Student Daily Reflection

[17] Sir 3:2-6, 12-14
Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Col 3:12-21 (3:12-17)
Luke 2:41-52

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer
The Daily Reflections

When I was younger, I “ran away” from my house. And by “ran away” I mean that I ran to my mailbox because I knew I wasn’t allowed to cross streets by myself. When my dad found me outside, he asked me why I had did what I did. I didn’t have a good motive in staying behind. I had simply disobeyed my parents.

In today’s gospel, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph didn’t know He was gone until a day later. Jesus wasn’t being intentionally disrespectful - He had deliberately stayed behind in order to demonstrate something important. When Mary found Jesus in the temple, she was filled with great anxiety. She asked, “Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you.” Jesus replied that He was in, “my Father’s house”. There is one clear distinction here: Mary says that Joseph is Jesus’s father, while Jesus alludes that God is His Father. This illustrates the close relationship Jesus has with our Lord and shows that Jesus belongs to God.

Today’s gospel is about obedience – obedience to your earthly parents and obedience to your heavenly father. Usually when you obey one, you obey the other. But in today’s gospel this may not be the case. In this story, Jesus was kind of a “rebel” and disobeyed his parents. He caused Mary so much anxiety because she thought she had lost the Son of God! However, Jesus was obeying His heavenly Father. He was learning about the Lord by listening to teachers and asking them questions. Jesus was wise beyond His years and was advancing in favor before God.

Today we are called to be obedient. We must obey our parents, but we must also realize that we have a heavenly parent too. And when God calls us to do something, we hopefully will obey Him. Sometimes, what He calls us to do may go against our societal or cultural norms, but we are called to trust in our heavenly father because His will is greater than ours. If God called you to do something today, would you obey Him?