RECOMMENDED BOOKS: I Love You. For a shared joy - Pope Francis https://amzn.to/4bQIZR9 The Lord's Prayer - Luigi Maria Epicoco https://amzn.to/3yGFG0t Gospel and Acts of the Apostles: https://amzn.to/3y9H5wD audio provided by the website www.vaticannews.va/it #gospel #gospeloftheday #gospeloftoday #gospeloflife #gospelofSunday29December #gospelofSunday29December2024commentedbyPopeFrancis #gospelofPopeFrancistoday #gospelcommentedbyPopeFrancis #vaticannews Date29/12/2024 Sunday within the octave of Christmas - Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Reading of the Day First Reading From the first book of Samuel 1Sam 1,20-22.24-28 At the end of the year Anna conceived and gave birth to a son, and She named him Samuel, "for I have asked him of the LORD," she said. When Elkanah and his family went to offer the yearly sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go, for she said to her husband, "I will not go until the child is weaned and I take him to see the face of the LORD; and then he will remain there forever." After she had weaned him, she took him with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. He was still a child. When they had slaughtered the bull, they presented the child to Eli, and she said, "My lord, please forgive me. As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here with you praying to the LORD. I have prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me my request. I also leave it to the Lord to ask for it; all the days of his life he is asked for by the Lord." And they fell down before the Lord there. Gospel of the Day From the Gospel according to Luke Lk 2,41-52 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. But when the days were fulfilled, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem; but his parents did not know it. Supposing that he was in the company, they went a day's journey and began to look for him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to look 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 they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.' And he said to them, 'How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?' But they did not understand what he said to them. So he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and age and in grace before God and man. Words of the Holy Father In the Gospel we see that even in the Holy Family not everything is going well: there are unexpected problems, anguish, suffering. The Holy Family of holy pictures does not exist. Mary and Joseph lose Jesus and anxiously search for him, only to find him after three days. And when, sitting among the teachers of the Temple, he responds that he must be about his Father's business, they do not understand. They need time to learn to know their son. The same is true for us: every day, in the family, we must learn to listen to and understand each other, to walk together, to face conflicts and difficulties. It is the daily challenge, and it is won with the right attitude, with small attentions, with simple gestures, taking care of the details of our relationships. […] How many times, unfortunately, within the domestic walls conflicts arise and grow from too long silences and untreated selfishness! […] This tears harmony apart and kills the family. Let us convert from “I” to “you”. What must be most important in the family is “you”. And every day, please, pray a little together, if you can make the effort, to ask God for the gift of peace in the family. And let us all commit ourselves – parents, children, the Church, civil society – to supporting, defending and protecting the family which is our treasure! (Angelus, 26 December 2021