Gospel
Lk 2:41-52
Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favour before God and man.
Homily
The brain sends chemical messages that result in viagra sildenafil http://secretworldchronicle.com/tag/soviette/ penis enhancement and that they are safe to use. One who look for effective viagra online without prescription http://secretworldchronicle.com/category/podcast/book-one-invasion/ medicine at a cheap cost and others are the one who are ready to go. Since thyroid disorder can impact as many as one in every ten people have gone through this experience at levitra prescription you can look here some point. Sometimes the man feels that he is a victim viagra purchase no prescription of erectile dysfunction.
Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. We are given for our meditation the story of the finding of our Lord Jesus in the temple. In order to understand this passage we must remember that we are not dealing with the nuclear family as we are wont to think. We are dealing with a nuclear family. That is why Mary and Joseph seemed not to have noticed Jesus’ absence for the entire day. Because of extended family structures they assumed that he was with relatives and acquaintances. Of course when the find Jesus after three days they cannot understand what has happened. They find Jesus him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. They wonder why this normally obedient child did this to them. Jesus’ reply must have been even more disturbing:
“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
It appears to me that Mary and Joseph were going through what most parents of teenage children have to undergo. Jesus was asserting his independence. It is true that most teenage children want to assert their independence in ways that are different to that of Jesus. With our teenagers it is normally the desire to party without parents around or to have a dedicated boyfriend for Jesus it was slightly different. It was the desire to begin living the life of an adult Jew. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Like most parents today who do not understand why their little boy wants to drink and party at such a young age or why their little daughter wants to have a boyfriend, Mary and Joseph did not understand. We are then told that Jesus “went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them”
There are lessons in this story for all families, both parents and children. Mary and Joseph had to come to terms with the teenager they now had in their home. They did not make a fuss. They tried to understand. We are told that Mary kept all these things in her heart, pondering them no doubt and try to discover the changes she had to make in dealing with this new person in her home. This way of acting no doubt preserved the harmony of this family of Nazareth. Mary and Joseph as St. Paul would say did not exasperate their child.
On the other hand we are also told that Jesus was obedient to his parents. Jesus, young and energetic could have thought that his parents were not with it. Mary and Joseph as most parents would have made mistakes in the rearing of Jesus and they would probably have asked him to do things in ways which he thought were wrong. They were human also but we are told that “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” It is this obedience which gives rise to the final statement of this Gospel passage; “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favour before God and man.”
It is this obedience which allowed Jesus to benefit from the wisdom of his parents and it is this obedience which also allowed the harmony within the home of the holy Family of Nazareth. Let us set the words of St. Paul as a seal on our hearts;
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, your Son Jesus grew in wisdom and grace before You and before others because Mary and Joseph did for him all that the law required. Help us your people to do the same for our children so that they too may grow in wisdom and your favour may be upon them. We ask this through the intercession of Mary and Joseph, parents of Jesus. Amen
