Mary’s hidden life in Nazareth, Mary: Day 229

Mary’s hidden life in Nazareth

The Gospels are silent about the life of Jesus between the ages of about twelve and thirty. St. John Paul II explores the meaning of Mary’s “hidden life” with him, as these years are called, before his public ministry began.

During the years of Jesus’ hidden life in the house at Nazareth, Mary’s life too is “hid with Christ in God” (see Col 3:3) through faith. For faith is contact with the mystery of God. Every day Mary is in constant contact with the inef- fable mystery of God made man, a mystery that surpasses everything revealed in the Old Covenant.

From the moment of the Annunciation, the mind of the Virgin-Mother has been initiated into the radical “newness” of God’s self-revelation and has been made aware of the mystery. She is the first of those “little ones” of whom Jesus will say one day: “Father . . . you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes” (see Mt 11:25). For “no one knows the Son except the Father” (Mt 11:27).

If this is the case, how can Mary “know the Son”? Of course she does not know him as the Father does; and yet she is the first of those to whom the Father “has chosen to reveal him” (see Mt 11:26–27; 1 Cor 2:11). If though, from the moment of the Annunciation, the Son—whom only the Father knows completely, as the One who begets him in the eternal “today” (see Ps 2:7)—was revealed to Mary, she, his mother, is in contact with the truth about her Son only in faith and through faith!

She is therefore blessed, because “she has believed” (see Lk 1:45) and con- tinues to believe day after day amidst all the trials and the adversities of Jesus’ infancy, and then during the years of the hidden life at Nazareth, where he “was obedient to them” (Lk 2:51). —St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Mary knew her Son better than any other human being, and she no doubt treasured in her heart and memory the things he said and did during the “hidden” years. If you could ask her about any event or aspect of his life during that time, what would you ask?

CLOSING PRAYER
Lord, let me join Mary in her hiddenness with you; let me say to Jesus in the words of the psalmist: “In you I have hidden! Teach me to do your will, for you are my God” (see Ps 143:9–10).

__________________________________________________________________________
Remember to subscribe to my feed so you will not miss a day! This recurring feature at The Catholic Blogger is possible through the cooperation of author Paul Thigpen and publisher Saint Benedict Press. To get your own copy of this book, click below.