When you reach a certain age you worry about things like your legacy, what you have done with your life and what would have happened if you had made different choices. There is something inside us that even unconsciously compares the outcomes of our life’s achievements with those of others. Physically, financially, spiritually we wonder why we are deficient, why our life hasn’t been marked with “more”: more beauty, more strength, more wealth, more success, more holiness…. Always more.
Hollywood and social media tickle this very human desire to be and to have more. It’s difficult to settle for being ordinary, unknown, insignificant, and not be a major player around whom everything revolves and on whom everything depends. As the years pass and we reach our senior years, this begins to feel a little desperate. We know instinctively that we are running out of time and opportunities to make “more” happen.
The people in Nazareth, the neighbors of Jesus’ mother who still remembered Joseph the carpenter every time they used something he had made for them, wanted more stardom in a prophet. Who does he think he is? We rub elbows with his mother at the village well. We know his family. They are our neighbors. They are just like us. They are no better than us. Who does this Jesus think he is?
Unknowingly, however, they were proclaiming the glory of the human race. God’s Son was born of a virgin, protected and raised by a foster-father who had a normal, everyday job. The Son of God is Emmanuel, God-with-us, God-in-our-midst, God who took flesh from a member of the human race, Mary, and who became a familiar presence as he grew up around the town of Nazareth.
This Gospel passage proclaims the humble origins of the Messiah and the way in which he has “woven” himself, if we could say it that way, into our very humble human reality. We can be sure that as Jesus stands before his Father in heaven, interceding for us, he knows. He knows our reality from the inside out. He understands every bit of our sorrows and the full extent of our joys. He lifts us up into communion with God where we make our forever-home in the Trinity, where we will be eternally “of God” and “in God.” This is what Jesus was inviting his neighbors to join him in, but they wanted more.
Jesus will seem to stumble into your very humble days. In ways that are far from magnificent, he will take up his home in you. As he does this, every day, listen to what he has to say. Let him tease your heart away from the earthly importance you seek, whatever it is, so that he can incorporate you into the glory of the divine life he wishes to share with you for all eternity.
Cuando llegas a cierta edad te preocupas por cosas como tu legado, lo que has hecho con tu vida y lo que hubiera pasado si hubieras tomado decisiones diferentes. Hay algo dentro de nosotros que, incluso inconscientemente, compara los resultados de los logros de nuestra vida con los de los demás. Físicamente, económicamente, espiritualmente nos preguntamos por qué somos deficientes, por qué nuestra vida no ha sido marcada con “más”: más belleza, más fuerza, más riqueza, más éxito, más santidad… Siempre más.
Hollywood y las redes sociales estimulan este deseo tan humano de ser y tener más. Es difícil conformarse con ser corriente, desconocido, insignificante y no ser un actor importante en torno al cual gira todo y del que todo depende. A medida que pasan los años y llegamos a la tercera edad, esto comienza a sentirse un poco desesperado. Sabemos instintivamente que se nos acaba el tiempo y nos quedan pocas oportunidades para hacer que suceda “más”.
La gente de Nazaret, los vecinos de la madre de Jesús que todavía recordaban a José el carpintero cada vez que usaban algo que él había hecho para ellos, querían más estrellato en un profeta. ¿Quién se cree que es? Nos encontramos con su madre en el pozo del pueblo. Conocemos a su familia. Son nuestros vecinos. Son como nosotros. No son mejores que nosotros. ¿Quién se cree que es este Jesús?
Sin embargo, sin saberlo, estaban proclamando la gloria de la raza humana. El Hijo de Dios nació de una virgen, protegido y criado por un padre adoptivo que tenía un trabajo normal y cotidiano. El Hijo de Dios es Emmanuel, Dios con nosotros, Dios en medio de nosotros, Dios que se encarnó de un miembro de la raza humana, María, y que se convirtió en una presencia familiar a medida que crecía en los alrededores de la ciudad de Nazaret.
Este pasaje del Evangelio proclama los humildes orígenes del Mesías y la forma en que él se ha “entretejido”, si así podemos decirlo, en nuestra humilde realidad humana. Podemos estar seguros de que cuando Jesús está ante su Padre en el cielo, intercediendo por nosotros, él lo sabe. Conoce nuestra realidad completa y profundamente. Comprende cada detalle de nuestras tristezas y el alcance total de nuestras alegrías. Nos eleva a la comunión con Dios, donde hacemos nuestro hogar para siempre en la Trinidad, donde seremos eternamente “de Dios” y “en Dios”. Jesús estaba invitando a sus vecinos a unirse a él en esto, pero ellos querían más.
Jesús entrará calladamente en tus días más humildes. De maneras que están lejos de ser magníficas, él establecerá su hogar en ti. Mientras hace esto, todos los días, escuche lo que tiene que decir. Deja que él aleje tu corazón de la importancia terrenal que buscas, sea cual sea, para poder incorporarte a la gloria de la vida divina que desea compartir contigo por toda la eternidad.
Sr. Kathryn James Hermes, FSP, is an author and offers online evangelization as well as spiritual formation for people on their journey of spiritual transformation and inner healing. Website: www.touchingthesunrise.com My Books: https://touchingthesunrise.com/books/
Public Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srkathrynhermes/ HeartWork Spiritual Formation Group: https://touchingthesunrise.com/heartwork/
Feature Image Credit: William Gullo, unsplash.com/photos/a-stained-glass-window-with-a-woman-and-child-_msVF81wr7A
Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki have been married for over 50 years. They are the parents of eight children and thirty-one grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002. He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.
Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at 
Elizabeth Tomlin is the author of Joyful Momentum: Building and Sustaining Vibrant Women’s Groups and contributing author to the Ave Prayer Book for Catholic Mothers. She is General Counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Elizabeth is an Army wife and mother of three and currently lives in the DC area. She blogs at 
Dr. Alexis Dallara-Marsh is a board-certified neurologist who practices in Bergen County, NJ. She is a wife to her best friend, Akeem, and a mother of two little ones on Earth and two others in heaven above.
Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling projects, finding fun ways to keep her little ones occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works full time at Diocesan, is a guest blogger on 
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