The Holy Family is depicted in St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 2: 22-40) as fulfilling a normal religious obligation in bringing Jesus to Jerusalem for the Jewish ceremony of purification (“Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to God”). There they meet Simeon and Anna, faithful and wise persons who had awaited the coming of the Messiah remaining steady and strong in their faith.
Completing the prescribed purification, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus return to Galilee, their hometown, and Luke tells us succinctly, “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him.” There is so much personal history of Jesus and the Holy Family contained in these phrases; but they really don’t shed much direct light on Jesus as He lived the great majority of His life in Nazareth.
We refer to that “growing” and “becoming strong”, being “filled with wisdom” and receiving the “favor of God” as the hidden life of Jesus. We remember that the public life of Jesus, the part that we are so familiar with because of the Gospels, covered a relatively small part of His whole life. So what went on during those nearly 30 years Jesus spent with Joseph and Mary? We can only imagine the incidents of that life as Jesus grew among His immediate family, the townspeople He knew, the skills that were developed in Him as He learned Joseph’s trade, if He caught colds or skinned His knees, and the many other tasks of growing up into His identity as a human person.
What we do know about those “hidden” years is what St. Luke tells us in the gospel passage. What do those words or reality actually mean for us in our own circumstances today? If we are to “imitate” Jesus in our lives we are invited to the same kind of growth that He experienced, and that, like Him, we are invited to focus on the source of that growth because indeed the “favor of God” is for us as much as it was for Jesus.
The often-repeated phrase that we hear, and tell others—“God loves you”—is a reality; a promise from God. We must realize that promise in our own life with its many and varied circumstances. Each of us is called to grow and become strong and be filled with wisdom because the favor of God rests upon us as it rested on Jesus.
The passage about the prophetess Anna brings home to me how shallow my own prayer life is, especially in light of the examples I’ve had in my life.
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)
The Gospel says that Anna lived seven years with her husband after marriage. In those days they got married at about 12 or 13 years old. Let’s assume she was a good catch in her heyday, so she was a bride at 12. That means she became a widow at 19 years old. She lived that way until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer for 63 years! I’m 66 years old. That would be like me worshipping day and night with fasting and prayer since my 3rd birthday. What a testimony to patience! How many times must she have been frustrated in her search for the Messiah, wondering if He would ever come! But she persisted in prayer and thanksgiving to the Almighty God day after day, month after month, and year after year, trusting that He would answer her prayers. What was her reward? She was allowed to see our Lord while He was still an infant! I can’t even come close to feeling the joy she must have felt!
Dear God, how many times have I neglected to pray simply because I was too tired or lazy? This woman persisted for 63 years! Sounds a lot like my mom, my grandmother, and my aunts Jenny, Teresa, Eileen and Barbara, and my Uncle Bob. They all survived their spouses for a lot of years, coping with their losses through what seemed to me to be ceaseless and persistent praying, sacrificing for their children and grandchildren, or helping the poor with increased donations to different causes they believed in. No one could hold a candle to the faith they gave me through their examples, and I will be forever grateful to them for it.
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