4Real Forums: The Hidden Life of Nazareth

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

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Topic: The Hidden Life of Nazareth

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stellamaris
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Joined: Feb 26 2009
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Posted: May 21 2009 at 7:18am \| IP Logged

In today's Mary Vitamin, the topic for meditation concerned living our home life in imitation of the hidden life in Nazareth of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This quote from Pope Benedict XVI leapt out at me:

Pope Benedict XVI's Homily at Nazareth on May 14, 2009

"God's plan for the family, the love of husband and wife bears fruit in new life, and finds daily expression in the loving efforts of parents to ensure an integral human and spiritual formation for their children. In the family each person, whether the smallest child or the oldest relative, is valued for himself or herself, and not seen simply as a means to some other end. Here we begin to glimpse something of the essential role of the family as the first building-block of a well-ordered and welcoming society."

This perfectly expresses my philosophy of education: "to ensure an integral human and spiritual formation " and to value my child for who they are in God's plan and "not...simply as means to some other end.". It is this vision of integral development of the human person that I want to more faithfully implement in my home. So I'm meditating on Jesus's life in Nazareth as a child and musing on how I could go about more successfully integrating the areas of my children's lives: work, study, prayer, play. I'm thinking that for us, the pace of life needs to slow down considerably. The focus of the day needs to somehow be more on contributing to the family welfare (working together as a team) and less on the individual effort. Education itself needs to be more firmly anchored on the concept of serving God through the full development of one's potential and less oriented to ego-satisfaction. The valuing of the individual person for who they are in themselves must reflect the realization and acceptance of God's purposes for that person. Any of your thoughts on this subject would be a great help to me in my feeble pursuit of a more faithful imitation of the home life of Jesus in Nazareth.

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In Christ,
Caroline
Wife to

dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4

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BrendaPeter
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Joined: Feb 28 2005
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Posted: May 21 2009 at 8:10pm \| IP Logged

That's beautiful Caroline. The recent Mary Vitamin's have been meaningful to me as well. On Sunday, as part of my formation to become a Franciscan tertiary, the formator mentioned Our Lady at Nazareth so it seems that Our Lord wants me to give this some thought.

I've been thinking about my day and how Our Lady would have handled the circumstances that make up my daily life.

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Blessings,

Brenda (mom to 6)

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