Luke 2:41-51
"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."
This is a story of Mary and Joseph losing Jesus. For the first time since he was born, he was out of their sight for perhaps over 24 hours. But they thought he was nearby in the "caravan." How many times we lose Jesus in our lives and do not even know it. We have the illusion that he is in us or nearby.
Although I try to start my life everyday in the presence of Jesus, I am frequently surprised that for extended periods of time, I lose Jesus without even knowing. I am astonished at this phenomenon because my spirituality is not just interior but incarnate. I surround myself with symbols and icons of our faith at home, in my car an even in my person. There are crosses, rosaries, holy pictures, bible quotations hanging everywhere in my home and some of these in my car. I wear the miraculous medal on my neck and always carry a rosary in my pocket. These icons of our faith are meant to remind of Jesus at all times. In fairness to my experience, sometimes they do remind me of the Lord. Sometimes glancing at one of them could trigger a prayer or a dialogue with Jesus. But the amazing thing is the number of times I go for hours without thinking of Jesus. Mary and Joseph's experience in today's Gospel teaches us two lessons:
- It is possible even for a good Christian to lose Jesus for some time.
- Know where to look for Jesus when you lose him; know where is your "Jerusalem."
For me, my "Jerusalem" is always the Church, the Blessed Sacrament, prayer and the word of God.