December 30 // Feast of the Holy Family

Reading I: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 or 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
Responsorial Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10
Reading II: Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17 or 1 John 3:1-2, 21-24
Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

We may worriedly compare our own little family with the Holy Family but today’s scripture eases our guilt. We would have the police searching for our lost twelve-year-old son! Where would we look first? Friend’s homes? The ball field? The tech store?

Jesus was found in the temple listening to and questioning the elders. While many twelve-year-olds are developing their abstract thinking skills, Jesus’ reasoning was astonishing. He absorbed his family’s values and like the young people gathered by Pope Francis recently in the synod, Jesus deliberated about faith and purpose. He was and is an idealist. Young people often are idealistic and today’s young people meeting at the Vatican, not surprisingly, came up with three requests of the Church: listen to us without snap judgment; foster women’s roles and hold accountable those who covered up sex abuse of vulnerable people.

We, like Mary, ponder these things in our heart. As Jesus increased in wisdom, in years, and in divine and human favor, may our Church’s wisdom deepen. Luke 2:41-52 shows us the divine twelve-year-old grappling with his budding sanctity. Did he remain in the temple to clarify his experience of holiness, to deepen his understanding of salvation history and refresh his adherence to prophetic teaching? His life enfolded as he gave sight to the blind, mended the bent over woman and the man with the withered hand and fed the multitudes. May we, the Church follow his lead.