LIFE AT NAZARETH
3. How Long It Lasted.
This hidden life lasted until the time came for Jesus to go out and preach abroad. And if that need had not come, Mary would have remained in that hidden life all Her life. Here is indeed a practical lesson. The Son of God is not in a hurry to quit His hiding place. He will only come into the limelight when obedience and the glory of His Father demand it. Would it not have been better for Him to preach, say for six, ten or fifteen years rather than for just three? How many souls would He have converted, how many things He could have taught to the world? But what was He doing down in Nazareth for such a long time? Was not that squandering of days and years quite at variance with His work of redemption? Does it not seem undignified for the Messias and Redeemer to spend thirty years apparently doing nothing? What of His mission of redemption? After all, it was for this that He had come into the world. And yet the wisdom of God did not think of it this way. God wanted to give us a supreme lesson of humility. He wanted to teach us how to combat our pride and vanity. Hard is the lesson and little do we profit by it.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
3. How Long It Lasted.
This hidden life lasted until the time came for Jesus to go out and preach abroad. And if that need had not come, Mary would have remained in that hidden life all Her life. Here is indeed a practical lesson. The Son of God is not in a hurry to quit His hiding place. He will only come into the limelight when obedience and the glory of His Father demand it. Would it not have been better for Him to preach, say for six, ten or fifteen years rather than for just three? How many souls would He have converted, how many things He could have taught to the world? But what was He doing down in Nazareth for such a long time? Was not that squandering of days and years quite at variance with His work of redemption? Does it not seem undignified for the Messias and Redeemer to spend thirty years apparently doing nothing? What of His mission of redemption? After all, it was for this that He had come into the world. And yet the wisdom of God did not think of it this way. God wanted to give us a supreme lesson of humility. He wanted to teach us how to combat our pride and vanity. Hard is the lesson and little do we profit by it.
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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