The Gospel this Sunday (Luke 2:41-52) is the same Gospel we have taken up in the Feast of the Holy Family last December as our Feast of Sto. Nino. (although other countries may have a different reading according to Luke 1:1-4;4:14-21). While before, we had focused our attention on the Holy Family, this time, let us focus on the Child Jesus.

          As a backgrounder, let us remember when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary, "Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob forever and his reign shall have no end" (Luke 1:31-33). Jesus is divine but He is also fully human so that Jesus must grow, as any human being should. He must learn from His parents about life.

          For sure, Mary remembered Gabriel and must have taught this to Jesus. As parents are the first teachers of their children, Mary and Joseph must have also taught Jesus about God, about all creation, about His covenant with and compassion for His people -- beginning with Noah, Abraham, and Moses. They must have taught Him of the significance of the Feast of Passover, the reason of their being in Jerusalem that part of the year, every year. Jesus must have the curiosity of a child to learn more about the things that Mary and Joseph had taught Him so that the Temple was a natural attraction for Him to visit and stay.

          The Holy Family must have passed by the Temple on their way back to Nazareth, as we would have, and there Jesus intentionally "stayed" and was left behind.

Prayer and Reflection ~

          Let us go back to our own childhood and recall the things taught by our own parents about God. Then, let us enter the experience of Jesus as a Child with Mary and Joseph, teaching Him about these things. Feel the curiosity of the Child Jesus to learn.

          What should I do so that our children (and grandchildren) will have that same curiosity to learn about the loving Father in heaven? What stories can I tell them?

Joe & Charito

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