Holy Family and January Archive of Scripture Reflections for Homilies, Group Discussion, and Personal Prayer

At the start of Advent earlier this month, which is also the start of a new liturgical year, Bondings 2.0 presented an archive of all of our Sunday Advent scriptural and personal reflections since our start in 2011.  We did so because every year we receive requests from pastoral ministers, homilists, spiritual directors, and others for a “sneak peek” at these reflections to help them include an LGBTQ+ dimension to homilies, talks, prayers, and discussions.  We hope it is helpful for pastoral ministers and others who want to understand develop the spiritualities of LGBTQ+ people in their communities.  The reflections can also serve for individual prayer, reflection, and journaling for anyone.

Throughout the coming year, we will be continuing this service by offering a catalog of past reflections from our archives for the next month’s Sunday readings.  As we make these posts available on the blog, we will also be archiving them on our website, so that eventually reflections for the Sunday readings of all three liturgical cycles–A, B, C– will be permanently available to pastoral ministers and individual Catholics.

Below are the reflections for Holy Family Sunday (December 29, 2024) and the Sundays of January 2025, Epiphany, Baptism of Jesus, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Because Bondings 2.0 only began posting Sunday reflections as a regular feature in 2020, not all Sundays will be reprsented in each year.

We have also included a special section of reflections for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday (observed on the Monday closest to January 15th) because his life, teachings, and example are often commemorated by Catholics on this occasion.

When Advent began on December 1st, the church started to hear readings  from the Year C cycle, so these readings are listed first, followed by Year A (which will begin on the First Sunday of Advent 2025) and Year B (beginning on the First Sunday of Advent 2026).

We hope this resource is helpful to all. We welcome your feedback.

HOLY FAMILY

YEAR C

December 2015: What Makes the Holy Family–And Our Families–Holy?

December 2018: A Survival Guide for Tomorrow’s Feast of the Holy Family

December 2021: Las Posadas, Pride, and the Holy Family

YEAR A

December 2022: Finding Sanctuary in Queer Holy Families When the Church Falls Short

December 2019: On Holy Family Sunday, A Father’s Plea to Church Leaders

December 2013: What Makes a Family Holy?

YEAR B

December 2023: Holy Families: How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Have to Go

December 2020:  The Holy Family: It’s Complicated

December 2017: What Does a Holy Family Look Like? What Makes a Family Holy?  Readers Respond

December 2014: LGBTQ Children in Catholic Families: A Deacon’s View of Holy Family Sunday

SUNDAYS OF JANUARY 2025

YEAR C

(From January 2022)

Epiphany:  Epiphany: Remaining True to the Light That Has Fallen Into Our Hearts

Baptism of Jesus:    Fear Not: Finding Courage to Share in the Synod

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time:  This MLK Weekend, I Still Have Dreams

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time:   Find Joy, Bring Glad Tidings, Unleash Love Into the World

YEAR B

(From January 2024)

Epiphany:The Epiphany Shows There Are No Exceptions

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: “Living This Diversity Should Make Us Rejoice!”

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: “Get Someone Else to Do It. Not Me.”

(From January 2021)

Epiphany: ​​Celebrating God’s Outrageous Open-Heartedness on Epiphany

Baptism: Jesus’ Baptism Reveals a Rainbow Christ

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Morality Beyond “Intrinsically Disordered”: Our Call to Announce Justice

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: You Don’t Qualify to Follow Christ? Good!

(From January 2015)

Epiphany: Resolve to Create a Trans* Epiphany in 2015

YEAR A

(From January 2023)

Epiphany: Finding LGBTQ+ Epiphanies in the Heart of a Holy Child

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Being LGBTQ+ and Glorious in God’s Sight

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time:  Strangers No Longer: Welcoming LGBTQ+ Migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border

(From January 2020)

Baptism: ‘This Is My Beloved’:  A Deacon Preaches on the Meaning of Unconditional Love

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reflections for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday Commemorations

2022: This MLK Weekend, I Still Have Dreams

2018: QUOTE TO NOTE:  On MLK Day, Challenging the Rhetoric of Inferiority

2017: On Martin Luther King Day:  A Parish’s Work for LGBT and Racial Justice

2016: Martin Luther King’s Words Call LGBT Catholics and Allies to Action

2012: Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, December 27, 2024