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The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, December 30, 2001 The Christmas Season The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word: Sirach 3:2-7,12-14 Psalm 128:1-5 Colossians 3:12-21 Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 A Reflection on today's Scripture: The Holy Family ...and Vocations The feast of the Holy Family, celebrated during the Octave of Christmas, reminds us that Jesus was born into a real, human family. We can see from today's scriptures that the family is not only the basic unit of society, but also the structure from which we may grow in personal holiness and in mutual support of one another. How easily and completely the present age has lost respect for this and especially for the father and mother of the family! Yet, in today's passage from Sirach, we learn about a wisdom now seemingly long-forgotten and pushed aside. This wisdom also continues in our Psalm for today: "Happy are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways....Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine....Your children like olive plants around your table." We need to shun the empty clamor of today's uppity world and turn to the humble example given by the Holy Family, living day by day in prayer, holy study and honest, diligent, labor. Life lived in harmony with God's teachings should have only this holy intent: to grow steadily in the love of God and neighbor, to serve God faithfully here on earth, and after death to live in perfect happiness in the sight of God for all eternity. Out of such modern "holy families" will sprout many vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of mercy, of kindness, of humility, of meekness, of patience. (see Colossians 3:12) - Joachim, ocds YOU CAN HELP to evangelize the Word of God: Please recommend our website to your friends and Catholic webmasters. The Daily Meditations appear online in English & Spanish at: http://homepage.mac.com/ojoachim3/DailyMeds (please note: "/DailyMeds" is case-sensitive) ARCHIVED Meditations: www.abcsoffaith.com/quiet/quietplace.html and at: http://www.mail-archive.com/dailymed%40saturn.nibcomp.com ALL communications, including subscribe/unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (c)2001 The Way, The Truth, The Life. Permission granted to make reprints of the meditations or to post on any web page, except for profit. All scripture quotes are from the Douay-Rheims edition of the Catholic Bible. Full text from the New American Bible: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm Lives of the Saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/ |
Title: Meditation: Sunday, December 30, 2001
