42 — THE HOLY FAMILY

First Sunday after Epiphany

Presence of God. — I ask the Most Holy Mary to admit me into the humble house of Nazareth so that I may consider the admirable life that Jesus leads there.

Meditation

1 — Today—and it is the last time in the cycle of the liturgical year—the Church leads us back to consider the mystery of Jesus’ humble and hidden life. A sense of profound intimacy and tenderness characterizes today’s feast and shines through the liturgy: today “...it is sweet for us to recall the little house of Nazareth and the humble life led there... There Jesus learns Joseph’s humble trade and, in the shadow, grows in age and is shown happy to share the carpenter’s work. ‘Let sweat bathe my limbs’—He said— ‘before they are bathed by the outpouring of my blood: let this pain too serve as expiation for the human race’” (BR.). We are suddenly introduced into the little house of Nazareth; before such humility that hides Jesus’ infinite greatness, we too repeat with the sacred text: “Truly You are a hidden King, O God Savior, King of Israel” (ibid.).

And of the humble life of this hidden God today’s liturgy wants especially to bring out a typical aspect: that of obedience. “Though He was Son of God... He learned obedience;... He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death” (BR.): this is the obedience that accompanied Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary. But today’s Gospel (Lk. 2, 42-52) wants in particular to underline Jesus’ obedience at Nazareth and does so with a truly sculptural phrase: “He was subject to them.” Let us ask ourselves with St. Bernard: “Who obeys? to whom does He obey?”

* Move this meditation according to the calendar of the year.

And the Saint answers us: “A God to men; yes, God, to whom angels are subject, was subject to Mary, and not only to Mary, but also to Joseph. That a God obey a woman is humility without example... Man, learn to obey; earth, learn to submit; dust, learn to subject yourself. A God subjects Himself to men, and you, seeking to dominate men, set yourself above your Author?”

2 — “Did you not know that I must attend to what concerns my Father?” Jesus, so humble, so subject, does not hesitate to answer in this way to Mary, who gently reproaches Him for having remained in the temple without her and Joseph knowing, while they, anguished, had already for three days been searching for Him.

These are the first words of Jesus that we find recorded in the Gospel, and He pronounced them to declare His mission and to affirm the primacy of God’s rights. Barely an adolescent, Jesus teaches us that before all else we must concern ourselves with God and the things of God; that to God we must always give first place and first obedience, above every other consideration, at the cost of sacrificing the rights of nature and blood. It is not virtue, indeed it is often sin, that indulgence toward relatives and friends which makes us neglect, or even only delay, the fulfillment of God’s will.

Giving primacy to duties toward God does not mean, however, neglecting those toward neighbor: on these too, and particularly on those regarding family, today’s feast calls our attention. Today, in fact, the Church invites us to model our family life—natural or religious family, as well as any other setting—on the example of the Family of Nazareth and, in the Epistle (Col. 3, 12-17), puts before us the virtues that for this purpose we must practice: “Put on bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, modesty, longanimity, bearing with one another and forgiving one another.”

Colloquy

O Jesus, how I love to contemplate You as a child in the poor house of Nazareth, beside Mary and Joseph! In Your life, so simple and humble, everything is common to the life of every other child of Your age. You, Splendor of the Father, wanted nothing that would distinguish You among the children of men; You, uncreated Wisdom, wanted to learn from Mary and Joseph, Your creatures, the humble, little things of life. Joseph taught You to handle the tools of work and You watched attentively, learned, obeyed; Mary taught you sacred hymns, narrated Sacred Scripture to You, and You listened to her in the posture of a humble disciple, You who are the one true “master,” You who are truth itself. None of Your acquaintances, none of Your fellow townspeople could suppose who You really were: all believed You to be the carpenter’s son and esteemed You no more than a workshop boy.

Only Mary and Joseph knew: they knew by divine revelation that You were the Son of the Most High, the Savior of the world, and yet they knew it more by faith than by experience. Your daily conduct hid even from them Your greatnesses, Your divinity, so that when, without their knowledge, You remained in the temple among the doctors, they could not guess the reason for that unusual behavior.

But it was only for an instant, and immediately You wished to re-enter the hiddenness of Your most humble life: You went away with them, and were subject to them. And so, day by day, up to thirty years.

O my sweetest Lord, grant that I may at least a little imitate Your infinite humility; You who, Creator, obeyed Your creatures, teach me to bow my proud head and willingly obey my superiors. You who lowered Yourself from heaven to earth, grant me the grace to lower myself, once for all to come down from the pedestal of my pride. How can I bear to see You, my God and Creator, make Yourself so little and humble, while I, nothing and sin, use what I have received from You to lift myself above others, to set myself before and prefer myself even to those superior to me?