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.
REFLECTION
his mother kept all these things in her heart.
St Anthony of Padua once said that "the man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages". He noted that the different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility, poverty, patience and obedience. These virtues shone brightly in Mary. She did not preach, nor give sermons but she taught her Son the Scriptures and let her actions speak louder than words.
We, too, are called to have a Mary life. We are to let our words teach and our actions speak. If we are full of words but empty of actions we are like the cursed fig tree when no fruit was found but only leaves. It withered and died.
The actions to these words are gifts from the Holy Spirit and therefore meant to be shared. Mary spent many hours in prayer, because in silence she could hear the voice of God and she kept many things in her heart. She was a disciple and a follower of Jesus and she was with Him from the Incarnation to His death.
We are called to gaze into the heart of the Mother of God. She loved God most perfectly. Mary's heart was called "immaculate" because, by God's grace, it was preserved from sin and remained completely open to His will. It was a heart filled with faith, humility, purity, and love.
As St Anthony is known as the patron of lost things, Mary is known for showing us, when we are spiritually lost, the way to her Son. It is God who answers prayers but we can call out to Mary when our faith weakens, our hope finds only discouragement, our love grows cold and we wander away in doubt and fear about God's love for us.
Comments