Luke 2:41-51

2 Timothy 4:1-8

Psalm 71:8-9, 14-15ab, 16-17, 22

Luke 2:41-51

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.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you began to dwell in my heart when I was baptized. What an awesome and wonderful gift! Remain in my heart, abide there, and make it yours. I offer myself to you today and only want to enjoy your love forever.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Sacred Heart of Jesus: When we contemplate the three members of the Holy Family, we can see how they had hearts that were sacred, immaculate, and chaste. The Heart of Jesus is called “sacred,” and means that it is holy, consecrated, and set apart. The Hebrew word for holy in the Bible is kadosh, which means set apart. In the Genesis story of creation, God hallowed the seventh day (the Sabbath) and set it apart for himself. This teaches us that “God shared his holiness with his creation, and with it came peace, fruitfulness, and integrity” (Hahn, Holy is His Name, 26). In Exodus, God revealed his name and his holiness – his transcendence, his otherness, and his power – to Moses and the People of Israel. “In Exodus God takes up residence among his people – not as one of them (not yet) but permanently with them in the holy place. … Holiness is now an earthly reality, visible as fire and audible as thunder but also visible by association in pots and pans, slaughtered animals, and tent cloth” (Hahn, Holiness is His Name, 39). At Mt. Sinai, Israel was set apart from all other nations and called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6). Under David and Solomon, the people occupied the holy land and built a holy temple in a holy city. In the New Testament, God’s holiness is made incarnate in Jesus: “The child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus is the Holy One of God. God became man to save us from sin so that we could be holy and share in his holiness. When we contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we contemplate God’s merciful love and the invitation made to us to share in God’s holiness through the Son and in the Spirit.

2. The Immaculate Heart of Mary: Yesterday, we celebrated the Sacred Heart of Jesus and contemplated the manifestation of God's merciful love in Jesus Christ. Today, we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary and contemplate the great things that God accomplished in Mary and that he wants to accomplish in us. Unlike Mary’s pure and immaculate heart, our hearts are marked by sin; we are wounded and tend toward evil. The fruit of the tree tempts us with false delight. Like Paul, we end up committing the evil things we don’t want to do and not doing the good things that we should do. When we see our heart and find that it is attached to sin, we should not get discouraged. That is what the devil wants. Our misery is not the end; it is only the beginning. Just as God brought his people out of the misery of Egyptian slavery, so also he brings us out of the slavery of sin. He patiently awaits our response to his call. He wants to transform the misery of our heart through his merciful love into purity of heart so that we can see him: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” While the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates especially how her heart and soul were preserved from any stain of original sin, today’s memorial celebrates how she kept her heart without stain. When we look at Mary, who intercedes for us now before God, we contemplate in her the Church that has already reached perfection. In Mary, the Church exists without spot or wrinkle. In her, the Church is already the all-holy (CCC, 829). She is the image and beginning of the perfected Church, and she shines forth on earth as a sign of hope and comfort to us, the pilgrim People of God (CCC, 972).

3. The Chaste Heart of Joseph: Jesus’ heart is called “sacred,” Mary’s heart is called “immaculate,” and Joseph’s heart is called “chaste.” Chastity differs from celibacy. Not everyone is called to be celibate, but all are called to be chaste. The virtue of chastity opposes the vice of lust. While lust is a disordered desire for sexual pleasure, chastity is the successful integration of sexuality within the person (CCC, 2337). The heart is of utmost importance. It is the place of our decision-making: we can choose to commit adultery in our heart or we can choose to love God with all our heart. “The heart is the dwelling-place where I am; where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place ‘to which I withdraw.’ The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation; it is the place of covenant.” Joseph’s heart is truly a model for us of fatherly protective love and spousal chaste love.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, sanctify my heart so that I may love you with an undivided love, cleanse my heart so that I may have a worthy dwelling for you, purify my heart so that I may love my brothers and sisters as I should.

Living the Word of God: The story of the finding of Jesus in the Temple offers us a glimpse of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. When she and Joseph realized Jesus was missing, she didn’t blame Joseph, get angry with him, or give him the silent treatment. She didn’t yell at Jesus when she found him. Rather than accuse Jesus, she first asked him a question and told him that they had been looking for him with great anxiety. How do I react in stressful or difficult situations? Do I immediately begin to accuse others, blame others, judge others, and criticize them? Or do I first seek, like Mary, to understand what is going on? How can I imitate Mary today?