Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation. For more information about this Feast, you may visit this site.
What I wish to discuss today is the virtue of obedience which the Holy Family of Nazareth practiced very well. And it is not pure blind obedience but an obedience based on faith and their willingness to fulfill what God wills - not what humans expect. Let us focus our discussion on their obedience to fulfill what God wills in the aspect of liturgy or more particularly about Sacraments.
 |
| Image from ocarm.org |
In the Jewish tradition, every male firstborn should be presented to God. The child who is the "first to be born" must be presented or offered to God. The Jewish Law provides the requirements for the offering depending on the economic capacity of the parents. Mary and Joseph were poor so they at least have to bring two turtledoves. That was enough for God for what truly matters was the intention to bring the firstborn to Him not really the offering.
In almost all places in the Philippines, Catholics fail to celebrate the Sacraments just because they think they do not have the means to fulfill the requirements of fulfilling it. But unlike the Jewish celebrations, Christian Sacraments requires more of the spiritual readiness than material offerings. The Church does not require so much more than offering [not paying] the stipends [since we do not have tithing in the country and this is one way of helping the sustenance of the Church of which we are members] and a few important things such as the birth certificate for those to be baptized [which is actually more about practical purposes to avoid problems in the registration of names in the local civil registry and the baptismal record and not about the Sacrament of Baptism at all], marriage contract for those to be married, and sponsors to stand as witnesses to the conduct of the Sacrament, among a few others.
Maybe we have to see how the Holy Family lived and loved the liturgy, in our setting, the Sacraments, and forget about the things that culture and human tradition requires such as grand banquets and expensive rites and garments. God does not require so much from us with regards to material preparations but more about our spiritual and moral readiness. After all, what weigh does a million peso wedding has if the bride and the groom have not prepared spiritually and morally well enough so that after a few years they'd separate and apply for annulment? Or a grand banquet for a baptism but getting sponsors who do not practice - or worse, does not adhere to or profess - the Faith when ninongs and ninangs are supposed to teach or be the model for the newly-baptized in the practice of the Faith [you may visit this site]?
Let us reflect on the importance of this Feast, the Fourth Joyful Mystery, so that we may be enlightened as to how we should live a true and full Sacramental and Liturgical Christian life. May the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph help us to focus more on the spiritual and the moral readiness than the material and physical preparations!
No comments:
Post a Comment