June 8, 2024
Each day, I reflect upon a word or a phrase inspired by the readings of the day. I encourage you to do the same and perhaps incorporate that word or phrase into your daily prayer.
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” (Luke 2:41-51)
We can feel the heartfelt intensity of Mary’s simple words to Jesus: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
It is important to acknowledge that the great anxiety felt by Mary and Joseph was not debilitating. It called them to action. It fueled the search for their son.
There are other times in the lives of parents when they must deal with a child who is lost, if not physically, perhaps emotionally or spiritually. Despite the parents’ best intentions, the child’s faith is fading, or gone altogether. We bring them to Mass; we share our value system with them; we try to inspire them with our own love of the Church; but for them, something is missing.
They are searching for something else, wanting to discover God in their own time and on their own terms. We want to bring them home. We want to pull them back in, but don’t know how without pushing them away.
Mary’s words echo, “Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
Sometimes the relationship between parents and their children gets lost somewhere along the way. The children don’t think they need their parents any more. Priorities come into question. Phone calls and visits become less and less frequent. An unresolved argument that started one day festers until communication is broken off all together. Both parent and child are hurt that the other has not reached out. Whose fault it is becomes more important than the relationship itself.
The great anxiety is there, but the ‘looking for you’ is gone.
Children are a gift from God. Parents are entrusted with their care. They nurture their children, educate them, and form them in the faith. They show their love for their children by providing them, to the best of their ability, with food, clothing and shelter, and the other necessities of life.
These are minimum expectations. Mary and Joseph give us a great example by their willingness to look for their son with great anxiety. They recognized that a family member was lost, harnessed the energy of their great anxiety, looked for the family member, and brought Him home.
From the Deacon's Desk 