26 My Monologues with
Blessed Joseph, Mary,
the Parents of Boy Jesus (Lk 2)
Oh, Blessed, Joseph, Mary,
the Parents of Boy Jesus,
An Yearly Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, especially during the Passover Festival is a much cherished dream for every Jew.To make it a Family Pilgrimage was all the more exciting as well as very exacting indeed, Wasn't it?
Usually, in those days, the pilgrims travelled in larger caravan groups mainly for safety sake. It would have required about four days for a family to travel from Galilee to Jerusalem, covering a distance of about eighty miles/ a hundred and twenty km, right?
Remember, your unforgettable, highly risky trip to Bethlehem twelve years ago with your son who was ripe and ready to be born even on the way. You just managed to make it to Bethlehem in the nick of time, right?
Remember it was no picnic, rather a very panicky trip for you both,
Don't you?
After your return from Egypt, as per the Narratives, you all must have made every year the annual Passover Pilgrimages to Jerusalem without any fail, haven't you?
Needless to say a pilgrimage with your twelve year old son was a very significant one, right?
Naturally you all might have thought it would be much easier than the previous ones, Didn't you?
Yet you were only partly right!
It is hard to anticipate what is in store for us, right, Mother Mary?
Though the 'Bar Mitzvah' ceremony marking the rite of passage of a Jewish boy from an adolescent to young adult has been traditionally conducted on his Thirteenth Birthday, was this pilgrimage in connection with the religious ceremony of 'Bar Mitzvah' of your son, Boy Jesus?
So think some of our experts.
Probably this Pilgrimage might have been the last of the family pilgrimages with all three of you together, right?
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
You must have felt terrible as you became aware of the missing Boy Jesus, Didn't you?
Did you feel it a failure from your part as the 'father' figure and as the head of the family?
Did Mary scold you, blaming you, for missing Boy Jesus?
Did you feel terribly bad and guilty for not paying sufficient attention to your foster son?
Or, did you pass the buck to each other or to others as it is hinted in the Narratives?
If so, it wouldn't have been anything new as our First Parents had done it, hadn't they?
It's innate in our human nature to pass on the blame, Isn't it?
Usually, failures have no takers and are left fatherless and abandoned as orphans while successes have many parental claimants and patrons, right?
That's the way of the world, you know it, don't you?
I was just giving full vent to my imagination.
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
Ever Since the appearance of the
Angel, you have met with a series of setbacks and hurdles to your plans.
By now, you must have been accustomed and used to them, right?
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
In your case, you had been meticulously taking care of your wife and your foster son.You had been following them always like a silent shadow and faithfully stood by them like a silent sentry. Guided and encouraged by the Angel, you had been doing it for the last twelve plus years with utmost faithfulness and joy, didn't you ?
Initially it wasn't easy at all for you, right?
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
Though you did rightfully doubt and painfully decide to abandon your betrothed fiancee, assisted by the the angelic intervention, you grew out of it and you had become so marvellously transformed into a loving, caring husband to Mary and a Foster Father to the Boy Jesus.
You did it:
with your living faith,
with your enduring perseverance, with your generous flexibility,
with the divine blessings and guidance, right?
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
the more I think of you,
the more I reflect on you,
the more I meditate about you,
my fascination for you,
my admiration for you,
my love love for you,
my veneration for you,
keep on increasingly growing.
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
You and your life
keep making me aware of:
my own need to grow in accepting the harsh realities of my unrealizable dreams and plans.
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
You and your life
keep making me aware of :
my own need to grow in adjusting to the changed circumstances as well as to the unchangeable situations in which I find myself in my daily life.
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
You and your life
keep making me aware of:
my own need to grow in playing the second fiddle in those situations where I am supposed to.
I know it's an everyday struggle,
may be a lifelong struggle,
and I need to begin every day anew.
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
When I am made aware, this is the last time you are present and seen in the Gospel Narratives, it makes me a bit pensive.
Often I keep wondering:
What happened to you ever since?
How long were you with Mary and Jesus?
How and where were your last days?
Though I may never get a satisfying answer to these questions,
one thing I am sure your final years, months, and moments were laced with beatific happiness and peace filled contentment surpassing even that of the Grand Old Simeon whom you met in the Temple as you and your wife brought the Baby Jesus for dedication, don't you remember?
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
I want to keep striving after and struggling for similar final days and moments for myself.
During my years of sojourn and travels all around, I chanced to come across a Garage Sale where I found a statuette of You and Boy Jesus hugging each other. The Boy Jesus was trying to raise himself up on his toes to reach up to you and threw his arms around your sturdy neck and you in turn was giving him a warm hug and cusping his head in your hands and you were planting a parental kiss on his forehead. His calm face was resting on your right shoulder.There was a touch of joy and relief on your face!
The inscription below read,
'Finding each other in the Temple.'
I just loved it.
And have it on my desk ever since!
Oh, Blessed Joseph,
You are an inspiration indeed!
You are rare angelic inspiration!
Thank you!
Oh, Blessed. Mother Mary,
as you were returning after a very soul satiating Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, all on a sudden, it was all topsy-turvy, right?
The moment you realized, your son Boy Jesus was neither with any one of you nor with your relatives, you must have been frozen with fear and must have been terribly worried about his whereabouts, right?
Yet another 'sword' seemed to be piercing your heart.
Those were paralyzing, spine-chilling moments for a mother whose one and only son has been found missing.
Weren't they terrible moments for you, Mother Mary?
Oh, Blessed Mother Mary,
As per the Gospel Narratives it was your nature to treasure every experience and every event and ponder over them. Nobody shall ever know the thoughts and feelings of the agony and the ecstasy that keep milling in your mind, right, Mother? Possibly, you might have thought something in the following lines.
"Oh, my Yahweh, Adonai, my Almighty, please keep my son safe, may he not be harmed in any way, may nothing untoward happen to my son.
I don't know:
Is it due to my negligence that he is missing?
Am I an uncaring mother?
Have I failed in any way as a mother?
Is it my fault, that my son has been found missing?
After our return from Egypt, we were having the best of days as a hard working family... my husband is very loving, caring, understanding, and hardworking breadwinner....
Despite our, one of a kind, unique situation, assisted by divine guidance, we have been doing very well. My husband has been very adjusting and highly accommodating.
But why my Yahweh Adonai, why?
Why do problems, troubles, and trials keep following us one after another...
Thirteen or years ago, when your Angel appeared and I said the 'fiat' ('Yes') to Your plans...
Little did I think of so many problems would be coming along..
Sure, i did expect problems..
But not to this extent and severity.
So far we have been able to survive them with your active assistance. Thank you,Yahweh. . Adonis.. I know this one too will be behind us.
But, Yahweh, don't You see the innate yearning of the Human Nature to shun problems and to avoid trials.
It is this very same Human Nature in me that's asking You these questions and appealing to You for help. I never ever thought so much trials and troubles would accompany us. Like the innocent, yet tormented Job, I come to you, I call upon you. Though initially silent, finally You heard the cry of Job. I know for certain You, Oh, Yahweh Adonai, You will not let me down. But to live through these excruciating moments I need to feel Your Presence here and now! I take this pain filled moments once again to renew my 'fiat' my 'Yes' to You,
Oh, my Yahweh Adonai."
Oh, Blessed Mother, these are my imaginations indeed which help me to understand you better and to make my personal Pilgrimage of faith and growth a bit more steady and fast.
Thank you, Oh, Blessed Mother!
Oh, Dear Boy Jesus,
Oh, Boy, you got guts, haven't you?
You have the gumption too,
to engage those senior Pundits of Jewish Religion and Law,
to engage them single hand. Sure, you do have the vigor, the valor, and the wisdom in discussing and debating with the doctors of Religion and Law.
The clarity of your wisdom and the rarity of your courageous conviction did impress everyone who listened you. Your superb performance did amaze them.
But Oh, Dear Boy Jesus,
While you were having very lively theological colloquium in the Temple, your parents were frantically searching for you, right?
With bated breath they hurried back.
Their agonizing worries could have been avoided, had you informed them of your intention and interest in staying back, right?
I wonder what made you to stay back without informing your parents!
Did it happen inadvertently?
I doubt.
As they traced you back and sighed with relief and asked you a very pertinent question,
"Son, why have you treated us like this?
Your father and I have been anxiously search for you."
which any parent in the given situation would have asked.
You did shock them once again
with your answer,
"Why were you searching for me?" Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
It sounds very curt and uncourteous an answer, unbecoming of a boy of your age and of your culture, and of your time, right?
The biblical pundits have tried to explain it way, rather than explain it..
But all the confusion was avoidable had you given them a polite answer!
Normally in situations such as this, an apology would have been very appropriate.
So they think.. me too.
You might have had a theological point or two to convey by beginning to set yourself apart.
Some are of the opinion that those words were put into mouth so as to project you as the Son of God.
Some hold the view that it couldn't have been said by you as those words cast a shadow of disrespect towards one's parents which is against one of the Ten Commandments, right?
Well, Dear Boy Jesus,
I have yet find a satisfactory answer...
I shall keep waiting..
But in the mean time I want to find solace in the subsequent verses..
"Then he went down to Nazareth and was obedient to them."
It shows you did not continue to be defiant to your parents, rather obedient to them.
How I wish I could give up some of my stubborn attitudes, actions, and reactions! rather than get stuck with them.
Oh, Blessed Joseph, Mary, and Boy Jesus,
I love to spend some time in silence gazing at you and keep admiring your ability to adjust, to accommodate, and to be patient and courageous with one another!
And keep growing in holiness and wisdom!
Amen
JoAchen
Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
Joachenmonologues@gmail.com
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PS
Dear Reader,
These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegesis nor are they any highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. They are a part of my, 'Prodigal Priest's' journaling on my Pilgrimage to the Home of our Heavenly Father. You are welcome to share them.
Dear Reader, I keep holding you in my prayers and I request you to include me in yours.
I plan on uploading a Reflection each on 7th, 14th, 21st, and on the 28th of every month. If you do not want get these Reflections via email, please send a note and your email id will be deleted from the mailing list.
Thank you!
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