Whether to a husband, wife, children, parent, friend, or a stranger, love and compassion are needed to support our life and relationships. It must not surprise us that Jesus showed deep love and compassion to the leper. The leper had come to him alone because his condition didn't permit him to be around people openly.
We celebrate this weekend as the Sunday of the Word of God. In its wisdom, the church seeks to remind us of the special place of the Word of God for us to reflect and resolve to make time to know it and to make it the guiding principles for our lives, to love it, taste it, and savor it, live by it.
Today I want to make two propositions to you. The first is that those who trust Jesus with your faith and life will see him bring them safely to heaven. The second is that those who trust the church with their faith and life will get the support to get them to heaven.
The feast of the holy family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, which we celebrate today, teaches us to hold on to the gifts of God to us: our families and faith. God gives us our families, but he also gives us faith and the faith community to adequately enrich us to take care of the family because of our faith values.
Christmas does not only celebrate, but also invites us to accept a reality; the truth is that "GOD SO LOVED YOU AND ME THAT HE SHARES THE GIFT OF HIS SON WITH US."