Homily

Fr. Jose Kallukalam - Pastor


 

Holy Family - 2020

 

A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine was this: In the middle of the floor is a dried up, withered, Christmas tree. The calendar on the wall reads December 26. Dad is sitting in his chair with an ice pack on his head. Mom is in a bathrobe and her hair in rollers. The floor is a virtual mountain of torn wrappings, boxes, and bows. A little boy is reaching in his stocking to be sure that there is no more candy. In the background we see a table with a thoroughly picked turkey still sitting there. The caption on the cartoon reads simply: The morning after.

 

Probably it is to normalize our lives in our families that we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family and invite its holy members to our families. The importance of the family cannot be overstated or over emphasized. The family is where we discover what it means to be human, what our strengths and weaknesses are, where we learn about relationships, where we experience love and forgiveness, where we learn values, attitudes and trust and learn how to handle stress and how to be responsible. Family is where we learn how to get along with one another.

 

All these important learnings happen in a relatively healthy family. I said, “relatively healthy” because none of our families may be perfect. The success of a society depends on the health of the family. That creates a big burden for families to carry. It also puts a big burden on the society to care about the family and to foster healthy families.

 

Parish Family: Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, our parish family discovers who we are as God’s children. We learn a lot of values here too, values that are intended to lead us into eternal life. Here we gather around a family table to be fed, not with perishable food but with food that will nourish us for eternal life. The Lord’s Supper that we share is just as important to our spiritual well-being as being together and eating together as a family is to our emotional well-being.

 

Now, owing to the special and very difficult situation of the pandemic, many of are even unable to go to church. However, if some people are fine with going to all other celebrations where even social distancing is not observed but going to church seems dangerous to them at this time, then there is a problem. I have seen that too many people, once they get away from going to Mass every week, slowly drift away from their faith. That is a danger we need to keep in mind.

 

Today’s Gospel presents the head of the Holy Family, Joseph, faithfully obeying God’s law given through Moses concerning the purification of the mother and the redeeming of the child by presenting Mary and the Baby Jesus in the Temple. We are here to offer all the members of our own families on the altar for God’s blessing.

Life Messages: 1) We need to learn lessons from the Holy Family: On this Feast of the Holy Family, the Church encourages us to look to the Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for inspiration, example and encouragement. They were a model family in which both parents worked hard, helped each other, understood and accepted each other, and took good care of their Child so that He might grow up not only in human knowledge but also as a Child of God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2223) gives the following advice to the parents: "Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The CCC adds: “Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children.” (CCC #2223).

It has been rightly observed that children are the joy of their parents’ young years and the help and comfort of their old age, but above and beyond that, they are a gift for which their parents are accountable before God, as they must, in the end, return these, God’s children, to Him. May God bless all your families in the New Year.

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Fr. Jose Kallukalam

                                                Epiphany 2021


Epiphany - Manifestation

Today we celebrate the manifestation of Jesus born in the darkness of night in a lowly manger in Bethlehem, as the Son of God. Traditionally, the Feast of Epiphany celebrates Jesus’ first manifestation to the Gentiles represented by the Magi. The angels revealed Jesus to the shepherds, and the star revealed him to the Magi, who probably had already received hints of him from the Jewish scriptures. The Scripture Readings for today reveal, in a way, who Christ is for all who believe in him.  
 

Today’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah 60:1-6, is chosen today partly because it mentions non-Jews bringing gifts in homage to the God of Israel. The passage also celebrates the Divine Light emanating from Jerusalem and foresees all the nations acknowledging and enjoying that light and walking by it. Today’s Gospel tells us the story of the Magi coming to see Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It also gives us the story of their encounter with the King Herod. 
We see three reactions to Jesus’ birth: hatred, indifference and adoration. a) A group of people headed by Herod planned to destroy Jesus. b) Another group including priests and scribes ignored Jesus. c) The third group -- shepherds and the magi -- adored Jesus. The Magi offered gold, in recognition of Jesus as the King of the Jews; frankincense, in acknowledgment that he was God and myrrh as a symbol of His human nature.

Life Messages: (1) Just like the people in the third group: a) We come to worship Jesus at Mass. We offer God our very selves, promising him that we will use his blessings to do good for our fellowmen. b) We should seek a better path for our lives.  Just as the Magi chose another route to return to their homes, let us choose a better way of life, abstaining from sin and not giving in to human weaknesses. c)  We can also be a ‘Star’ leading others to Jesus, as the star led the Magi to Jesus.  We can remove the darkness of evil around us by being, if not like stars, at least like candles, radiating Jesus’ love by selfless service, unconditional forgiveness and compassionate care.

Mother Teresa once visited a poor man in Melbourne, Australia. He was living in a basement room, which was in a terrible state of neglect. There was no light in the room. He did not seem to have a friend in the world. Mother started to clean and tidy his room. At first he protested, “Leave it alone. It is alright as it is.” But she went ahead anyway. As she cleaned, she chatted with him.

Under a pile of trash she found an oil lamp covered with dust. She cleaned it and discove
The Magi followed the path of the great light and reached the cradle of Jesus. For the last twenty centuries many have followed the footprints of the Magi. Today, Jesus stands before us declaring, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12). The important question in front of us is: “Are we willing to light up the lives of other people through our generosity?”  red that it was beautiful. So she said to him, “You have got a beautiful lamp here. How come you never light it?” “Why should I light it? No one ever comes to see me.” Then Mother asked, “Will you promise to light it if one of my Sisters comes to see you?” He replied, “Yes, if I hear a human voice, I will light the lamp.”

Two of Mother Teresa’s Sisters began to visit him regularly. Things gradually improved for him. Every time the Sisters came to visit him, he had the lamp lighted. He began to sit up and eventually started to walk around. Then one day he said to them: “Sisters, I will be able to manage myself from now on. Do me a favor. Tell the first Sister who came to see me that the light she lit in my life is still burning. ”

The Magi followed the path of the great light and reached the cradle of Jesus. For the last twenty centuries many have followed the footprints of the Magi. Today, Jesus stands before us declaring, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12). The important question in front of us is: “Are we willing to light up the lives of other people through our generosity?”