I Always Knew I Was Italian! | December 17, 205

December 17, 2015

Family trees fascinate me because they are usually speckled with some good drama. Recently my dad got together with one of my first cousins that he hadn’t seen in years. She just did that DNA testing that is being heavily advertised by ancestry.com and her results showed that she was Italian and Greek (I always knew I was secretly Italian!!) and there was no Portuguese blood at all!! Well of course imaginary thought bubbles went up over each of our confused heads asking questions like, “Who done it?” or “Someone’s lying?” or “Is that why I love cannoli so much?” or “I do LOVE the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It kind of took us all by surprise especially since we specifically added Portugal to our Italian family vacation last year so we could go home to the motherland. I guess we should have gone to Greece instead! While it was a funny thing to ponder, at the same time it kind of made me feel uneasy and that I didn’t really know my heritage anymore. Both sides of my family tree have been researched in great detail complete with copies of birth and death certificates as far back as they have records, ship logs and records from when our family migrated from the Azores to Hawaii, detailed stories from elders in the family documented, etc. I know my family history or do I?

Of course now both my parents want to do the test and it has become a family joke: someone lied somewhere! I’m sure Mikey and I could write a great melodrama with our own interpretation of the story, but we don’t want Grandma and all the “Portuguese” ancestors to roll over in their graves, so we will resist the urge to go there, like when we found out on my mom’s side that she had a great great great grandmother who was black, therefore, we are black and that must be where we get all of our amazing dance moves from. See, it’s just better if we don’t put our dramatic brains together on this one.

Anyway….ancestry and family trees were very important to the ancient Jewish culture and Jesus’ genealogy is today’s gospel. It leaves no room for doubt that Jesus was indeed from the line of King David and all the way back to Father Abraham. I love that it also gives Joseph a very special role as the adoptive father of God, in that it was Joseph’s lineage as well that would prove Jesus as Messiah. Joseph was also called by God and Joseph also could have said no, but he didn’t. A lot of times I feel like Joseph’s part in this plan goes overlooked and is underappreciated. His yes was so very important and without it the entire scene would have been greatly altered. Joseph sacrificed all so that God could be born into the world to save us from death. It takes a very humble and strong man especially in a patriarchal culture to make this kind of commitment.

Today’s gospel reminds us that when we look back at our own story, we can see the winding path that God has mapped out for us and that we each have a role to play in a collective story. Our yeses and our no’s matter and the choices that we make can either bring God into the world or something else into the world. Thank God for Joseph’s yes and his sacrifice to raise the Son of God under his roof and to pass on his family history so that Jesus could grow up to be the Savior of the world. I guess the blood in our veins is not as important at the story in our souls and each one of our ancestors has a part in that story. What will your part be for the next soul?

If you’d like to know why there are 5 women in Jesus’ genealogy, go to my blog post on September 8, 2015 http://jenbedison.blogspot.com/2015/09/who-do-you-think-you-are-september-8.html and check it out (very interesting!!). Have a great day and pray for Pope Francis because it’s his 79^th birthday!!!!

Reading 1 GN 49:2, 8-10

Jacob called his sons and said to them:
“Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel, your father.

“You, Judah, shall your brothers praise
–your hand on the neck of your enemies;
the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
Judah, like a lion’s whelp,
you have grown up on prey, my son.
He crouches like a lion recumbent,
the king of beasts–who would dare rouse him?
The scepter shall never depart from Judah,
or the mace from between his legs,
While tribute is brought to him,
and he receives the people’s homage.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 72:1-2, 3-4AB, 7-8, 17

R. (see 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment. 
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
The mountains shall yield peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
He shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness. 
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

Alleluia 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Wisdom of our God Most High,
guiding creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MT 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar. 
Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab. 
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab. 
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth. 
Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. 
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph. 
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah. 
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,
Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.

After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. 
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok. 
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar. 
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. 
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Thus the total number of generations
from Abraham to David
is fourteen generations;
from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations;
from the Babylonian exile to the Christ,
fourteen generations.