Amber Alert

Jesus goes missing. Thinking he's in their caravan, Mary and Joseph lose track of him—FOR THREE DAYS.

As a parent, that passage takes on new meaning. I can't even imagine the anxiety Mary and Joseph were feeling. Though it was a different time, a different culture, he was still a 12-year-old boy.

But I can also imagine the strange pride they must have felt to know that their boy was so drawn to the temple, drawn to the words of the faith tradition they had shared with him. I wonder what it felt like to hear him greet them by saying:

“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Did they sense then that he shared a special relationship with the God of their people? Did they know he would be called to something greater? It certainly sounds like, even then, he felt a special call to listen, to hear, to study, and to question. People were amazed by him, the Gospel says.

But he went back home and was obedient. It would another two decades before he began to answer that call in earnest.

I hope I give my son the opportunity to hear God's call, and the support to take it on even if it's difficult.

And I pray to remember that God is calling me, too, and that it's never too late—or too soon—to answer.