Sunday, January 18, 2004
FEAST OF THE STO. NIÑO

1st Reading: Is 9:1-6

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.
A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death.
You have enlarged the nation; you have increased their joy.

They rejoice before you, as people rejoice at harvest time
as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.

For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, you have broken it as on the day of Midian.

Every warrior's boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.

For a child is born to us, a son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon his shoulder, and his name is proclaimed: "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

To the increase of his powerful rule in peace, there will be no end.
Vast will be his dominion, he will reign on David's throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever.

The zealous love of Yahweh Sabaoth will do this.

2nd Reading: Eph 1:3-6, 15-18

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in his presence.

From eternity he destined us in love to be his adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling his free and generous will.

This goal suited him: that his loving-kindness which he granted us in his Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

I have been told of your faith and your affection towards all the believers, so I always give thanks to God, remembering you in my prayers.

May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of Glory, reveal himself to you and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him. May he enlighten your inner vision, that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God. May you know how great is the inheritance, the glory, God sets apart for his saints.

Gospel: Lk 2:41-52

Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, as was customary. And when Jesus was twelve years old, he went up with them according to the custom for this feast. After the festival was over, they returned, but the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it.

They thought he was in the company and after walking the whole day they looked for him among their relatives and friends. As they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem searching for him, and on the third day they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. And all the people were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

His parents were very surprised when they saw him and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I were very worried while searching for you." Then he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand this answer.

Jesus went down with them, returning to Nazareth, and he continued to be subject to them. As for his mother, she kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and age, and in divine and human favor.

Commentary

THE boy Jesus caused a delay of five days: his parents had to return to the city, a day's journey, and then spend three days searching for him, before making their way back again to where they were when they first missed him. I have seen one or two mothers whose child went missing for an hour or so, and it is a chilling sight; it must be an unimaginable feeling. For four of those five days, Mary and Joseph knew that feeling. There is exceptional restraint in Luke's description of their meeting (as translated in the Christian Community Bible), "His parents were very surprised when they saw him." Later piety made more of it, commemorating it as the fifth joyful mystery of the rosary. It could equally well have been a sorrowful mystery, had people concentrated their piety on the other four days: the losing of the child Jesus. Joy and sorrow are often so closely linked as to be inseparable. It must be especially true for parents. Why do we keep the joyful, the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries so separated-even consigning them, in the rosary, to different days of the week?
Homework: see how many of the mysteries could fit in more than one category!

Read also Sunday's Into Silence: Jesus: A Normal Teenager

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