Feast of the Holy Family

I remember once as a child out shopping with my mom and thought it would be fun to play hide and seek in the clothing racks.  You can probably guess that she did not feel the same way.

Fast forward thirty years and I'm taking my three young kids to the zoo alone.  Turn to show my son the elephants, turn back, and my oldest isn't with me.  One of the most nerve-racking minutes of my life until I spot her a few yards ahead, walking without a care in the world.

In the Gospel for today I am reassured by Mary's words as she finds Jesus after days of searching for him, "Son, why have you done this to us?"  It was refreshing for me to read that she reacted the way I have to my kids when they have said or done something that they weren't supposed to do.  And even more so, I've reacted to God this way when something hasn't gone how I expected it to, when those prayers haven't been answered or I'm rocked by tragic news.  I'm also comforted that after Jesus's response to them that He was in His Father's house that his saintly parents didn't understand.  This has been a year full of instances where I've seen people in my life suffer and I go to God asking why it had to happen. 

On my nightstand right now is three different books related to parenting, a fourth is in my Amazon shopping list and I'm considering buying an app for moms. We're not going through a crisis or anything, but after spending time in the chapel this week I was convicted to seek more wisdom about the most godly ways to respond to our kids in the various situations that arise in our home, but with the mindset that our children belong to God first and they are not for me to control. 

During this Christmas season especially I ask for the intercessions of Saint Joseph and the Blessed Mother.  The couple that God chose to raise His son were human and experienced trials in their parenting, but as the Collect for today states, they were a "shining example" for us to imitate.  I am also looking to the second reading from St. Paul to the Colossians for practical ways to do this, engaging each other with forgiveness, love, and thanksgiving and instruction with God's word so we can live more like the Holy Family did.