“Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.”

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live – Pope John Paul II

(Gospel text: Lk 2:41-52)

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.

We don’t know much about Jesus’s childhood except for this little excerpt. If you are a parent, you can just imagine the panic of discovering that you’ve lost your child and if that child is the Savior of the World… well, I am thinking that Mary and Joseph were a little panicked.

We all lose Christ from time to time.

There are times when our souls are on fire for the Lord, and there are times when the embers are just smoldering. Even the Saints had periods of time when they didn’t feel as connected to Christ as before.

There are a hundred opportunities every day for us to look for Jesus in what we are doing and what's happening in our lives. Too often, we simply don't look. We get too wrapped up in our own heads, too caught up in our hectic schedules to stop and look. And so, we find stress and anxiety instead of joy.

In every event of our day, every task, every burden, every struggle, there will be joy once we find Jesus in it. We will be heavy with worry till we do. He is there with us in everything and He wants to be found.

It only remains to be seen whether we will look for Him.