Family as a "Domestic Church"

The last Sunday of the calendar year is a wonderful time to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. It’s a time to reflect on the year just about to an end – on our successes and failures, our times of joy and sadness in our families – and then look ahead with hope and expectation in the coming year.

When we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we also celebrate our own families. Our families are not perfect. Honestly speaking, most families are a little messy. The purpose of this feast is to show the importance and sacredness of the family as the basic unit of Church life. On this feast of the Holy Family, the Church invites us, to make our natural families into more loving homes.

 

Late Pope John Paul II on his in the encyclical "Familiaris Consortio" (Family Life) describes the family as a “domestic church,” the foundational Church where holiness is awakened, nurtured and lived out. 

The Second Vatican Council elevates the family as a center of faith and mission, a witness to the message of Christ and an agent of transformation. 

The family, therefore, is a living reality that is called to be a vessel of peace, defender and herald of the Word, temple of the Spirit, and a steward of God’s love.

Family life is a full time job. Home is where we feel to talk about our tensions, troubles and difficulties. Let us renew our commitment to our God-given duties as spouses, children and parents. 

We pray that God will strengthen the bonds of love in our families. Let us also remember to pray for the families are in serious problems so that the Lord will guide them and help them their problems in a Christian way of life and to value and promote the sanctity of the family.

I would like to highlight few questions from the “YouCat” for you to ponder over them or to read before the year end:

# 368. What place does the family have in God’s plan of creation?

# 369. Why are families irreplaceable?

# 370. Why should the State protect and promote families?

# 371. How does a child respect his/her parents?

# 372. How do parents respect their children?

# 373. How should a family live its faith together?

# 374. Why is God more important than the family?

Let's Make Everyday Just Like Christmas!

Giving gifts is an important part of our celebration of Christmas. Christmas could be said to be the season of gifts. Gifts are a way of telling others that we love them. 

Christmas was originated by a gift. It was God who started it all: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." (Jn 3:16)

Don’t lose God this Christmas. Don’t forget this year to keep the One who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and greetings. Don’t forget about Jesus in all your parties and celebrations. Don’t let God's only begotten Son become His only forgotten Son this Christmas. Find those quiet moments in quiet places where you can think about Him, speak to Him and draw near to Him.

"Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights..." (James 1:17). Let us say, ‘Thank you Jesus for Christmas, You are the best gift anyone could ever receive.

Let’s make everyday just like Christmas! 

Our hearts are full of many gifts that we can give – "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control," (Gal 5:22-23).

MERRY CHRISTMAS
          AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Mary is Our Advent Model

"The virgin shall conceive and bear a son," (Mt. 1:23)

The end of Advent, the beginning of the Christmas season that approaches, is a time to reflect how is my relationship with God has progressed during the year that is about to end. How we can prepare ourselves?

Mary is our Advent Model. Mary is truly the model of how we should be living Advent in preparing for Christ’s arrival. God, the Father prepared Her from the first moment of her conception to be the worthy Mother of His Son. 

Let us enter into Mary’s response of faith, which is a guide for us along our own pilgrimage of faith. Let us listen to the beat of Mary’s contemplative heart, so that our Christmas may be as fruitful as that first Christmas.

Today, we ask Mary Our Most Beloved Mother to help us and show us how to find the way to celebrate a better Christmas so that our lives can be lived honestly and generously, so that we can turn away from sin and turn our hearts towards Jesus.  Mary will help us to get closer to her Son, Jesus Christ.

A Segment in RTM

On Wednesday, 18th December, I was invited to take part in a recording for a special segment in RTM Channel 102's VASATHAM programme. The segment was on what Christmas is all about. There were also two other representatives from the Catholic Church - Nyanam and D'cruz Joseph from the Archdiocesan Office for Human Development (AOHD) ministry. The commentator for the programme is a well-know person by the name of Pandithorai.

This programme will be broadcast on Sunday, 22nd December from 1pm to 2pm. I would like to encourage all my Tamil speaking parishioners/friends to watch this informative programme. I am sure you will enjoy it.

The Coming of the Lord Stirs Joy

The 3rd Sunday of Advent is called “the joyful Sunday.” The coming of our Saviour will stir up the joy within us, in our homes, in our community and the Church.

During his lifetime, John himself had doubts about Jesus being the true Messiah and unsure about whether Jesus "who is about to come.” 

We all have doubts and fears that float up in moments of difficulty and trial. Be it doubt or fear, the lesson is exactly the same: Turn to Christ in every circumstance of life. Christ is our reassurance and strength when fear invades our hearts and clouds our minds. Thus, we echo the motto of the Baptist in all that we do: “He must increase and I must decrease”.

Where God is, there is joy and there is beauty. Our hearts can easily become frightened and weighed down by the hardships we face. Our hands can grow weaker. We can lose patience in our sufferings as we await the coming of the Lord. 

No matter what, we have to carry around our wounded hearts and we have to accept suffering willingly and joyfully. We must not allow any distress to break our friendship with God until He comes and heals us. May this Christmas stir up the joy within us.