What gift will you give Jesus this Christmas? The gift of your “Past, Present and Future”….
Brothers and Sisters,
Today we celebrate the Genealogy of Jesus. We listen to the names of a long list of individuals, some of which were great and some of which were not so great. This list of individuals concludes with the birth of Jesus who came not to wipe away the past but rather to perfect it. If you notice there has always been a struggle to attain this perfection that Jesus brought. Even his own life was a struggle to the very end when he was crucified on the cross. Jesus’ Genealogy and life is somewhat like our own don’t you think? I’m sure that there are plenty of people in our ancestry who were great and others who were not so. Even our own life is often scarred with events or things that take place that we are not too proud of. However one thing is for certain, we should never be embarrassed by our past or by own genealogy. Rather, we should learn from the good and the bad aspect and use what we learn to perfect our own lives. This is why we need to offer our past to Jesus as a gift this Christmas and not be embarrassed by it because it is one aspect that forms our identity in more ways than we think. We should be proud of who we are, with our strengths and with our weaknesses, with our dreams and our aspirations.
Further, we also need to place our present and our future in his hands. With Jesus at the centre, our lives become so much more meaningful. Rather than measuring our lives by the things that have taken place in our past or by our family history, having our present and future life centred on Jesus will mean that we can measure ourselves on how much we reflect the image of Jesus in our lives. Becoming Christ-like may not mean that we become the most influential person in history like him, but it will mean that through him we will be able to have some influence on those who cross our paths in this life-time.
Our Christmas preparations are well underway and the Christmas Novena started beautifully on Tuesday both in Arabic (after the evening Mass) and in English (at 8pm). Christmas Adoration and Carols by Candlelight were also a perfect way of experiencing the Christmas spirit in the midst of our Lord. Thank you to all the committees who are working so hard to prepare all these events. The Holy Door of Mercy was opened last Saturday by His Excellency Antoine-Charbel. It will be open every day until the 20 November 2016 (from 6.30am till 10pm), so please make the pilgrimage and obtain the graces and indulgences from the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Finally, on behalf of all the priests and parishioners I would like to congratulate the Year 12 students, Sisters, Staff and parents at the Maronite College of the Holy Family on the excellent HSC results. We wish you every success for your future.
Fr Tony Sarkis
