The Feast of the Holy Family

Today is the last Sunday for the Year 2010 and it is also the Feast of the Holy Family and today Gospel teaches us a very important event in the family of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can read it in Luke 2:41-52.

41 Each year Jesus’s parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, 42 and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. 43 After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, 47 and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. 48 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.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”

Indeed, the Bible has very little stories about the Holy Family, however they are great stories that speaks volumes for humanity to learn. Of course this starts with Christmas Day and later as we learned about the killing of the innocents, the Holy Family fled to Egypt, which in those days was a test of courage, determination and loyalty to both St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary… after all, Jesus was still a baby who needed their protection and they did not take a bus to Egypt because there were none in those days, rather they rode a donkey in the hot sun walking in miles and miles of desert.

Once the news (given again by an Angel) that the blood thirsty King Herod had died, the Holy Family returned to Palestine, however not anymore to Bethlehem, but to Nazareth, where tradition says that St. Joseph set up his carpentry shop. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ was known as the son of a carpenter.

For the devout Catholic filled with the Holy Spirit I suggest that you get a copy of the book, “The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics” written by Raphael Brown, where he compiled the revelations of St. Elizabeth of Shoenau, St. Bridget of Sweden, Venerable Mother Mary of Agreda and Sister Anna Catherine Emmerich. All of these mystics lived in different times and places and the commonality amongst them is that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them. This book is very affordable, less than a hundred pesos and it is one of my favorite books that I always keep on my bedside.

So back to today’s gospel reading. I’m sure parents would go raving mad if their son or daughter would get lost even for a few hours! How much more for a day, if they don’t return home? In the case of the Holy Family, Jesus disappeared for a full three days! As the book tells, it, St. Joseph was so full of remorse for losing his ward, whom he knows is the Son of God who was entrusted to his care! What horror this incident brought to them, Joseph didn’t eat for three days, which is his way of fasting. 

So when finally after three long anguished days and nights, St. Joseph and Mama Mary finally found their 12-year old son in the midst of learned scholars and priest who were shocked and awed by the boy’s wisdom. As Raphael Brown wrote, “The scribes and scholars who heard him refute their arguments were all at first dumbfounded and then furious with shame. They could not tolerate his teaching them things they did not know, or his explaining the mysteries of the Law better than they could.” Call it arrogance that a boy knew better than these supposedly learned men.

As the Blessed Virgin Mary told the Venerable Mother Mary of Agreda, “The Lord absented Himself from me in order that by seeking Him in sorrow and tears I might find Him again in joy and with abundant fruits for my soul. In my great love the uncertainty as to the cause of His withdrawal gave me no rest until I found him. In this I wish that thou imitate me, whether thou lose Him through they own fault or by the disposition of His will. For to lose sight of God for the purpose of being tried in virtue and love is not the same as to lose sight of Him in punishment for sins committed. So strong are the bonds of His love that no once can burst them, except thy own free will.” Indeed when we commit sin, we also lose the sight of Jesus and we can only find him through the sacrament of reconciliation and confession, then our joy is complete!

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