Sunday, Jan 4 - The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple

maronite heritage ^ | January 4, 2015

[NYer]

READINGS

Hebrews 7:11-19 - Melchizedek, a Type of Christ

Brothers and Sisters:

Now if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood — for the people received the law under this priesthood — what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.

For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God.

Praise be to God always!

 Luke 2:41-52 - Finding in the Temple

The Evangelist said: Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey.

Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.

His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. This is the truth.

Peace be with you.

---

"Why is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" ( Lk 2:49)

The last icon of the Nativity Cycle, for the second Sunday after Christmas, features the Finding of Our Lord in the Temple, amongst the Doctors of Law. In this icon, Christ is represented as young in years, but filled with the wisdom of all eternity. Seated upon a decorative platform, He is raised above the religious teachers, who sit in the posture of students at His feet, amazed at His learning and teaching. They hold scrolls which represent the Old Testament Law and Prophets, while Christ Himself, the living Word of God, is the fulfillment of the law and the prophecies, in Person.

SYNAXARION
We know little about the childhood of our Lord except for the incident which is celebrated in the liturgy today. Jesus, as a boy, joined his parents in going up to Jerusalem and the Temple for the feast of Passover. After fulfilling the requirements of Jewish law, Joseph and Mary set out for home, presuming that Jesus was traveling with relatives. In reality, he had remained in Jerusalem where Mary and Joseph found him in the Temple listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Luke’s account of the incident ends with the note that Jesus was subject to his parents.

In today’s feast, two points become clear to us: Jesus fulfills the law of Moses in his own life, and he does so as one who has humbled himself to become like us in all things but sin.

On the feast of the Circumcision, we were reminded that Jesus was subject to the requirements of the Mosaic law and today we are again reminded that Jesus fulfilled the spiritual responsibilities of a member of God’s chosen people; for he prayed in the Temple and celebrated the Passover with his family, he who was both the true Temple and the Passover sacrificed for us. We are thus reminded that through our participation in the sacrifice of Christ’s body, we became living temples of the Lord.

Jesus listened to the teachers of the law and amazed them by his questions. He who was the teacher of Israel would establish a new law which would not be written on tablets of stone, but rather upon our hearts.

Christ our Passover and Teacher comes among us with the humility and simplicity of a child. He who was the eternal Son of God abandoned his prerogatives and taught us by his obedience to his parents that we are subject to our Father in heaven, the Father’s will must be our will, the Father’s care and concern must be manifested in our love for his children.

[NYer]

Table 1           The Seasons of the Liturgical Year in both the Roman Catholic and Maronite Catholic Churches.

 

Seasons in the Church
Roman Catholic	Maronite Catholic
	Sundays of the Church (1-2 weeks)
Advent (4 weeks)	Season of the Glorious Birth of the Lord (7 weeks, including Christmas)
Christmas and Epiphany (2 weeks)
	Season of Epiphany which includes three commemoration Sundays (1-7 weeks)
Ordinary Time I (6-8 weeks)
Lent (6 weeks)	Season of Great Lent (7 weeks)
Triduum (3 days) – Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday	Passion week
Easter (8 weeks)	Season of Glorious Resurrection (7 weeks)
Pentecost Sunday (1 week)	Season of Pentecost (Up to 18 weeks)
Ordinary Time II
	Season of the Glorious Cross (7 weeks)

Table 2           The Seasons and Gospel Passages used in the Maronite Catholic Lectionary

 

Season	Gospel Passages
Renewal and Consecration of the Church  (1-2 weeks)	Consecration of the Church – Mt 16:13-20 Renewal of the Church – Jn 10:22-42
Season of the Glorious Birth of the Lord (7 weeks)	Announcement to Zechariah – Lk 1:1-25 Announcement to Mary – Lk 1:26-38 Visitation of Mary – Lk 1:39-45 Birth of John the Baptist – Lk 1:57-66 Revelation to Joseph – Mt 1:18-25 Genealogy of Jesus – Mt 1:1-17 Birth of the Lord – Lk 2:1-20   Finding of Jesus in the Temple – Lk 2:41-52
Season of Epiphany which concludes with three Commemoration Sundays	Weeks of the Epiphany   Sunday of the Deceased Priests – Lk 12:42-48 Sunday of the Righteous and Just – Mt 25:31-36 Sunday of the Faithful Departed – Lk 16:19-31
Season of Great Lent and Passion Week (7 weeks)	Cana Sunday – Jn 2:1-11 Ash Monday Cure of the Leper – Mk 1:35-45 Cure of the Haemorrhaging Woman – Lk 8:40-56 Parable of the Lost Son – Lk 15:11-32 Cure of the Paralytic – Mk 2:1-12 Cure of the Blind – Mk 10:46-52 Palm Sunday & Passion Week – Jn 12:12-22
Season of Glorious Resurrection (7 weeks)	Resurrection Sunday – Mk 16:1-8 New Sunday
Season of Pentecost (Up to 18 weeks)	Sunday of Pentecost – Jn 14:15-20 Holy Trinity Sunday – Mt 28:16-20 Followed by up to 16 weeks focusing on Spirit & Mission Fifth Sunday – Calling of the Disciples – Mt 10:1-7 Sixth Sunday – Sending of the Disciples – Mt 10:16-25 Seventh Sunday – Sending of the 72 Disciples – Lk 10:1-7 Eighth Sunday – Spirit of the Disciples – Mt 12:14-21 Ninth Sunday –  Mission of the Disciples – Lk 4:14-21
Season of the Glorious Cross (7 weeks)	Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross – Jn 12:20-32 First Sunday after the Feast– Sons of Zebedee Mk 10:35-45 Second Sunday – Persecutions - Mt 24:1-14 Third Sunday – False signs - Mt 24:23-31 Fourth Sunday – Good and bad servants - Mt 24:45-51 Fifth Sunday – Ten Bridesmaids - Mt 25:1-13 Sixth Sunday – The Talents - Mt 25:14-30 Seventh Sunday - Feast of Jesus the King – Mt 25:31-46

[NYer]

Today we celebrated the final Sunday in the Season of the Glorious Birth of our Lord, Have posted the comparison between the Latin and Maronite Catholic Church seasons and the Maronite Calendar. Ping!

[RnMomof7]

Hard to consider Mary a “perfect mom” when she only had “one child” to watch and she lost Him... Seems to me this was an ordinary family, with imperfect parents

[NYer]

Hard to consider Mary a “perfect mom” when she only had “one child” to watch and she lost Him... Seems to me this was an ordinary family, with imperfect parents.

The evangelist writes:

When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.

What is your understanding of how families traveled 2000 years ago?

[fidelis]

"Hard to consider Mary a “perfect mom” when she only had “one child” to watch and she lost Him... Seems to me this was an ordinary family, with imperfect parents."

The biblical text says that they assumed he was with the other travelers. Since this was common practice at the time, this implies that Jesus took the initiative to do something out of the ordinary by staying behind, not that they "lost" him out of neglect. We're not talking about your average 12 year old today; we're talking about the Son of God who was in all things an obedient son to his earthly parents. (Luke 2:51).

[Grateful2God]

When Mary was presented in the Temple at age 3, she ran up the Temple steps, leaving elderly Anna and Joachim behind, presenting herself before the High Priest. I think about that when I read about the Finding in the Temple. When you stop to think about it, Our Lady has her own zeal to be about her life's business, as Jesus had about His Father's business... If anybody would understand, it would be she. (Just my own take).

Melchizedek is one of those figures who's really mysterious. Do the Eastern Rites have anything more to say about him? Thank you!

[NYer]

Beautiful analogy!

[Grateful2God]

Jesus listened to the teachers of the law and amazed them by his questions. He who was the teacher of Israel would establish a new law which would not be written on tablets of stone, but rather upon our hearts.

I love this part! I wonder what He said that so astounded them, yet didn't cause them to try to make Him leave, as later on... I would love to have been the proverbial "fly on the wall" listening then!

[Grateful2God]

Thank you! I immensely enjoyed the Dec. 9 post on Saint Anna!

[Grateful2God]

Hi! Thank you for your Military service! God bless you and your family!

[Coleus]

why does the roman church end the christmas season so early? Shouldn’t they keep it to 40 days after Christmas, until the presentation of the Lord, on Candlemas.

I understand the St. John Paul II kept the Christmas Creche out in front of the Vatican until Candlemas.

[AnAmericanMother]

My favorite painting of the Finding in the Temple:

by Holman Hunt, one of the pre-Raphaelites. There's a lot going on in the painting - much symbolism and thought went into it.

[AnAmericanMother]

Many of us do keep Christmas til Candlemas - in fact, our P.V. pointed this out in his homily last week.

[Coleus]

that’s nice to hear, but the official end of Christmas in the Latin Rite ends with the Baptism of the Lord, next week, then all the decorations come down in the Catholic Churches :( . Candlemas is forgotten in most churches, that’s the weekend of the throat blessings for St. Blaise. Nobody knows about Candlemas.

Before Vatican II, was Candlemas the official end of Christmas or was it always 2 Sundays past Christmas the way it is today?

Most of my neighbors already have their outside Christmas lights off by Jan. 1. But they are the first to have them up during Advent, and the first to have them off in the middle of Christmas. They don’t know the calendar.

Have you ever seen any Catholic Church or Catholic organization like the Rosary or Holy Name Society or Knights of Columbus actually have their Christmas parties during Christmas, which is from the vigil mass on Dec. 24 to the Baptism of the Lord? I have yet to see that!

Most Catholic Churches and organizations have their Christmas parties during advent and forgo their parties during the Christmas season which is actually after Dec. 25th.

I’s say that’s a bad example because people don’t prepare themselves properly during advent, just my personal opinion.

[cloudmountain]

I will BEGIN to take down the decorations on January 7th.

I'll take down the old Christmas cards in the windows ONE day. Then, take down another decoration on January 8th...and so on. I didn't put up a tree, only a couple of Nativity scenes--a big one and a small one.

The larger lit-up Nativity scene comes down LAST.

There is absolutely NO HURRY, is there?

[fidelis]

"Hi! Thank you for your Military service! God bless you and your family!"

Thank you, G2G, it was my honor and privilege to serve. Blessings, also, to you and your house. :)

[Grateful2God]

Hi! I can’t speak for anyone else, but my Mom taught me to keep our Nativity up until Feb. 2, the Feast of the Purification of Mary. God bless you!

[NYer]

why does the roman church end the christmas season so early?

While I am in no position to answer your question, AnAmericanMother has provided a hint. At one time, the Latin Church followed a fixed calendar. My leather bound, pre VCII missal reflects that calendar. VCII expanded the readings, resulting in a 3 year cycle. No doubt this necessitated change (improvement?) to the former calendar. The Maronite Church maintains a fixed calendar with only 2 readings each day, neither of which come from the OT. Even after 11 years, I have not tired of these readings as they are very much like a condensed catechism of our catholic faith.

[virgil]

The Nativity scenes stay up until Candlemas at my church.