In the Womb of the Father's House

The fifth Joyful Mystery is the finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple when he was 12 years old.

Too often this is seen by some as an example where Jesus the boy was disobedient to his parents Mary and Joseph. The story goes that they had come up to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festivities and had come up with relatives in a caravan. When it was time to go back home they thought Jesus to be among his kin. However, he turned out to be missing and Mary and Joseph searched until they found him on the third day in the Temple. He was sitting surrounded by the priests and teachers of the Law. They were asking him questions and they were amazed at his answers.

When Mary and Joseph asked Jesus how he could do such a thing and that they were worried sick, he replied with a question, "Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's House about His business?" The story says that Jesus went with them quietly and grew in grace and wisdom, and Mary for her part is pondering all these things in her heart, "for they did not understand what he was saying to them."

In the Womb of the Father's House was where Jesus was called to be by his Father at that moment. Jesus the boy was aware of his Eternal Begetting from the Womb of the Father's Bosom. He sought the earthly dwelling of his Father prompted the Spirit of Love shared between Them. In the earthly Womb of the Temple where the Holy of Holies was and the Shekinah dwelt Jesus was at home. He was (at this time of his life) protected and nourished by the earthly dialogue with the priests and teachers of the Law which was a reflection of and earthly extension of the Eternal Dialogue of the Word with God His Father.

In our Catholic parishes, the Holy of Holies is present. The Word made Flesh made Bread for our sake dwells in the Womb of the Tabernacle. The Word is proclaimed at every Mass and is received by the faithful as the Bread come down from Heaven. Each parish is truly the Father's House wherein the Truth about Jesus and flowing from that ourselves is shared and discovered. In this dialogue of the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the R.C.I.A., the Children's Faith Formation, etc... the People of God should be protected and nourished and midwived into new life. As the Apostle Paul said, "I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you (Gal 4:19).”

Sadly in some parishes, the latest fads in experimental liturgy and speculative theology are all the rage, while sound doctrine is ignored and even openly rejected and sneered at. Jesus was not disobedient to Joseph and Mary as it may appear at first glance. In the Father's House, all are called to the obedience of faith. Those who are newborns in the faith who need pure spiritual milk to start on and then good solid food of mature doctrine are deprived and grow up weakly formed on spiritual junk food. They are not protected and nourished in this womb as they should be. Many who mislead these little ones are only passing on the ingrained heresies they themselves have been taught. There is a great need to re-evangelize and re-catechize the the Catholics who have been malnourished the last forty years.

Again the words of St. Paul. “ Although you should be teachers by this time, you need to have someone teach you again the basic elements of the utterances of God. You need milk, [and] not solid food. Everyone who lives on milk lacks experience of the word of righteousness, for he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties are trained by practice to discern good and evil” (Heb. 5-12-14)

The Man Jesus (das Mann)came back to the Temple and drove out the money changers who were there for personal profit and had no intention of helping to see that a pure sacrifice be offered. The spiritually mature man of God needs to rise up in reponse to the Holy Spirit who calls and be a defense for the ignorant and weak in the local parish setting. The Spirit pours out the seven-fold gifts including courage and wisdom on those who ask. It's time to ask.