Key message:
The Holy Family had too little, but they were too happy.
Having heart set towards God only dictates our happiness.
Homily:
Takeaway from first and second readings:
Abraham was tested by God for years and years and the reward was also great.
– When he was 75 years old, he was called by God to leave his home town and go to a place which God would show him. He started out without knowing the destination – just relying on God. If Sarah had asked “Where are we going?” He would have replied – God knows and He will take care. Sarah also supported Him by going along with him.
– Abraham was actually blessed with a child when he was 100 years old. So after the promise of a child, he was waiting for 25 years. This waiting time is good enough to shatter the faith. But Abraham came out of this test also successfully!!
– He offered up his only son Isaac – He knew God can raise even from the dead, as he had already received the promise concerning Isaac
It is only in sufferings, real faith is discovered!!
Our faith should be sufficient enough to carry us through our sufferings.
Are we trusting in God in spite of the hard situations we are facing currently?
Takeaway from Gospel reading:
The families portrayed in all the readings are the families who have undergone hard life and have emerged out of the sufferings successfully through faith.
They were always facing abnormal situations.
The Holy Family literally needed to depend on God for everything.
They were gifted with suffering always, but never murmured or complained.
1. Mother Mary was happy even though the place where she was going to give birth was a cowshed.
2. She did not complain that she had travelled miles to help her cousin Elizabeth during her delivery, but here she does not have any helpers.
3. Whenever St. Joseph said ‘Time to leave’, immediately Mother Mary left with her baby. She never wondered “Why are all these trials coming only for me..?”
4. When Saint Joseph thought that he had set up basic amenities for his family and he could rest, he was instructed by Angels for the next activity. He was always doing the will of God.
Tips to lead a purposeful and peaceful family life:
1. The families depicted in today’s reading were all just and suffering. When you undergo suffering it’s the will of God. He will row your boat for you in the storm. So never ask “Why, God Why?”
2. Saint Joseph loved his family. He was committed to do whatever it takes to provide for them. He walked a hard path and yet He was happy, because He was doing the will of God.
3. Saint Joseph was strong because He was submissive to God. He relied not on his own strength, but on the favours of God to take care of His family. When we rely not on our pay or fame or wealth and when we rely only on God, we will be able to go through all the trials of life successfully.
4. Mother Mary was happy to do the tasks like cooking, washing, etc. She was also leading a poor life with only the basic amenities. She was content with what she had. She did not have any more wants. So actually, she was rich!! When you do not have desire to want more, you are rich.
5. Pursue peace rather than wealth:
When both Abraham and Lot realised they couldn’t live together because they needed their own space to keep their livestock and people, Abraham volunteered Lot to choose the place where he wanted to settle down. Though Abraham was the person with the calling, he asked Lot to choose the best part. He did not want any strife within family and pursued peace beyond wealth.
6. Never expect the other person to keep you happy. Create some hobby for yourself to keep you happy.
7. Never nag. Proverb 21:19 says – Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.
8. Appreciate your spouse always. This is a basic mantra for staying happy and united always.
9. Family that stays together, joys together – Do family prayer daily. Let kids do spontaneous prayer like thanking God.
10. Get all the family members involved and do at least one activity. Create a family activity theme – like all the family members involved in exercising at the same time or gardening or fun games or story-telling or any art activity or music or dance or art like making paper bags or sports and so on.
11. Have a timetable for the kids to follow. You (parents) will get exhausted if you need to coax them to do every task. Explicitly add Morning Prayer time, Family Prayer time and Night Prayer time in their timetable.
12. Nowadays one of the main hindrance for kids to come up in holiness is screen time.
a. Create a kids Google account, so they will have access only to kids shows on the internet.
b. Make them earn their screen time. For example if they clean up the room they will get 15 mins of screen. Restrict to 45 min max per day
13. If the children are resistant to good habits also, do not get upset or give up on them – slowly introduce it to them. At some point in time they will start following it.
14. Quality time with children is important. Whenever a child is doing something good, praise the child – recognise their small good activities.
15. Ignore the minor faults the children have. They will get dejected or their self-confidence will go low if we keep pointing out their faults always.
16. Have the goals for the child for the year.
17. Children are unique. Some study easily, some find very hard to understand. If your child is having a difficult time to understand then ask them to draw a flowchart of the main content of the study material (if they are old enough or you can do it). Have different colour coding for headings, text and so on.
18. Children’s focus times are also different. Let them take breaks during their study time accordingly.
19. When you are parenting a special child, remember God has chosen you to take care of His weak children as we sing in the hymn.
“Make me your servant, humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak.”
Key message:
The Holy Family had too little, but they were too happy.
Having heart set towards God only dictates our happiness.
Homily:
Takeaway from first and second readings:
Abraham was tested by God for years and years and the reward was also great.
– When he was 75 years old, he was called by God to leave his home town and go to a place which God would show him. He started out without knowing the destination – just relying on God. If Sarah had asked “Where are we going?” He would have replied – God knows and He will take care. Sarah also supported Him by going along with him.
– Abraham was actually blessed with a child when he was 100 years old. So after the promise of a child, he was waiting for 25 years. This waiting time is good enough to shatter the faith. But Abraham came out of this test also successfully!!
– He offered up his only son Isaac – He knew God can raise even from the dead, as he had already received the promise concerning Isaac
It is only in sufferings, real faith is discovered!!
Our faith should be sufficient enough to carry us through our sufferings.
Are we trusting in God in spite of the hard situations we are facing currently?
Takeaway from Gospel reading:
The families portrayed in all the readings are the families who have undergone hard life and have emerged out of the sufferings successfully through faith.
They were always facing abnormal situations.
The Holy Family literally needed to depend on God for everything.
They were gifted with suffering always, but never murmured or complained.
1. Mother Mary was happy even though the place where she was going to give birth was a cowshed.
2. She did not complain that she had travelled miles to help her cousin Elizabeth during her delivery, but here she does not have any helpers.
3. Whenever St. Joseph said ‘Time to leave’, immediately Mother Mary left with her baby. She never wondered “Why are all these trials coming only for me..?”
4. When Saint Joseph thought that he had set up basic amenities for his family and he could rest, he was instructed by Angels for the next activity. He was always doing the will of God.
Tips to lead a purposeful and peaceful family life:
1. The families depicted in today’s reading were all just and suffering. When you undergo suffering it’s the will of God. He will row your boat for you in the storm. So never ask “Why, God Why?”
2. Saint Joseph loved his family. He was committed to do whatever it takes to provide for them. He walked a hard path and yet He was happy, because He was doing the will of God.
3. Saint Joseph was strong because He was submissive to God. He relied not on his own strength, but on the favours of God to take care of His family. When we rely not on our pay or fame or wealth and when we rely only on God, we will be able to go through all the trials of life successfully.
4. Mother Mary was happy to do the tasks like cooking, washing, etc. She was also leading a poor life with only the basic amenities. She was content with what she had. She did not have any more wants. So actually, she was rich!! When you do not have desire to want more, you are rich.
5. Pursue peace rather than wealth:
When both Abraham and Lot realised they couldn’t live together because they needed their own space to keep their livestock and people, Abraham volunteered Lot to choose the place where he wanted to settle down. Though Abraham was the person with the calling, he asked Lot to choose the best part. He did not want any strife within family and pursued peace beyond wealth.
6. Never expect the other person to keep you happy. Create some hobby for yourself to keep you happy.
7. Never nag. Proverb 21:19 says – Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.
8. Appreciate your spouse always. This is a basic mantra for staying happy and united always.
9. Family that stays together, joys together – Do family prayer daily. Let kids do spontaneous prayer like thanking God.
10. Get all the family members involved and do at least one activity. Create a family activity theme – like all the family members involved in exercising at the same time or gardening or fun games or story-telling or any art activity or music or dance or art like making paper bags or sports and so on.
11. Have a timetable for the kids to follow. You (parents) will get exhausted if you need to coax them to do every task. Explicitly add Morning Prayer time, Family Prayer time and Night Prayer time in their timetable.
12. Nowadays one of the main hindrance for kids to come up in holiness is screen time.
a. Create a kids Google account, so they will have access only to kids shows on the internet.
b. Make them earn their screen time. For example if they clean up the room they will get 15 mins of screen. Restrict to 45 min max per day
13. If the children are resistant to good habits also, do not get upset or give up on them – slowly introduce it to them. At some point in time they will start following it.
14. Quality time with children is important. Whenever a child is doing something good, praise the child – recognise their small good activities.
15. Ignore the minor faults the children have. They will get dejected or their self-confidence will go low if we keep pointing out their faults always.
16. Have the goals for the child for the year.
17. Children are unique. Some study easily, some find very hard to understand. If your child is having a difficult time to understand then ask them to draw a flowchart of the main content of the study material (if they are old enough or you can do it). Have different colour coding for headings, text and so on.
18. Children’s focus times are also different. Let them take breaks during their study time accordingly.
19. When you are parenting a special child, remember God has chosen you to take care of His weak children as we sing in the hymn.
“Make me your servant, humble and meek
Lord let me lift up those who are weak.”