The Sunday Reading

Holy Family

1st Reading : 1 S 1:20-22; 24-28
Hannah became pregnant. She gave birth to a son and called him Samuel because she said: “I have asked Yahweh to give him to me.”
Once more Elkanah went to the temple with his family to offer his yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow to Yahweh. Hannah would not go along but she said to her husband, “I will bring the child there as soon as he is weaned. He shall be presented to Yahweh and stay there forever.”
When the child was weaned, Hannah took him with her along with a three-year-old bull, a measure of flour and a flask of wine, and she brought him to Yahweh’s house at Shiloh . The child was still young.
After they had slain the bull, they brought the child to Eli. Hannah exclaimed: “Oh, my lord, look! I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to Yahweh. I asked for this child and Yahweh granted me the favor I begged of him. Now, I think, Yahweh is asking for this child. As long as he lives, he belongs to Yahweh.”
And they worshiped Yahweh there.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

(cf. 1) Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways..
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants around your table.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion : may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

2nd Reading : 1 Jn 3:1-2, 21-24
See what singular love the Father has for us: we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children and what we shall be has not yet been shown. Yet when he appears in his glory, we know that we shall be like him, for then we shall see him as he is.
When our conscience does not condemn us, dear friends, we may have complete confidence in God. Then whatever we ask we shall receive, since we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
His command is that we believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as he has commanded us.
Whoever keeps his commands remains in God and God in him. It is by the Spirit God has given us that we know he lives in us.

Gospel: Lk 2:41-52
Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, as was customary. And when Jesus was twelve years old, he went up with them according to the custom for this feast. After the festival was over, they returned, but the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it.
They thought he was in the company and after walking the whole day they looked for him among their relatives and friends. As they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem searching for him, and on the third day they found him in the Temple , sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. And all the people were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
His parents were very surprised when they saw him and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I were very worried while searching for you.” Then he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand this answer.
Jesus went down with them, returning to Nazareth , and he continued to be subject to them. As for his mother, she kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and age, and in divine and human favor.