Today's reflection compliments of Leigh Manalang.

Every parent probably has their “missing child” story. For me, panic set in at the Forest Park Balloon Glow when my 6-year-old Max went missing among thousands of people. Minutes dragged on during a frantic search, even calling on the help of parishioner and friend Greg Venneman who was at the event. Boy, was I ever grateful to see him and his family, knowing God had placed them there for support! I tried not to worry, but thoughts of someone grabbing him could not escape my mind. While others were out looking for him, I waited on our blanket with his three little siblings, praying non-stop. Eventually, Max came happily bouncing back to the blanket on his own, proud of the trading card he had gotten from a balloon man, completely unaware that he had caused so much heartache and commotion. I was exasperated – full of relief and love for my child, but also upset that he ran off without telling us where he was going. 

It would have been the same for Mary and Joseph, as they frantically searched for Jesus. Then the exasperation of discovering him in the Temple. The last part of today’s scripture Luke 2:49-51 reads, 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 was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother kept all these things in her heart."

What is consoling to me is that even Mary did not understand everything fully. Like Mary, we may not understand the answers we are given. But Jesus goes with us always, just as he went home with Mary and Joseph on that stressful day.

Today is the Feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary -- which refers to the interior life of the Blessed Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and above all, her love for God the Father, her maternal love for her son Jesus, and her compassionate love for all persons. Today’s feast falls on the day after the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus because devotion to these two hearts is promoted together as a means of entering more deeply into the mystery of God’s love.