Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lk 2:41-51a

When I was a teenager, I thought I was so mature and independent. I wanted to do what I thought was good for me and I didn’t want to listen to anybody including my parents. I remember when they were telling me to be back home at a certain hour to do my homework and study. They told me to eat well, and sometimes they would tell me that I should not hang out with certain friends of mine because they were a bad influence on me. All that was making me very angry because I simply believed that by doing that, my parents wanted to control me, punish me for something, tell me what to do. I think most of us remember those days. And years later, when we really matured, we began to understand that our parents didn’t intend to punish us, but they simply knew what was best for us and for our future. They did that because they loved us so much and wanted us to be safe and successful. The parents of Jesus were no different. They loved their Son more than anything else. However, there were times when they couldn’t quite understand their Son, just like in the gospel reading today when Jesus was left behind in the temple and it was only after they returned to the temple that they found Him. “’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. When someone worries about us, it does not mean that he or she wants to control us. They do it out of love, just like our parents.