1 Sm 1:20-22, 24-28 / Col 3:12-21 / Lk 2:41-52
A mother of four small children was trying to get everything ready for a major family gathering on Christmas Eve. As the hour drew near, she was barking orders like a drill sergeant: “Pick up your things! Don’t get your clothes dirty! Put your toys away! No, you can’t have any more!” And so on.
The four-year-old was underfoot, so she was sent to the living room to play with the Nativity set. Before long, she was having a make-believe conversation with the three kings, and this is what her mother overheard, “I don’t care who you are; get those camels out of my living room!”
Being family is what we all want. But sometimes, it can be very hard work. The Holy Family was no exception:
— Their family began with a pregnancy of suspicious origins.
— Joseph seriously considered divorce.
— They had to flee the country with the authorities in hot pursuit.
— Their only child, Jesus, was like no other kid in town, and his parents were confused about how to handle him.
— That only got worse when Joseph died, leaving Mary as a single parent with a precocious teenager.
— When Jesus at last began his public ministry, his extended family thought he was crazy and tried to force him to come home.
Being family, making family, was hard work for Mary, Joseph and Jesus — just as for us. And they knew they couldn’t do it alone. Their only hope was to stay connected to the Father. And that’s what we find them doing in Sunday’s Gospel: Investing serious time in travelling to the temple to renew their connection to the Father and to draw from him the wisdom and understanding, compassion and strength to be for one another what was needed.
The Gospel says Jesus progressed steadily in wisdom, age and grace. That didn’t just happen. It was the result of Joseph, Mary and Jesus working together with God as their partner. Did they know exactly where they were going at every moment? No! Most of the time, they didn’t know for sure where life was taking them till they got there – just like us.
All they had at any given moment, and all they needed, was to know the next step — just one, not three or thirty — and then the courage to take that step. They were able to do that because they were thoroughly and deeply connected to the Lord. In him they found their way; in him they found their strength. Step by step they made their journey toward wholeness. And in the end they found their way home to God.
The road they walked is the same one we travel. Will we find our way to wholeness as they did? Will we too find our way home? It all depends on the strength of our connection to the Lord. He knows the way. And he’s been waiting to show us! So…
