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: and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
"Grant that I may come to You through your Mother" (Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen) (1)
What we are and what we ought to be is our struggle. Some of us might not fulfill the happiness of becoming children of God. (2)
Our Blessed Virgin Mary, conceived without stain, was perfect. She is all that God wanted us to be. Jesus was born of a mother whom He had chosen before He was born. And God willed that the Mother of His Son would be Mary.
" I will establish a feud between thee and the woman, between thy offspring and hers; she is to crush thy head, while thou does lie in wait at her heels." (Genesis 3:15) (3)
Mother Mary leads us to Christ and she mediates between us and Jesus as Jesus mediates between us and the Father. And in giving Jesus, the Incarnate Word His Humanity, Mother Mary becomes our protectress, our Mother, and teacher. She will show us how to love her Son. She will show us how to live under her beautiful maternal mantle, how to be obedient, humble, caring and how to follow her Son. She has exposed her heart to us and in her silence invites us into her confidence.
Mother Mary, our Mama, teach us how to speak to your Son.
God Bless You.
(1) Sheen, Fulton J., The World's First Love, 2nd Edition: Mary, the Mother of God (p 11), Ignatius Press, Kindle Edition.
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