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.
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Reflection:
A child was adopted by a childless couple. As
he grew, he was treated as their very own child. They taught him about the
faith, they disciplined him and they regularly brought him to church for Mass.
When he was fourteen years old, his biological parents went to his adopted
parents to get him back. The couple who adopted him asked him if he was willing
to go back to his biological family but the child chose to stay with his
adopted family.
What made the child chose his adopted family
over his biological parents? It was the parental love and discipline that he felt.
It was the strong foundation about the faith that they had given him. These
important family values were also provided by Mary and Joseph to the twelve-year-old
Jesus.
The Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph implanted
upon the young mind of Jesus the importance love, discipline and church
worship. That is why they frequently brought Him to the temple in Jerusalem for
the yearly feast of Passover. They both wanted the young Jesus to become a God-centered
man and not a man centered on the world.
With the modernity of our times. Many parents
are forgetting the very important fact that they must implant in the hearts of
their children the basics of their faith. Many parents are forgetting to bring
their children to church for worship in favor of the many material things
of this world. What kind of children are we raising if we neglect our parental
duty to teach them about our faith and if we neglect to bring them to church
for worship?
Thus, we raise children that do not know how
to respect their parents. We raise children that treats sex without any
sacredness. These scenarios are for real and are happening now. For the simple
reason that there are parents who neglect their basic duty to introduce their
children to God.
The feast of the Holy Family is a wake up call
for all of us. It tells us that we must prioritize God over anything else in
this world. It tells us that we must worship God at church as a family. And it
tells us that we must teach our children about our faith. Because we are supposed
to be the very first catechist or faith formators of our children.
Before children go to church for Holy Mass. It
is already assumed that they have already been taught about the fundamentals of
our faith in the domestic church which is none other than inside our own home.
Let us therefore emulate the Holy family life
of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Let us follow the unconditional love of Mary and
Joseph and let us emulate them on how they properly took care of the young
Jesus. How they brought the child Jesus to the temple to worship God.
Do you raise your child as Jesus was raised
by Joseph and Mary? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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