holy family sunday

A little boy greets his father as he returns from work with a question: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The father is surprised and says: “Look, son, not even your mother knows. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour?” the boy insists. The father finally gives up and replies: “Twenty dollars.” “Okay, Daddy,” the boy continues, “Could you loan me ten dollars?” The father yells at him: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Now, go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!” At night the father thinks over what he said and starts feeling guilty. Maybe his son needed to buy something. Finally, he goes to his son's room. “Are you asleep, son?” asks the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replies the boy. “Here's the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” replies the boy and receives the money. The he reaches under his pillow and brings out some more money. “Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!” says the boy to his father, “Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?” Today’s gospel has a message for this man and for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life.
The gospel shows us Jesus at the age of twelve. That was the age that every Jewish boy was expected to make his bar mitzvah and so become a responsible subject of the law. It was a ceremony of legal adulthood. From then on he was required to keep the law and make the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem like any other Jewish man. One way teenagers celebrate their coming of age is to go out and do those things that the law had hitherto forbidden them to do. You know your boy is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and begins to not tell you where he is going. As we can see, Jesus was no exception. To celebrate his coming of age he attends the Temple Bible class without informing his parents. When his parents catch up with him after two days of searching for him everywhere, all he tells them is, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49). Even holy families do have their occasional tensions and misunderstandings.
The most puzzling part of the story, however, is the way it ends: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (v.51). The twelve-year old adult Jesus already knows that his mission is to be in his Father’s house and be about his Father’s business. From the test-run he did in Jerusalem earlier that day, it was clear that he was already capable of doing it very well, because “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (v. 47). The puzzle then is this: If Jesus, already at the age of twelve, was ready to begin his public mission, and was evidently well prepared for it, why would he go down with his parents and spend the next eighteen years in the obscurity of a carpenter’s shed only to begin his public ministry at the age of thirty? Were those eighteen years wasted years? Certainly not! In a way that is hard for us to understand, Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth was as much a part of his earthly mission as his public life. We are reminded that it was at this time that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (v.52). And when we reflect on the fact that for every one year of his public life Jesus spent ten years in family life, then we shall begin to understand the importance and priority he gave to family life.
We have two lives, a private or family life and a public or professional one. These two lives should be in harmony but very often they are in tension. Whereas Jesus resolved the tension by giving priority to his private life, we, unfortunately, often try to resolve it by giving priority to our professional life, leaving our family life to suffer. Rose Sands writes about the unhappy man who thought the only way he could prove his love for his family was to work hard. “To prove his love for her, he swam the deepest river, crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.” The celebration today of the holy family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus reminds and challenges us to value and invest in our private life with our families before our professional life at the work place, even when our job is as important as saving the world.

from fr Clod's homily

3rd Sunday of Advent C
Lk.3: 10-18
Finding Happiness by Giving it to Others
He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise" (Lk.3:11).
This Sunday is called, Gaudete Sunday, which means rejoice. But how can we rejoice with all the evil things that are happening around us? How can we rejoice if someone is sick in our family? If you just lost your job? If you are buried in debts? If you cannot celebrate Christmas with your love ones? If someone has cheated you? Or if bad luck has besieged you? There may be too much misfortunes in this world but the very reason why we need to rejoice is because Jesus is coming to bring us love and compassion, peace and joy. We want Jesus to come and give us hope in our despair, comfort us in our suffering, courage in our fears, and help us rediscover the meaning of our life. Yet, we can only welcome Jesus if we are willing to give Him to others.
The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving. St. John the Baptist’s outstanding message to us is share what we have with one another. "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise" (v.11). It is said, “Nobody is too poor that he has nothing to give or too rich that he has no capacity to receive.” Even in our own desire there is something that we can share. What is important is our motivation to share and nothing could motivate us best than to realize that we are richly blessed. We may not be enjoying the best of world, but we can’t deny that there is something good that we can do for others.
A rich lady went to her psychiatrist because she felt that her whole life was empty and had no meaning. The counselor called over the old lady who cleaned the office floors, and then said to the rich lady, "I'm going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen." The old lady put down her broom and sat on a chair and told her story: "Well, my husband died of malaria and three months later my only son was killed by a car. I had nobody... I had nothing left. I couldn’t sleep; I couldn't eat; I never smiled at anyone, I even thought of taking my own life. Then one evening, a little kitten followed me home from work. Somehow I felt sorry for that kitten. It was cold outside, so I decided to let the kitten in. I gave it some milk, and it licked the plate clean. Then it purred and rubbed against my leg, and for the first time in months, I smiled. Then I stopped to think; if helping a little kitten could make me smile, maybe doing something for people could make me happy. So the next day I baked some biscuits and took them to a neighbor who was sick in bed. Every day I tried to do something nice for someone. It made me so happy to see them happy. Today, I don't know of anybody who sleeps and eats better than I do. I've found happiness, by giving it to others."
All of us want to be happy. Being happy is not tantamount to being gratified. Happiness does not only mean having new clothes, new car, or getting those what you crave for. Happiness is knowing that you have a sister or a bother. Happiness is knowing that someone loves you. Happiness is sharing your love in spite of the pains that you go through. Happiness is knowing that you make someone happy. Happiness means finding Jesus in all and sharing Jesus with all.
What is happiness for you?