THE HOLY FAMILY - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

At various times in the past

and in various different ways,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;

but in our own time, the last days,

he has spoken to us through his Son. HEB 1:1-2

GENESIS 15:1-6,21:1-3 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

We are impatient, we want what we want when we want it but You are God and You are our Father and You know when, where, and how to bless Your children or withhold the blessing until the time is right. I know that I have wanted You to answer my prayers immediately but You have made me wait even though I pleaded, and cajoled and I wept bitter tears with a broken heart and outstretched hands. But Your answer has been silence and in that silence, I have been taught to wait with faith, hope, and trust. 

The Covenant You made with Abraham was fulfilled when he was an old man. The son of his flesh was born when Sara was 90 and Abraham was 100 years old and in the waiting, he continued to believe. He is our father in faith and he teaches us how to wait patiently, confident that in due course, God will do all that He has promised and more. 

This is the Covenant that God made with Abraham:

‘Have no fear, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.’
‘Your heir shall be of your own flesh and blood.’ 

‘Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants’ he told him. Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.

Abraham waited 25 years before God's promises were fulfilled:

The Lord dealt kindly with Sarah as he had said, and did what he had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the time God had promised. Abraham named the son born to him Isaac, the son to whom Sarah had given birth.

Teach me to wait with childlike confidence in You, my Lord certain that You always hear me and when You deem the time to be right You will grant all all that You have promised. 

PSALM 104(105):1-6,8-9 ©

Give thanks to the Lord, tell his name,

  make known his deeds among the peoples.

O sing to him, sing his praise;

  tell all his wonderful works!

Be proud of his holy name,

  let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.

Consider the Lord and his strength;

  constantly seek his face.

Remember the wonders he has done,

  his miracles, the judgements he spoke.

O children of Abraham, his servant,

  O sons of the Jacob he chose.

He remembers his covenant for ever,

  his promise for a thousand generations,

the covenant he made with Abraham,

  the oath he swore to Isaac.

He, the Lord, is our God. He remembers his covenant for ever.

HEBREWS 11:8,11-12,17-19 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

I believe Your Word - it is powerful, it is eternal, it is true. Abraham believed. When God called he obeyed. Leaving everything that was familiar behind he set out for a place he did not know. Both Sara and he were well past having children and yet he believed that God would keep His promise to give him an heir. He was promised heirs more numerous than the stars at night and grains of sand on the seashore and yet when he was asked to sacrifice his son he obeyed confident that God would keep His promise.

Today we look at the Church and we see that God has been true to His Covenant with Abraham. Isaac was spared death at the hands of his father. You, O Lord were sent by Your Father to die so that all God's wayward, fallen, broken children could be saved. As the writer of this Letter to the Hebrews states:
...  figuratively speaking, Abraham was given back Isaac from the dead. Whereas You O Lord, entered the very jaws of death and restored life for all God's children by the power of Your glorious and triumphant resurrection from the dead. 

LUKE 2:22-40 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

Salvation history teaches us that when we have a childlike faith in God's promises we will witness great miracles. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, believed, as well as Mary and Joseph, and because they believed they were privileged to see the mighty hand of God at work. 

Mary and Joseph are the greatest models that the Church holds up for us to emulate and reverence for their obedience, humility, and total submission to the will of God and plan. Mary and Joseph knew that You were God, the Son of God, and Mary's Son, but they did not think that this put them above the Law of Moses. In fact, they fulfilled all that the Law commanded always. Mary, the sinless one, came to the temple to be purified. They offered You, the First-born Son of the Father, You who are God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, to God Your Father.

We also are introduced to Simeon and Anna. Simeon, we are told was an upright and devout man and the Holy Spirit rested on him. He believed what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen You, the Christ. We do not know when this was made known to him but he was now an old man and he was unwavering in his confidence in the revelation made to him which was going to be fulfilled. Prompted by the Holy Spirit he comes to the Temple and meets the Holy Family - Mary, Joseph, and You. He takes You in his arms - what a glorious privilege - and then filled with the Holy Spirit he praises and glorifies God and reveals what will come to pass concerning You and Your Mother Mary.

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

God is faithful as we see from the lives of Simeon and the prophetess Anna and we can trust You, Lord to be faithful to all Your promises to us.