Sitting with the Sacred

This week’s readings:

1. Genesis 15:1–6; 21:1–3
2. Psalm 105:1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 8–9
3. Hebrews 11:8, 11–12, 17–19
4. Luke 2:22–40

What this week’s readings say to me:

Six things:

1. God keeps promises.
2. Trusting in God’s promises is powerful.
3. Though that trust is powerful, its power doesn’t come without pain.
4. This trust involves practicing lifelong patience and perseverance.
5. When the practices of trust, patience, and perseverance are not given up on, when they are instead authentically lived, they reach from generation to generation.
6. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had faith that all of the above statements were true. They also had proof of these truths in their own lives too, but they didn’t know at the time of the events in this week’s Gospel just how much pain they’d bear because of their trust in God’s promises or what forms that pain would take.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

On this day that honors the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Lisa Fullam, D.V.M., Th.D. reflects on the spiritual meaning of family. Spoiler alert: this meaning may be found among people who don’t share genes.

Beyond this week’s readings:

There are more choices for today’s readings than there are on many days. Dr. Fullam responds to different passages than the ones I read. I invite you refer to those passages as well as to the ones I listed at the top of this post. Dr. Fullam addresses what I often struggle with in the alternate passages and in the messages I often receive on this day each year. You can find the chapter and verse numbers for the alternate readings here.

Lord, thank You for giving us Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as models of trust in God. Thank You also for inspiring Professor Emerita Lisa Fullam to encourage us, who are neither Jesus, nor Mary, nor Joseph, and yet, are still members of families. Amen.