Gifts of Love
December 26, 2021 — Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Year C)
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family:
Luke 2:41-52 (C)– 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 favor before God and man.
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“… his mother kept all these things in her heart.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
The Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is celebrated the first Sunday after Christmas Day. It is a happy day for us, not only because the feast day is placed within the Octave of Christmas, but also because the Holy Family is a subject of great love & affection for us. And yet in all of the three Gospel readings we have for this feast day (remember, there’s a three year cycle of Mass Gospel readings), there is some trouble that the Holy Family must face. These three Gospel passages are the only readings we have about the family life of Jesus after His birth and before His public ministry thirty years later. The events are: the Presentation in the Temple, where Mary explicitly hears that her motherhood will bear great suffering; the Flight into Egypt, where the Holy Family escapes the attempted murder of Jesus; and (the reading we are given today) the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, where Mary and Joseph experience great anxiety looking for their lost Son.
There are many lessons we can learn from these events, but we will focus on three. First, family life is difficult and involves suffering. No matter how happy, loving, and peaceful was the life of the Holy Family, in every story we know of Jesus’ childhood, there was some suffering. And no matter how happy our family life is, the same will be true for us. Second, we see in a particular way with the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple that, as much as our family members “belong” to us, in fact they truly belong to God infinitely more. Notice that Jesus doesn’t apologize to Mary and Joseph, even though they had suffered much by His decision to stay behind in Jerusalem. He simply answers that first His allegiance is with His heavenly Father.
Parents must remember this (sometimes painful) reality with their children too. And this leads to our third lesson. Mary and Joseph do not thoroughly understand Jesus’ explanation of His actions. There will be times that we do not understand God’s workings in our family life either. And no doubt this will be difficult. But we must learn from, and respond like, our holy loving mother. Amidst all the trails of her Holy Family life (and all the joys as well) that she doesn’t fully understand, Mary does not get upset but instead accepts the situations in faith and pondered them in her heart. If we do this, then the situations that we don’t first understand, we will come to realize are actually gifts of God’s love for us.
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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