayers and Reflections,” booklet published by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and issued at the National Clergy Convocation in Davao City, November 19, 2018.)
By: The Rev. Victoria S. Esguerra
Retired Priest, Diocese of Greater Manila Area
1 SAMUEL 2: 18-20, 26 – HANNAH’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
(HANNAH’S PRAYER – Chapter 2: 1-10)
Samuel, from Shiloh, became the first great prophet after Moses and Israel’s last judge. (Shiloh, a ruin of fallen stones, was the place where Joshua set up God’s tent and was the center of worship during the Judges Period.) Offered in service to God, Samuel (meaning “God hears”) was born as God’s answer to many years of prayer by Hannah, barren wife of Levite Elkannah and ostracized by the community. After being weaned at the age of three, Samuel was given by Hannah to the Temple to be trained by the priest Eli. Destined to be a priest under the Levitical line, he answered God’s call to be a prophet, as well, and established a school for the prophets in his home in Ramah. Samuel was the fruit of his mother’s prayer, a child of prayer, a man of prayer, and brought victory to his people through prayer. As judge and priest after Eli, he led the nation in repentance and healing. Samuel anointed Saul, first king of Israel and the shepherd boy, David, the second king of Israel, royal line from whom the Messiah was born. Eli blessed Elkannah and Hannah with this prayer, “May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord.” (Chap. 2: 20b) Eli’s and Hannah’s prayers were thanksgivings exalting God’s goodness and recognizing His judgment against the wicked.
PSALM 148 – PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR GOD’S UNIVERSAL GLORY
This is a prayer exhorting the heavens and the earth (sun, moon, and stars; waters – hail, snow and frost; mountains and hills; people and animals) to exalt the Name of the Lord for His greatness and faithfulness to the people Israel.
COLOSSIANS 3: 12-17 – PAUL’S PRAYER TO UNIFY COLOSSIAN CHURCH
Written while a prisoner in Rome, Paul sent a prayer to the Colossians to warn them against false teachers and false teachings about the worship of angels and the strict observance of Jewish ceremonies (Chap. 2:16, 21), and the heresy of mixing all faiths from the Greek, Jewish, and Oriental religions. He emphasized the Christ in all His glory and dignity as the “Head” of the Church. Concerned about the heresy dividing the Colossian Church, especially misleading the young believers, Paul admonished the Colossians to be forgiving, compassionate, and kind with one another; to let the word of Christ dwell richly in them, “And whatever you do, in word and deed, do everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
LUKE 2: 41-52 – PRAYERFUL HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS
Son of the Law. When Jesus was 12 years old, He went on a pilgrimage with His family (Mary and Joseph) to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem. Under the Exodus Law, Jewish males were expected to go to the Jerusalem Temple three times a year to celebrate pilgrim feasts. Being 12, He was now considered a “Son of the Law” and expected to attend the Temple feasts. According to Bible scholars, this might have been His first journey to the Holy City since His circumcision. Before a boy reached his 13th birthday, the age of majority (known as the Bar-Mitzvah), he was no longer treated as a minor but an adult; he was expected to know his full responsibilities in the observance of the Jewish precepts and commandments in order to enjoy religious privileges and rights. So Jesus’s actions were in compliance with the Jewish Law; despite the human concern of His earthly parents.
After the Festival, Jesus decided to stay behind without His parents’ knowledge. Later realizing this, they started looking for Him and, after three days, they found Him in the Temple among the teachers of the Torah, questioning them, and “responding to their counter-questions with remarkable discernment.” Mary, deeply concerned as a parent, remarked, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety?” He replied, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s House?” Then He rejoined them and went back to Nazareth.
Prayerful Jesus. Like Samuel, Jesus was the fruit of a prayerful Mary in her blessed woman’s womb (with the Holy Spirit’s grace). He was raised as a boy of prayer (nurtured by His Jewish parents), a man of prayer (always communing with God the Father), and a suffering, dying Man on the Cross still praying for His enemies and committing His Spirit to the Father. This prayerful family, though earlier not fully cognizant of their roles in God’s overall Plan for His people, nevertheless, remained unquestionably faithful together to the end despite all the odds – humiliations, persecutions, and uncertainties of the future. Only their prayerful life held and sustained them in their miserable condition – paying the due taxes; obeying the foreign laws imposed upon them but also observing their Jewish beliefs and traditions; helplessly witnessing the injustices against them and their neighbors; ministering to the poor and downtrodden; and Jesus shamefully accepting a horrific death amidst the thunderous uproar of their enemies. Prayer, prayer, prayer sustained them economically, physically, spiritually, and divinely.
What is Prayer? Even Jesus taught His disciples how to pray: “Our Father” – the greatest prayer in the Bible.
PRAYER – IS THE ONLY LANGUAGE OF THE HEART – WHEN WORDS CAN NO LONGER BE UTTERED; WHEN SONGS NO LONGER HAVE THE MELODY; WHEN EARS ARE DEAFFENED BY THE TUMULTOUS NOISE; WHEN PAIN IS NUMBED BY CONSTANT ABUSE; WHEN DARKNESS PERMEATES OUR WAY; AND WHEN FEAR INVADES OUR INMOST BEING.
PRAYER – BLESSES THE POOR AND DISENFRANCHISED, THE RICH AND AFFLUENT; TRANSFORMS THE EARTH AND RENEWS THE HEAVENS; DELIVERS THE UNBELIEVING AND UNCONVERTED; HUMBLES THE PROUD AND ARROGANT (“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled; and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”); DEMOLISHES IDOLATRY AND FRAUDULENT POWERS; AMENDS FALSE TEACHINGS AND FAKE NEWS; AND COMFORTS AND VINDICATES GOD’S GRIEF-STRICKEN PEOPLE.
PRAYER – BONDS THE FAMILY (“The family that prays together, stays together.”); UNITES THE NATION; REMOVES INTERNATIONAL BARRIERS; INTEGRATES ALL RACES AND HUMANITY; PURIFIES THE EARTH AND RENEWS CREATION; EXTENDS THE SPANSE OF THE UNIVERSE; AND PREPARES THE ETERNAL HOME FOR THE HEIRS OF GOD’S KINGDOM.
PRAYER – IS ANSWERED BY GOD -- WHEN THE SPIRIT CRIES IN ANGUISH; WHEN THE SCARLET SOUL ASKS TO BE PURIFIED LIKE SNOW; WHEN THE CONTRITE HEART IS TRULY REPENTANT; WHEN HUMAN NEED (physical or spiritual) IS DEEMED ESSENTIAL AND SIGNIFICANT; AND WHEN GOD’S MERCY AND COMPASSION ARE FULLY APPRECIATED [ESPECIALLY DURING TIMES OF CRISES LIKE THE COVID PANDEMIC AND ECONOMIC COLLAPSE].
With the hectic hustle-bustle of the day especially at this pre-Christmas time, the importance of family prayer has been advertently (or inadvertently) neglected. Gone are the days when the family prayed together for the “Angelus” at twilight time or 6:00 PM. People attend the Eucharist inside the improvised altar of the Mall, so that the prayers can be conveniently and quickly said in preparation for the long hours of shopping. Complaints are made if the Holy Mass lasted more than an hour, or if the Homily (Sermon) extended beyond 15 minutes. The Morning or Evening Prayers are said hurriedly, if at all, to beat the traffic rush in going to work or in watching the favorite TV program at night. The God-like activities are attended to when all the mundane ones have been fully accomplished.
HOW IS OUR PRAYER LIFE? WHERE IS GOD IN OUR LIFE THIS ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS? [WHERE IS GOD IN OUR LIFE AMIDST THE PANDEMIC AND NATURAL DISASTERS? ARE LIVE-STREAMED WORSHIP SERVICES SUFFICIENT FOR OUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS DURING OUR MOST DIFFICULT TIMES LIKE NOW?]
