The Finding of Jesus in the Temple<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s funny because in order for someone (Mary and Joseph) to find Jesus, first they had to lose Him. \u00a0Easier said than done when your kid is without sin.<\/p>\nNow it\u2019s easy to just blame Joseph for the whole disaster, but let\u2019s remember that Mary is a bona fide mother. \u00a0She was on the trip, and her kid got lost. \u00a0Now if you were on a trip, and you were a mother, and your kid got lost, what would you do? \u00a0You would blame yourself. That\u2019s what mothers do. \u00a0\u201cI should have remembered to make sure Jesus was with Joseph.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI should have double-checked that Jesus was with us when we left the Temple.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI should have developed a routine six pilgrimages ago about how to communicate before hand so this kind of thing wouldn\u2019t happen.\u201d \u201cI should have known that He\u2019d go back to the Temple, He\u2019s like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because this blaming thing is so ingrained in us, people will actually tell you that the Losing of the Child Jesus is proof\u00a0against<\/em> the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. \u00a0If Mary had been a good mother, they say, her kid would not have gotten lost.<\/p>\nBut here\u2019s the thing about sin, the thing we need to know: You can be a perfect mother, raising a perfect child, and your kid can still get lost. \u00a0Your kid can even end up tortured to death.<\/p>\n
Bad things can happen on your watch\u00a0that aren\u2019t your fault.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Immaculate Conception is about a lot of things, all of them worth attending Mass to commemorate. \u00a0But this particular thing, that we can sometimes be innocent when it feels like we are not, that we can sometimes have done the right thing and still have everything turn out unspeakably wrong? \u00a0What about that?<\/p>\n
People could be blaming you right now for stuff that happened because you don\u2019t know everything and can\u2019t control everything. \u00a0But God will look on you and say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m the Omniscient and Omnipotent One, not you, so let Me climb on that cross and take the hit, you\u2019re guilty of plenty but not of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think that makes the Immaculate Conception a feast day we desperately need.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
*This suggests that if you want to avoid sin and do good, it might be better to avoid trying to do spectacular things. \u00a0Unless, of course, God wants you to do them, in which case, you must. \u00a0Mary\u2019s life as a model for the Christian life: Usually humdrum, sometimes spectacular, sometimes just absolutely, heart-piercingly awful.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th, is a holy day of obligation in the United States, which means you need to go Mass. \u00a0Answering some common questions: Dr. Ed Peters, Canon Lawyer, explains that no, you mustn\u2019t try to kill two birds with one stone by counting a Sunday evening Mass as both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,329,12,60],"tags":[354,353,352,351,319,355,232],"class_list":["post-2398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-qa","category-history","category-liturgical-living","category-sacred-art-music","tag-be-like-jesus","tag-be-like-mary","tag-come-to-mass-ugly","tag-holy-day-of-obligation","tag-immaculate-conception","tag-mary-conceived-without-sin","tag-sunday-obligation"],"yoast_head":"\n
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