Our Father’s House – Reflection on Luke 2:41-51 and Luke 2:41-51A
As a teenager, I was lost during training practice for long-distance running for a high school cross-country sport. The forest running trails were not marked well, and I had lost sight of the elite runner ahead of me. I went three miles on the wrong trail in the woods at full speed before I realized my mistake. Exhausted, I took a wrong turn coming back, further complicating my situation. My family started looking for me because I was a few hours late. However, I knew exactly what to do to get my bearings. I walked up a tall hill and climbed a tree. From there, I saw the highway and school in the distance and walked straight to my concerned parents. Isn’t that what Jesus, as a boy, is teaching us in His story? How can we ever be lost if our bearings are pointed towards our Father’s house? The preventive solution seems obvious: to avoid being spiritually lost, we can always be looking for Jesus.
Jesus Found in the Temple by James Tissot, painting at full resolution
Additional details are available at the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary time Reflections
Luke 2:41-51 – Scripture*
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Luke 2:41-51 Reflection – Our Father’s House.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities experience your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
* This site has written permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible for the passage of Luke 2.
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Primary Lectio Divina word or phrase: Our Father’s House
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