Daily Reflection for Thursday, March 19, 2020
Solemnity of St Joseph
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Thursday's readings at this link: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031920.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:4-5A, 12-14A, 16
Responsorial: Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29
Second Reading: Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24A or Luke 2:41-51a
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings:
“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2: 48-49
Reflecting on scripture for this ministry continues to deepen and in this past week amidst COVID-19, even more so. I look to the readings of the day for rest and for comfort. I search for messages that help me pause in love and in hope. I soak in the words to give me strength.
I am blessed to direct a retreat center. The business of the retreat center has come to a halt. Retreats and programs have been cancelled and the physical building is closed to the public. As I read the readings today, I look for insight to move a retreat center from a physical presence to a virtual presence, still available to a community who look to us as a place of pause and a place for spiritual nourishment.
I find the reading from Luke today so tangible for me. This is the story about when Mary and Joseph were young in parenthood and in a busy city, they lose Jesus. How frightened they must have been, filled with great anxiety, as they search for young Jesus in the crowd. I can only imagine the relief they felt. It was a relief mixed with stern concern and love. I also imagine there was a strong sense of gratefulness as they let go of worry and anxiety when they found their son in the place where they should have looked for him in the beginning, in his Father’s house
I look to this young Jesus today. To this child who has much to teach me. “I have been looking for you Jesus with great anxiety,” I say. I share in Mary and Joseph’s relief today, when I find young Jesus saying to me; “Margie, I am here in my Father’s house.” So, as I look for ways to use the platform of a retreat center to work in support of a community, I will look for relief in God’s house and invite the community to do the same.
In these uncertain times, may you find some relief in God’s house,
Margarita Solis Deal