Mary and Joseph created a loving home for Jesus and in today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that God also provides a home for us. Doug Jones, SJ, reflects on the Feast of the Holy Family. Based on the readings for Sunday, December 26, 2021.
Merry Christmas!
Hi, I’m Doug Jones, and this is my One-Minute Reflection.
The Gospels tell us very little about the home life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and what it was like. We can assume most of it was probably pretty unremarkable: family meals, work, play, prayer, celebration, mourning, sickness, and everything else that families experience.
Above all else, with the Holy Family Jesus had a sense of home: a place of comfort, security, and belonging.
In today’s Gospel, though, we’re reminded where Jesus’s true home lies. Mary and Joseph think Jesus is headed back to their house as they were, but Jesus was already at home. In the Temple, doing his Father’s work, Jesus finds himself at ease and in his element. Though just a boy, he’s teaching the teachers!
When we draw close to God, we too can experience such comfort and belonging. God constantly invites us to return to the place where we truly belong, to our real home: the Father’s house, God’s loving presence.
