Glory of God Prayer Group, St. Cecilia Parish, Wa Diocese, Ghana - Let Your Light Shine

What does love look like?

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. Saint Augustine

Too honest to be a politician

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. Socrates

Be faithful in small things

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Mother Teresa

People of worth

Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live. Socrates

Will

Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider. Saint Augustine

I feel angry when I see waste

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use. Mother Teresa

Have peace fully in your heart

While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. Francis of Assisi

The shelter of compassion and pity

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. Francis of Assisi

As we are, such are the times

If we live good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times. Saint Augustine

God judged it better

God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist. Saint Augustine

Progress

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. C. S. Lewis

Don't bother about originality

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. C. S. Lewis

Pray and work

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. Saint Augustine

Miracles

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. C. S. Lewis

The future

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. C. S. Lewis

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. Saint Augustine

The richest

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature. Socrates

Make me an instrument of thy peace

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Francis of Assisi

Words of light

Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. Mother Teresa

Our walking is our preaching

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching. Francis of Assisi

Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Yr B. Dec. 31, 2023

Readings
1st: Sirach 3:2-6,12-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm: 125:1-5
2nd: Colossians 3:12-21
Gosp: [Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23]

Theme: Be Proud And Thank God For Your Family

My dear people of God, today's Liturgy celebrates the Solemnty of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Yr B. Our reflections would make a very brief attempt on what makes a Holy Family, in human sense. Let me hasten to say that Holiness does not mean total absence of challenges, trials and tribulations. Smooth sea does not necessarily make skillful sailors. Usually the Sunday immediately after Christmas is dedicated to the Holy Family of Nazareth. In a sense we could dare to call it an extraordinary trinity of persons. Each of them plays very ordinary roles in extraordinary ways. Joseph is reputed to be a subsistent carpenter by trade. He earns his living by mending ploughs and other farming assessories, yet he is special enough for God to send an angel to guide him from time to time to enable him faithfully carry out his duty as a foster father of the child Jesus and his mother Mary. Joseph is a model for all good, hardworking and responsible fathers. He protects and provides for the family from his meagre earnings. It is safe to presume that the future of the child Jesus is sincerely dear to his heart.There is Mary, her daily Yes involvong her in the ongoing care of God's Son. Constantly pondering and contemplating, she must have wondered silently about Simeon's words and other things that are said today in Jerusalem. We can rightly picture her ardently providing for Jesus all maternal love that every child needs for meaningful survival. Mary is also a model for all patient and caring mothers. She never understands everything but would remain faithful till the end. Her type are very few and, in fact, very scarce in modern times. Then, there is Jesus himself. Curiously, we would like and love to know what he was like when growing up as a boy and teenager. Luke's writings about Jesus contain nothing of a personal biography of Jesus. In their sterotype paleness (Luke's narratives) they express best what the hidden life of Jesus in Narazeth means - his insertion into our human conditions and limitations as a simple village boy. The expression "hidden" (as many writers often use) could be misleading, as if the boy Jesus has something to hide, growing up. Jesus must have been haunted by deep questions because they will all come out already when he assumes twelve and will seemingly get lost in the temple. Jesus also remains a model for all obedient, humble and loyal childen in human history.

Today's celebration should turn our gaze permanently on this extraordinary trinity of persons as a model for every family where parents work hard, support each other, understand, accept, appreciate and compliment each other. They bear eloquent witness to this responsibility by creating a home built by human hearts (not a house built by human hands) where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, charity, fidelity, honesty, truthfulness and a life of service becomes paramount. If the husband truly loves his wife and children he wins their favor in all things. If the wife loves, respects and supports her husband and nurtures her children, inculcate in them good ethical and moral values, the home becomes a better place to live in. If children obey and respect their parents, they receive blessings upon blessings because when they pray God would listen and they would live meaningful and long life. A good home is where children are raised with love, fear of God, respect for rule of law and deep sense of work as a sacred duty. A story is told of a couple driving home after church service with their ten years old daughter on the back seat. Looking through the inside mirror the father noticed the poor girl weeping ceaselessly amidst heavy sobs. "Jullie, what's up?" The supposed caring father asked. "Daddy, today the preacher insisted that children should live in Christian homes but I want to live with you". The poor girl replied. The rest of the drive home was in total silence. Where does your family live, in a HOME or in a house? May we be sincerely proud and thank God for all families that live in HOMES. We pray that something of the Holy Family may practically reflect in each. Please, continue to pray the Holy Rosary daily. God richly bless you and your family.

Rev. Fr. Thomas L. Debuo - Catholic Diocese of Damongo, Ghana. (0244511306/0243711926/0246222135)

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