A Homily for the first Sunday after Epiphany

+ “Son, why have You treated us so? Behold, Your father and I have been looking for You anxiously.” And He said to them, “How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”
 
A twelve-year-old child missing for three days is no small matter. In our own days such an occurrence would prompt the immediate involvement of police and other authorities in seeking to locate the child and ensure his or her safety: to our utter shame, terrible things have happened to missing children. Good parents are rightly anxious whilst the search perdures.
 
One cannot but empathise with the Blessed Virgin Mary, then, in her rebuke of her Son in the Gospel of this Holy Mass. He was wrong—humanly speaking—to have caused St Joseph and her such anxiety. His response to her rebuke—“How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”—is at best precocious. Many parents would rightly slap a twelve-year-old who spoke to his mother in such a way!
 
This incident within the life of the Holy Family is not recorded in Sacred Scripture so as to reassure us that misunderstandings and anxieties are present even in the best of families, or that twelve-year-olds are often difficult. No; God the Holy Spirit inspired St Luke to record this happening so as to instruct us, which he does eloquently in the response of the child-Jesus: “Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?”
 
This imperative within the twelve-year-old surpassed all other demands or expectations—even the reasonable one of travelling with His parents and ensuring that they knew of His whereabouts. This imperative, an early manifestation of His divine nature, could suffer neither delay, nor rebuke. His presence in the Temple was right and just, even if in terms of human understanding it was perceived as odd, and possibly even disrespectful.
 
“I must be in my Father’s house.” These words ought be upon our own lips also. Whatever our vocation in life, there are times when we too must be in God’s house, for as the first commandment teaches us “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” The worship of Almighty God is not an option, but a life-giving duty to nourish our hearts, minds and souls. If we do not fulfil this duty by participation in at least Holy Mass on Sundays and feasts of obligation, we shall become spiritually malnourished, if not sick. Regardless of other constraints or even reasonable human expectations, we must each be found in our Father’s house at certain times.

Sometimes these words resonate more deeply. Throughout Christian history men and women have been unable to escape from their penetrating call to leave the world behind and to dwell within the Temple of the Lord for all the days of their life (cf. Ps. 26:4) giving themselves over completely to His worship and service. From the desert fathers of the first centuries to the more organised monastics of both East and West in the centuries that followed down to today, this call has pierced hearts and prompted the seemingly irresponsible leaving behind of families, friends and various worldly prospects so as to be present to God first and above all, and to remain at His entire disposition.

Like our Blessed Lady, families and friends often do not understand this (at least initially) and can become quite upset at the prospect of someone they love ‘throwing away’ their life, education and career so as to give themselves entirely to the worship of Almighty God. But when the words “I must be in my Father’s house” do in fact pierce a soul, the imperative, the “must,” cannot be dismissed, for it is of God, and the salvation of each of us lies in putting the things of God first, no matter what our vocation.

For such a call is not (and can never be) a pure construct of my own will, but an imperative that comes from God to which I must conform my entire being and life if I am to be saved. A young person often arrives at the sometimes-surprising moment when they meet another whom they come to believe should, indeed, according to God’s plan from all eternity, must, be their future spouse—not always without the consternation of family and friends. Blessed by the Church in the sacrament of Christian marriage, their salvation lies in being faithful to this God-given reality to which they are vowed before Him. So too the man or woman called to Lord’s Temple cannot hope for salvation should they allow other considerations to hold them back from God’s plan for them. When this plan becomes clear, the time and opportunity to act decisively for the sake of my salvation is, then, now.

​As she knelt at the foot of the Cross, Our Blessed Lady might well have been tempted to ask once again: “Son, why have You treated us so?” But by then she had pondered the nature of her Son for twenty years more (cf. Lk 2:19). As we kneel at the foot of the Cross at this Mass, let us ask her maternal intercession for the wisdom, courage and strength we need, so that we too shall be found in our Father’s house as and when He requires us so to be. +

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