Discussion Questions

First Reading

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28

F1. Is giving honor to our parents the same as giving gratitude to God?

F2. Sunday’s feast celebrates not only the Holy Family––Jesus, Mary and Joseph––but also the Christmas family of God that we all become. Does God’s love for someone help you to love that person?
 

Second Reading

Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17 

S1. “Over all these put on love.”  What is the only thing God asks of us? What happens to people when they are loved? What kinds of things would disappear off the face of the earth because they wouldn’t be necessary if everyone loved his/her neighbor?

S2. In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul gives some ideas about how we can love each other and live in harmony. Having compassion, kindness, humility, patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other––is this easy? How are you doing with these things in your life? How are we as Church doing with them?

Gospel

Luke 2:41-52

G1. “Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” Today are many refugees and immigrants experiencing this kind of anxiety? Is there anything you can do to help?

G2. Pope Francis tells us that God chose a humble and simple family by which to come into our midst. What can we learn from contemplating the beauty of this mystery?

… We learn how to be a family, each day. In the Gospel, we see that even in the Holy Family things did not all go well: there were unexpected problems, anxiety, suffering. The Holy Family of holy cards does not exist. Mary and Joseph lose Jesus and search for him anxiously, only to find him three days later. And when, seated among the teachers in the Temple, he responds that he had to be about his Father’s business, they do not understand. They need time to learn to know their son.

So it is with us too: Every day, families have to learn to listen and understand one another, to walk together, to face conflicts and difficulties. It is a daily challenge and it is overcome with the right attitude, through simple actions, simple gestures, caring for the details of our relationships. And this too helps us a lot in order to talk within the family, talk at table, dialogue between parents and children, dialogue among siblings. …

Angelus for the Feast of the Holy Family
Sunday, Dec 26, 2021

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University