FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH, DECEMBER 29, 2024
- Maria Knox
- Dec 29, 2024
- 3 min read
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 favor before God and man.
REFLECTION
"He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them"
Amongst Hispanics we see with both horror and laughter how the children of many white Americans talk to their parents with vociferous entitlement. My children and I have encountered this many times, specially at malls, when the children verbally abuse their parents and demand whatever they want their parents to buy for them. And the parents quietly abide, in a similar way a battered wife obeys her abuser. (Some authors are starting to discuss the term "battered mommy syndrome" * in response to "gentle parenting" and their children's reactions to it).
On the other hand, we Hispanics tend to be too inflexible and authoritarian in our ways of parenting. Many times driving away our adult children once they experience a taste of freedom.
We need to look at the Holy Family to learn the perfect balance of mutual respect. Mary and Joseph raised the Child Jesus, taught Him everything they knew about everyday life and about God. Can you imagine Mary singing the psalms while doing her housework? And Joseph showing Jesus his trade and taking Him to the synagogue to worship God? The mundane tasks that are repeated everyday become ways of giving glory to God and sanctification.
In the first reading today Sirach tells us of the ways a child can honor his or her parents, and the blessings that God will bestow on them if they do this. In the Gospel we see how Jesus also obeyed Joseph and Mary while under their care.
In our family dynamic, we need to find ways to honor and respect each other in whatever station we are in life. Probably the hardest thing in our American way of living is to draw a line on what it means to be a parent or a child. In many households we try to appease our children too much, "to be their friends". Again, this is a concept we Hispanics don't understand at all because what a parent says is the law.
In any case, we need to teach our children to respect authority. And at the same time, we need to have some flexibility and be able to listen, and take into account their concerns and opinions because they are also thinking human beings.
Let us turn towards the Holy Family of Nazareth, Mary, Joseph and Jesus, to guide our family in the ways of God, starting on how we care for each other.
God bless y'all!
-- Side note: If you read the above articles, or Ms. Shrier's book, do it critically. Journalists are not doctors. She is giving examples on how parents have relinquished all authority and given it to their kids and their therapists. Some kids, but not all do need therapy.
Kommentare