Patiently Waiting on God's Promises

Julie South [00:00:08]:
Merry Christmas. Welcome to Your Catholic Corner. Peace be with you. Happy New Year. I'm your show host, Julie south. Your catholic corner helps Catholics spiritually prepare for each Sunday's mass. Starting midweek each week, you can listen to your catholic corner@yourcatholiccorner.com today we're uncovering the biblical gems hidden in the books, the biblical books of Genesis, the Hebrews and Luke's Gospel. In catholic speak.

Julie South [00:00:43]:
We're actually in the first Sunday of Christmas, which is also known as Holy Family Sunday. Because we're in Christmas, it's fitting that today's catholic question of the week is where the Christmas carols come from. So we'll look at those, and then after that, we'll look at some of the historical context from today's Bible passages. And from those I'll share my reflections on what God might be saying to us here in the 21st century.

Julie South [00:01:19]:
But before that, a quick word about your catholic corner, just in case this is your first time here. Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, whether you've only just heard of that man called Jesus, your new to Catholicism or you're a cradle catholic, my prayer is that your catholic corner will help bring God's word to life in your heart through insights, reflections and practical applications that help deepen your relationship with God. Every Thursday, we'll start preparing for mass by uncovering the richness hidden in each Sunday's Bible readings, from Old Testament prophecies to gospel parables. I invite you to join me and the parishioners of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton, New Zealand, sponsors of your catholic corner so that together we can hear God's word and echo. Samuel, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Now let's get back to today's show.

Julie South [00:02:20]:
Christmas carols are an integral part of the Christmas season. If you attended any Christmas midnight Mass just gone recently, you'll likely spend the first half an hour or so of the service singing favorites like silent light. And once in Royal David City, where Alan and I live, a local Salvation army band plays Christmas carols each year on their front lawn. Each year it also draws bigger crowds, which is lovely to see. And this is something that Alan and I both look forward to every Christmas. Usually a couple of weeks before Christmas, we get to meet our neighbors and acknowledge Christmas at a time where the majority of the world keeps referring to it as the holidays. The tradition of Christmas songs stretches way back to the earliest days of Christianity. In 336 AD, just 23 years after Constantine legalized Christianity, St.

Julie South [00:03:29]:
Hillary wrote the first known Christmas hymn Jesus Light of all nations. I'll put a YouTube video link to that@yourcatholiccorner.com. If you'd like to check out what that hymn is like. Adapted from jewish customs, singing psalms and praise was central to early christian worship. Latin hymns like of the Father's love, begotten, honored Jesus'birth. Over time, more informal Christmas songs called carols emerged separately from religious and liturgical music. It's thought the word carol likely originates from the french word carol, a circular dance with singing. Throughout the Middle Ages, carols were secular songs which were later deemed used in religious festivals.

Julie South [00:04:26]:
Only later were they associated with Christmas. In 1223, St. Francis of Assisi made caroling popular, and a thing he did that by staging the first nativity scene and teaching children songs. Many carols borrowed melodies from popular drinking songs, as I'm sure you can understand. That did cause a bit of angst at the time with the local clergy at the time, but as you can see, lively carolers won out because it's become a seasonal fixture. Attitudes towards carols varied. Lutherans championed them, while 17th century english puritans banned them. Still, some Catholics and Anglicans kept singing carols or kept singing in secret underground, behind closed doors.

Julie South [00:05:23]:
Prominent 18th century composers like Isaac Watts managed to successfully blur the line between carols and hymns from the 19th century, we've got classics like Silent Night and in England, Queen Victoria was right into carols and carol singing, and it's thought that she it was she who kicked off an english revival. In America, Caroling helped Lutheran and Methodist evangelization the popular french carol, oh Holy Night, which is the music that I used to this podcast over Christmas debuted in 1847, although it was later banned from french churches because the church didn't like some of its composers. However, you can't keep a good thing down, and the 1855 english translation resulted in it being sung and played far and wide. The tune even made early radio history in 1906, and it was one of the first ever music broadcasts. A few years back, Alan brought me the priest's CD for Christmas. I heard them singing a holy night and absolutely loved it. I'll put a YouTube link to one of the priests'videos at yourcatholiccorner.com for you to watch or listen to if you're interested in checking that out. Remember, when two or more are gathered in his name, like we are now with you and me, Jesus is here with us the first Sunday after Christmas.

Julie South [00:07:13]:
In the catholic tradition, the catholic faith is known as Holy Family Sunday, which is where today's Bible passages are from. While this specific feast of the Holy Family is most closely associated with Catholicism, the concept of honoring the family unit and reflecting on the life of Jesus with Mary and Joseph is respected and acknowledged in various ways by other christian denominations. For instance, the anglican and some lutheran churches may also recognize the Holy Family as well. However, it's not given the same feature or observance on a specific Sunday like we have here in the catholic tradition. The catholic faith. Other faith traditions recognize the Holy Family, just not to the same extent as Catholics. It doesn't have a special day like it does for us Catholics. Neither do they have a separate feast day specifically called Holy Family Sunday.

Julie South [00:08:16]:
The origins of this feast day can be traced back to the 17th century. It was instituted by Pope Leo XI in 1893. He was known for his focus on social teachings and the importance of family life. Pope Leo XII introduced the feast with the intention of promoting family values and encouraging Catholics to look to the holy family as their model of virtuous family life. Originally, the feast was celebrated on the Sunday within the octave of Epiphany. This meant it could fall anywhere between the 7th and the 13 January. However, in 1969, Pope Paul VI moved the feast to the Sunday after Christmas to link it more closely with the Christmas season. If or when Christmas falls on a Sunday, like it does every five or six years, then the feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the 30 December.

Julie South [00:09:24]:
And just in case you're wondering, like I was, our next Christmas that falls on a Sunday is in 2028. Celebrating Holy Family Sunday gives churches specific focus on the role of families, especially in and within the church community. It also gives them more specific focus and opportunity to pray for all families. Of course, it also means it can serve as the reminder of the sanctity of the family unit. With that, as Christians, we're encouraged to emulate the love, the respect, and the support showcased by Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Given that we're honoring and recognizing family in this first Sunday after Christmas, it makes sense to expect the connecting thread of today's three Bible passages, that they should all be about family. And they are, but they're not in an in your face kind of way. The primary message of these three passages is that of fulfilling God's various promises.

Julie South [00:10:48]:
In the passage from Genesis, we have God's promise to Abraham. In Genesis 15, God promised Abraham that he'll have a son and that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. This is all despite Abraham being an old man and it's also, despite Abraham's wife Sarah having been barren for all of her life, in Genesis 21, God's promises fulfilled with the birth of Isaac. Now, as you may recall, Isaac went on to have two sons of his own, Esau and Jacob. It was Jacob who became the patriarch of the Israelites. It was Jacob's twelve sons that formed the twelve tribes of Israel. Although not one of today's passages, the twelve sons of Israel's story can be read in Genesis chapters 25 through 27. So with those twelve sons, with the twelve tribes of Israel, you can see that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Julie South [00:11:57]:
Then we have Hebrews eleven, the second reading today sometimes referred to as the faith chapter of the Bible because it details the faith of many of the Old Testament figures. We have Abraham setting out for a place, traveling in great faith to receive as an inheritance. Abraham had no idea where he was going, but because God told him to go on a journey, he did as you do. And talking of faith, what we've got here is also is reference to the huge faith that Abraham showed when God asked Abraham to deliver up his son Isaac to him. And that can be read in full in Genesis 22. We also have Sarah's faith mentioned because of her staunch faith. Like I just said, God enabled her to bear children even though she'd been barren all her life. Again, the passages go on to reiterate and reinforce God's promise of descendants as numerous as the stars.

Julie South [00:13:05]:
And then lastly, finally in Luke two, we hear about Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord. That was a customary law, a customary thing to do under jewish law, so they fulfilled that. We have also in Luke brief reference to Jesus'childhood in Nazareth, where he grew strong, filled with wisdom and with the favor of God upon him. Again, this is another fulfillment of God's promise of a savior. It also shows the faith of Mary and Joseph in adherence to their religious duties and in raising Jesus according to their faith. Adherence to faith is one of the connecting threads between these three Bible passages. But you'd think that given, like I said earlier, that we're honoring the sanctity of family, that there'd also be reference to family as well. And there is.

Julie South [00:14:05]:
All of these Bible passages are connected through God's promise of heirs and sons being born all through the centuries, right through to God's ultimate promise to Mary and Joseph with Jesus and the holy family. Now let's hear what God is saying to us via the books of Genesis, Hebrews and Luke's Gospel, a reading from the book of Genesis. The word of the Lord was spoken to Abram in a vision. Have no fear, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great, my lord, Abram replied. What do you intend to give me?

Julie South [00:14:59]:
I go childless.

Julie South [00:15:01]:
Then Abram said, see, you have given me no descendants. Some man of my household will be my heir. And then to this, word of the Lord was spoken to him. He shall not be your heir. Your heir shall be your own flesh and blood. Then taking him outside, he said, look up to heaven and count the stars if you can. Such will be your descendants. He told him.

Julie South [00:15:31]:
Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified. The Lord dealt kindly with Sarah, as he had said, and did what he had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age. At the time God had promised, Abraham named the son born to him Isaac, the son to whom Sarah had given birth. A reading from the book of Hebrews. It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going. It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself.

Julie South [00:16:48]:
More descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore. It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son, even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told, it is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead. And so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead. A reading from the gospel of Luke. When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. When they had done everything the law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

Julie South [00:17:56]:
Meanwhile, the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom, and God's favor was with him. The word of the Lord. What was God saying to you through these three Bible passages today? If this is your first time wondering what God might be saying to you, perhaps you've never prayed or listened to God before, then please keep in mind that what I pick up from these readings mightn't be anything like what you pick up. And that's perfectly fine. Perfectly okay, because God talks to each of us in his own way, and we hear him in our own way. What's more, what you hear today might be completely different from what you heard yesterday and what you might hear tomorrow with all of that as the understanding, here's what I picked up from these three Bible passages today. I'm not sure which has more prominence, more meaning for me. Is it the absolute abundance God is capable of showing us? In Abraham and Sarah's case, it was more than all the stars in the sky, all the grains of sand on the beach.

Julie South [00:19:29]:
That's a lot of in anyone's, and it's immeasurable. In fact, it's a lot of promises. It's huge. Also with that is that with God, anything is possible. God can make miracles happen. Look at how God blessed Abraham and Sarah in Abraham's old age and in Sarah's infertility, he miraculously gifted them a son, a son who's not only important to Abraham and Sarah because he is their son, but a man who went on to become important and influential to every generation since. How amazing is that? Then also, we've got patience, though not expressly stated here. But Sarah and Abraham must have surely given up ever having children, ever being able to have children.

Julie South [00:20:27]:
And yet it happened. We just never know when God is going to bless us, your or me, even more abundantly than he is right now. Patience. No wonder it's a virtue. Yet it's not something that many people seem to have much of these days. We've become accustomed to instant gratification. Technology somehow makes things possible right now, this instant. I wonder whether we've lost the art of being patient, of being able to wait.

Julie South [00:21:03]:
So those are my ponderings for these three Bible readings from Genesis 15, hebrews eleven, and Luke two. How about for you? What was God saying to you? I hope you found today helpful and interesting. If so, can I ask you to do me a huge favor? Please. Would you help me spread God's word by sharing your catholic corner with three of your friends or family? All you have to do is ask them to visit yourcatholiccorner.com. That's dub dub dubyourcatholiccorner.com. From there, they can follow and subscribe using their audio app of choice. Thank you very much. Wherever you are.

Julie South [00:22:04]:
Thank you for spending the last half an hour or so of your life with God and me. Today. I pray that you too are blessed by God the way that Sarah and Abraham were, that you get to have blessings more abundant than the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the beach. I also pray that your family brings you joy, peace and love in this upcoming year 2024. And as we move into a new calendar year that 2020 your is full of health, wealth and prosperity for you. And finally, with thanks to the parishioners of the cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary who helped me bring this podcast to you today, I pray also that you're able to rely on God's strength and guidance, even in difficult times. This is Julie south signing off. Peace be with you.

Julie South [00:23:02]:
God bless.