Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! God bless you and your loved ones.

Cheers!

An Espresso Kit...

An espresso brew kit sent to our friend "Soldier Alex" stationed in A-stan. It's always nice to send our guys roasted beans & caffeine...

Un cafe por favor...

Thoughts on Luke’s Gospel, When Mary and Joseph lose track of Jesus...

Chapter 2, Verses 26-56

When Lost, Head to the Life Guard Station…Church!

By My Wife and Me

Do you believe this story? If so, why? Yes, we believe this story, in the sense that we believe the author of the story and his purposes behind the story. The actual facts of the story may have slightly varied or been heightened to some extent over years of interpretation, but we believe in the truths in which the story conveys. The reason we believe the truths of this story is because of the true-to-life sequence the story takes on. How many of us have experienced God’s powerful hand of “coincidence”, or even the simple act of being lost from our parents or losing track of one of our own children? The symbolism in this story is the real aspect we’re being asked to believe in. The symbolism of being without Christ or lost from Him, then slowly realizing that the way to connect with Christ is at his Father’s Church with His teachings. What’s not to believe? We live with this symbolism… daily!

What is the easiest part of the story to believe? What was the hardest?

The easiest part of the story to believe was that Jesus’ parents lost him. There were times as a child when we’ve all been lost at some store or another. Of course our parents would keep an eye on us, but with all of the product isles and commotion, we’d run off. Undoubtedly we were usually discovered at the ever-popular toy aisle. What about the beach? Haven’t we all experienced being carried a little too far by the waves? We all knew where to go when lost in that scenario…the life guard station! The only difference between real life and Luke’s story is that the life guard station is the church of our beloved God! The hardest part of the story to believe is the actual facts. How old Jesus actually was, the irony of Simeon meeting Jesus at that time, etc. However, in a story such as this, the facts are irrelevant. The meaning and purpose behind the story is what we’re asked to believe. Much of our faith, and even faith in that time, revolved around mysteries that we aren’t intended to question but rather trust in without visibility… through faith!

What is your understanding of this Gospel?

Our understanding of this good message relates to our relationship with Jesus through God’s Church. We thought back to our college days when we were away from our parents’ teachings of Christianity. The state college we went to was secular and taught secular values (moral relativism). We always thought that their causes were well intentioned, but the affects of their ideas did not sit well with our strongly-rooted religious upbringings (i.e. the indifference of traditional marriage, no difference between a mom and a dad; same.) Regardless of good intentions, we always knew that there was something missing in our college education; wisdom. So when we sought out to re-discover the Biblical meaning and reason offered in Mass, we were able to quickly experience them through the Catholic Church. The Catholic ideas and values taught at church helped us re-connect, because we found them very applicable to our daily lives. It is interesting that “religion” in Latin means “to re-connect with” and just as in this passage, Mary and Joseph lose their Son, seek to find Him in the faces of those in their caravan, only to re-discover Him in the only true place He can always be found… in God’s Church.