Homily: 2nd Sunday of Christmas, January 3, 2010

My sisters and brothers, have you made a clear and deliberate choice to follow the teachings and example of Jesus the Christ?

In our first reading today we heard (once again) Jeremiah’s version of the restoration of God’s faithful people. It certainly fits our celebration of the coming of Christ and the starting of a new year.

In our second reading Paul expresses his hopes and prayers for the Ephesians. Specifically, he hopes that they may be filled with God’s grace and wisdom. He describes these blessings as the invisible gifts which bring together the physical world and God.

In our gospel readings we glimpse the boy Jesus in the Temple. With this episode, the infancy narrative ends just as it began, in the setting of the Jerusalem temple. “I must be in my Father's house:” this phrase can also be translated, "I must be about my Father's work." In either translation, Jesus expresses devotion to God and the mission God places before him.

This story is also and illustration of making a fundamental choice of orientation in one’s life. Jesus seeks to grow in wisdom, knowledge of God and in virtue. Today we see the boy Jesus choosing the road he would walk through his life, the road of a man of God. It obviously influenced every step he took from that day forward. Even to dying the martyred death of a prophet and rising as our savior. In this simple story the author gives us a powerful example to follow. We grow in our Christian walk in life through several efforts: gaining in our knowledge of God, in our prayer life and in following the ethical conduct that Jesus taught. All of this begins at the point we choose to be a follower of Jesus’ way.

Robert Frost is one of our more famous American poets, and one of my favorites from his pen presents beautifully the question Christ places before us today:

The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost
Click here to read the text

My sisters and brothers, have you made a deliberate choice to follow Christ? Would you renew it today as we begin 2010?