Listen

Jesus went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. His mother cherished every word in her heart. Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people.

Luke 2:51-52

Think

After Jesus’ unscheduled temple visit, his parents must have wondered if they should keep him on a shorter leash. But when they went back to Nazareth, he went back to the familiar routines of home and family. As he grew taller, he grew wiser, too, and God’s grace in him was apparent to everyone.

For a mother, nothing could be better. Mary remembered all that had happened during those fateful days in Jerusalem. She had seen what God was doing in her son, and she kept those memories close to her heart. “Every word,” says the scripture, was “cherished.”

I have read the words of Jesus many times. I repeat many of them. I feel confused by some of them. To be honest, I ignore some of them. But cherish? I’m not sure that I have ever given Jesus’s words that kind of weight in my own heart. How might we take in all of his words – the challenge, the comfort, the humor – and hold them close to us, to let them live in us?

Ellen Di Giosia

Pray

O God, how often I dismiss your words or try to explain them away.

Give me the clarity to see what you mean and the reverence to cherish them in all their wisdom.

Amen.

Go

Jesus has come, and he is here, living among us. Life will never be the same.

So take a deep breath and turn your eyes to the world. Find him there.