The Holy Family – Lk. 2:41-52 (Dec. 27, 2015)

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is a popular one. It narrates the story of the Holy Family going up to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. Then the famous incident about the losing and finding of Jesus in the temple happened.

The story tells us of the parents looking for a lost son. The incident reminds me of the stories of ordinary contemporary families with children who have ‘gone astray.’ Some kids have gone to the extremes of experimenting drugs, crimes, early pregnancies and the like. Other kids, especially those in adolescent years, are simply out of sync with their parents. While they don’t seem to understand their parents, their parents too are at a loss on how to rationalize some, if not most, of their actions. In those cases, the parents would mostly exhaust their means ‘to find’ the child. They resemble Joseph and Mary’s efforts of looking for Jesus among their relatives and friends hoping that he was still with the caravan. Parents, at least those who are sincere with their roles as parents, are – even in moments of misunderstanding – mostly looking after their children. So, when parents and children don’t meet eye to eye, good parents are those who look for their kids in the caravan by asking friends and relatives for advice. There are cases when a son or daughter mistakes a parent’s gesture as an offense to freedom when what the parent was trying to do is to figure out a way of helping the son/daughter arrives at a mature decision. In these cases then, it always helps for children to also open up their hearts and minds. “To understand” is not just the parents’ task, it is also equally a child’s task. The latter demands ‘understanding’ from parents, but sometimes, they are unwilling to commit themselves to the same task towards their parents. If only, they’d realize that all these days, months or years their parents are ‘looking for them among friends and relatives in the caravan,’ then perhaps they’d appreciate more and will understand better their parents.

The story on the other hand tells us about the parents who do not understand the actions of the son: “Son, why have you done this to us?” (Lk. 2:48) The parent did not understand that the son “must be in his Father’s house” (Lk 2:49). This reminds me of those occasions when parents themselves lacked the requisite understanding. Parents, even the most sincere and honest among us, are oftentimes tempted to ‘impose’ on our young. In moments of differences, parents are tempted more to demand that they’d be listened to rather than to remind themselves that it’s their primary task to listen. Sometimes, the young in a home wander away because s/he has not found the much needed ‘love and understanding’ from those people whose ‘love and care’ can be unconditional.

Finally the story points to us a way to holiness as a family. The son went down with his parents and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them (Lk 2:51a). Perhaps, if children could find a way to become truly obedient - and will learn to also regulate their own desires so they could fruitfully journey with their parents - then perhaps, our families could become more holy. Moreover, if parents like us could only behave like Mary, who knows how to endure things and have learned how to ‘keep them in her heart’ – if only our love could be as unconditional as Mary’s – then our families would really be holy.