'I saw a man seated on a high throne, whom a multitude of Angels adored, singing all together: Behold Him, whose Name and empire are to last forever.'
This Sunday is the Sunday after Epiphany, and also, we honor the Feast of the Holy Family. It is the KINGSHIP of the Divine Infant that the Church once again proclaims the Lord and the adoration we owe Him as the KING OF AGES. The 'nervous order' church doesn't bother to recognize what He is to us and for our salvation. Apparently, everyone goes to heaven these days. Anyway:
From twelve years old, a Jew was bound each year to keep the three feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. In the liturgy for Christmas-tide the whole of our Lord's childhood is put before us and to-day we see Him in the Temple, where for the first time, He shows the Jews that God is His "Father.
"It was by no accident," says St. Ambrose, "that this Child who, even according to the flesh, was full of wisdom and grace of God, forgetting His human parents should wish to be found after three days in the Temple. By this He intimated that three days after the triumph of His Passion,He who was believed to be dead should rise again and so offer Himself as the object of our faith, seated on a heavenly throne in heavenly glory. The truth is, that in His case, there is a two-fold birth: the one by which He is begotten of the Father, the other by which He is born of a mother. The first is wholly divine; by the second He humbles Himself to take our nature". This "Man sitting upon a High throne whom a multitude of angels adore singing together" is, therefore, that Divine Child who is shown to us in to-day's Gospel. "Sitting in the midst of the doctors who" were astonished at His wisdom and answers. Moreover since, "as God hath delivered to everyone the measure of Faith", Christian souls form but "one body in Christ", they ought to be penetrated with the wisdom of Him who far from "conforming himself to the maxims of this world," reforms "and rules human life according to the will of God".
"Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?", said the young boy Jesus. This wholly supernatural wisdom whose guiding principles exceed, without destroying those of the natural order, is beyond our unaided powers. While seeking to curb our flesh by the mortification which such wisdom enjoins, sacrificing at times, even the most lawful affection, in pursuance of a divine call which draws children from their parents' side, the plans of almighty God must needs remain for us hidden mysteries to be accepted without being completely understood. "They understood not the word that He spoke unto them". Following Mary who "kept all these words in her heart", let us meditate on the sublimity of Jesus' words and actions in the Temple. Like this Child whose whole life at Nazareth is summed up in the one word "subjection", let us grow in wisdom so that always we may "perceive what we ought to do," and in strength "to fulfill the same"
He that is Life gives His whole self to us; let us, in return, present Him our hearts, that is, a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God; whose service may be accompanied by a formal intention of offering itself to its Creator. Here again, let us imitate the Magi, who went back another way into their own country--let us not adopt the ideas of this world, for the world is the covert enemy of our beloved King. Let us reform our worldly prudence according to the divine wisdom of Him, who may well be our guide, seeing He is the Eternal Wisdom of the Father. Let us understand, that no man can be wise without Faith, which reveals to us that we must all be united by love, so as to form one body in Christ, partaking of His life, His wisdom, His light, and His kingly character.
I would like to end with yet another hymn that we will not hear from the 'modern' church, concerning the Divine Birth, and the Mother who gave Him life.
'Blest light of all heavenly hosts,
Sole hope of them that dwell on earth,
The purest love that ever graced a home,
Did smile upon thy birth.
Mary, dear Mother, who but thee
was ever yet so rich in grace?
Didst nourish Christ upon thy knee
and fold Him in a sweet embrace?
And Joseph, chosen out to guard
the Virgin with thy gentle might,
the Infant Jesus smiled on thee
and called thee father as by right.
You, who to save a guilty race
were born of David's noble line,
O hear the humble prayers of all
today, who gather round your shrine.
The Sun now wends His way to rest
and earth is veiled in shadows gray;
yet hearts afire with joy and love
still bid us linger on to pray.
O may the grace of that sweet home
which held the earthly Trinity,
be shed abroad upon the world
and bless the Christian family.
O Jesu, born of Virgin bright,
Immortal glory be to thee;
praise to the Father infinite
and Holy Ghost eternally. Amen.'
We have been asked, as always, to make some kind of offering to our Lord, for all that He has done for us. This offering is not anything material. It is US! We, as individuals, are to give Him a living sacrifice, as it were, of ourselves. Give Him our all; our mind, our hearts, and our souls. This is all He asks of anyone. Also, let us immolate the Magi, who offered Him what they had. We should copy them, who went back another way into their own country by not going back to our old ways, the ways of the world. He will be our Guide, if we but let Him. Let us not adopt the ideas of 'this world', for the world is the covert enemy of our Beloved King. Let us reform our worldly prudence according to the divine wisdom of Him, Who may well be our Guide, seeing He is the Eternal Wisdom of the Father. Let us understand, that no man can be wise without Faith, which reveals to us that we must all be united by love, so as to form one body in Christ, partaking of His life, His wisdom, His light, and His kingly character.
Mercifully look down, O Lord, we beseech Thee, on the offerings of thy Church; among which, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, are no longer offered; but what was signified by those offerings is sacrificed, and received, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.
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