Working with the Word

Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: child grew and became strong

To the point: “The child grew and became strong ... ” This simple affirmation about the Child says something about the whole mystery of the Incarnation, about families, and about holiness. Mary and Joseph, no doubt, grew into their role as parents of Jesus, beginning with their fulfilling the prescriptions of the law. We grow as a human family as we respond to the many different ways God calls us to holiness. This is the meaning of the Incarnation: growth in God's ways.

Connecting the Gospel …

… to the First Reading: God's promise of salvation comes to fulfillment through the enfleshment of human life: the son born to Abraham and Sarah, the Child parented by Mary and Joseph and tenderly recognized by Simeon and Anna. This promise continues to be enfleshed today as we grow in holiness.

… to experience: The point to this feast is not to create a tension between a notion of an ideal nuclear family and our actual experience of family. Growing in holiness is possible no matter what our family situation.

**From Saint Louis University