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Dearest Lord Jesus: It is still your birthday and how sad that people insist that Christmas is just for kids, forgetting there won't be Christmas at all without adults like Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah.
but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at is understanding and his answers.
Luke 2:45-47
Teach us, dear Jesus, to go back to Jerusalem - to go back to prayer and simplicity and humility, to go back to God as adults to find you again this Christmas; so many of us have been so busy with so many other things in life like career and earning a living, or this season when we were so caught up with the rush and madness that we have forgotten about you found first in the family.
Yes, Lord Jesus, you willed in your becoming human to dwell among us that you be born in a family, in the husband and wife of Joseph and Mary; we pray for couples going through crises in their relationships or have separated already by choice or circumstances; we pray for families where everyone is forgetting one's role, losing respect for one another that they can no longer find you in the love they must have for each other; we pray for children who refuse to honor their mother and father in words and in deeds.
Let us find you again, dear Jesus like a child in our sense of wonder and awe among our family members' daily and simple acts of kindness and love; let us find you again, dear Jesus in our being our true selves as children of the Father belonging to one family; and most of all, let us be grateful again for our families for their gifts of life and presence despite our many imperfections for it is only with a grateful heart that we truly remain like children at heart, always believing and trusting in God who is our life and meaning. Amen.
