'They suffered with the people because of the demands of the Gospel.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Jesus teaches in the synagogue in Nazareth

The video  moves into the opening verses of next Sunday's Gospel.

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Today's Gospel in Filipino Sign Language

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, St Luke tells us. Thirty-nine years ago in the Diocese of Bacolod on the island of Negros, where I spent my last 15 years in the Philippines, the Spirit led nine men to jail, three priests and six laymen, all falsely charged with multiple murder. Fourteen months were to pass before the nine were released.

Two of the priests were Columbans, Fr Brian Gore from Australia and the late Fr Niall O'Brien from Ireland. The third was a diocesan priest, Fr Vicente Dangan, now deceased.

The six laymen, all working for the Church during the very difficult Martial Law years in the Philippines, were Jesus S. Arzaga, Peter Cuales, Lydio J. Mangao, Conrado Muhal (RIP), Geronimo T. Perez (RIP) and Ernesto Tajones. They became known as The Negros Nine and you can find their photos here. 

While the Negros Nine were in jail in Bacolod City the late Bishop Antonio Y. Fortich appointed the three priests as chaplains there. The vast majority of prisoners were from poor backgrounds and their cases were being constantly put back. The three priests, as well as ministering to the spiritual needs of the prisoners were able to get lawyer-friends to follow up on the cases of many of those languishing, wondering if they would ever get out.

As a result of this, many of them did. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . .

    

The Negros Nine in prison, 1983-84

L to R: Lydio Mangao,  Peter Cuales, Jesus Arzaga, Fr Vicente Dangan(+), Geronimo Perez(+), Fr Brian Gore, Conrado Muhal(+), Fr Niall O'Brien(+), Ernesto Tajones

A shallow charge that is often made is that those who are pro-life when it comes to the unborn and abortion are really only 'pro-birth' and not interested in the lives of children once they are born.

My friend Lala and her friend Jordan, whom I also know, might dispute this if they had the ability to express themselves in such a way. Lala was left in a garbage bin after birth and raised by the Daughters of Charity in Cebu City. She was born with Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome) and Jordan with intellectual and physical disabilities. They have lived for many years now in the L'Arche community in Cainta, Rizal, part of the Manila urban sprawl. Over the years those who have chosen to live with Lala, Jordan and others for long periods, enabling them to live normal lives, have come from as far away as Germany and Japan.

Lala feeding Jordan 

I told this story last week, but no harm to repeat it as it reflects the photo of Lala and Jordan above. The late King Baudouin of the Belgians, about whom I've written in the two previous Sunday Reflections, wrote in a letter to a young mother about a children's party that he and Queen Fabiola had hosted: 

In one corner there was a group of handicapped children, several of them with Down's Syndrome. I brought a plateful of toffees to a little girl who had scarcely any manual control. With great difficulty, she succeeded in taking a toffee but, to my astonishment, she gave it to another child. Then for a long time, without ever keeping one for herself, she distributed these sweets (candies) to all the healthy children who could not believe their eyes. What a depth of love there is in these physically handicapped bodies . . .

Lala and the little girl who astonished King Baudouin are truly sisters in Christ. He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. King Baudouin and the able-bodied children with whom the little girl with the disabilities shared her toffees were poor in spirit in the sense that St Matthew means in the first of the Beatitudes, ie, they knew their need of God. They recognised God's presence at the party, just as those who know Lala, especially those who live in L'Arche with her, recognise that this Scripture has been fulfilled in their presence and is being fulfilled each day.

The Negros Nine were involved in organising Christian Communities where people would work together for the peace and justice that the Gospel demands in an area of awful poverty for many, poverty caused by greed. They suffered with the people because of the demands of the Gospel. Those of the Negros Nine who remain continue to work for justice and peace through the Negros Nine Human Development Foundation. Among other things the foundation is involved in trying to prevent the trafficking of women and minors. To set at liberty those who are oppressed . . .

Six years ago while looking for a musical setting of the Entrance Antiphon I discovered Cantate Domino in B-flat, a setting of part of Psalm 96 (95) in Latin from which the Antiphon is taken, by Japanese composer Ko Matsushita. This came out of the Sing for Japan Choir Project, an international response to the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011. I had not heard of Ko Matsushita nor had I heard of the Sing for Japan Choir Project. I discovered quite a few videos of Cantate Domino in B-flat. Here it is sung by SYC Ensemble Singers of Singapore conducted by the composer. 

Cantate Domino in B-flat

A setting of Psalm 95 [96]:1-2, 4-6, 11 in Latin.

Composed by Ko Matsushita who here conducts the SYC Ensemble Singers, Singapore.

Antiphona ad introitum  Entrance Antiphon Ps 95[96]:1, 6

Cantate Domino canticum novum,

O sing a new song to the Lord,

cantate Domino, omnis terra.

sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Confessio et pulchritudo in conspectu eius,

In his presence are majesty and splendour,

sanctitas et magnificentia in sanctificatione eius.

strength and honour in his holy place.

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-23-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 12:16-21.  Gospel: Matthew 8:1-13.

Jesus Healing a Leper

Italian Mosaic Artist

Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily

[Wikipedia; photo] Matthew 8:1-14

‘As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.’ Sunday Reflections, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

 

Miracle at Cana

[Source: Ignatius Press]

As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you (First Reading, Isaiah 62:5).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel John 2:1-11 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Santo Niño de Cebú

[Wikipedia; photo]

Feast of the Santo Niño, Philippines

On the third Sunday of January the Church in the Philippines celebrates the Feast of the Santo Niño, the Holy Child. You will find Sunday Reflections for that Feast here. 

The Sunday Reflections below focus on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. 

Wedding of King Baudoin and Queen Fabiola 

15 December 1960

I have used this material before. I truly believe that the lives of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola can speak to all Christians no matter what their state of life or social position may be.

Last Sunday I featured the late King Baudouin of the Belgians. This week I feature him again, with Queen Fabiola, who died on 5 December 2014. The King died suddenly on 31 July 1993. In his spiritual biography of the King, Baudouin, King of the Belgians, The Hidden Life, the late Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, tells the remarkable story of how Baudouin and Fabiola met. The matchmaker of the marriage of Baudouin and Fabiola was an Irish woman, Veronica O'Brien.  

Veronica was envoy of the Legion of Mary to France and some other European countries. Much 'cloak and dagger' work was involved in finding a wife and queen for the young king. Much more importantly, much prayer was involved too, prayer that was basically a searching for God's will. They became formally engaged in Lourdes, France, King Baudouin travelling incognito, as he always did when he went there. (There are references online in obituaries of the King and elsewhere to Veronica O'Brien as 'Sister Veronica'. She was not a religious but a lay person. Members of the Legion of Mary address each other as 'Brother' and 'Sister' only during Legion meetings, not elsewhere). 

The couple were married in Brussels on 15 December 1960. The video shows part of the church wedding, which took place immediately after the civil wedding. In a number of European countries a separate civil ceremony is required by law and takes place before the church celebration. The King wrote in his spiritual diary for that day: Normally we are awake by day and dream at night, but this time it's as if I'm in a dream all day. 

On 8 July 1978 Baudouin wrote in his diary: My God, I thank you for having led us by the hand to the feet of Mary, and every day since then, I thank you, Lord, that we have been able to love each other in your Love, and that that love has grown each day.

And Queen Fabiola wrote to Veronica: I knew Our Blessed Lady was a Queen and a Mother, and all sorts of other things, but I never knew that she was a Matchmaker!

Quoting the Queen led Cardinal Suenens to quote a Spanish verse: 

Cristo dijo a su Madre 

el dia de la Asunción 

no te vaya de este mundo 

sin pasar por Aragón.

Christ said to his Mother 

on the day of the Assumption: 

do not leave this world 

without passing through Aragón.

Before her marriage the Queen was Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.

King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola in 1969
[Wikipedia; photo]

The Cardinal quotes freely from Baudouin's diary about Queen Fabiola.

Fill Fabiola with your holiness. May she live her life in your joy and your peace. Teach me to love her with your own tenderness . . .

Fabiola is so loving; she warms my heart. Her silent, yet active presence is a source of great joy to me. My God, how you have spoiled me!

Thank you, Jesus, for having nurtured in me an immense love for my wife. Thank you for having given me a spouse whose love for me is second only to her love for You. May we both grow in you, Lord.

When Veronica O'Brien met Fabiola in Spain she asked the young woman, who had no idea where things were leading, why she had never married. She replied, What can I say? I have never fallen in love up to now. I have put my life into the hands of God. I abandon myself to Him, maybe he is preparing something for me.

Veronica recounted all of this in a letter to the King and concluded, It was utterly astounding, because I knew exactly what God was preparing for her.

Thirty years later the King wrote in his spiritual diary: Mary, show me what I should do so as not to miss an opportunity of loving, of denying myself for your sake, of living the present moment to the full, as if it were my last, and of loving my darling Fabiola infinitely more. Yes, Mother, teach me to love her with tenderness, gentleness, thoughtfulness, respect, and teach me to have faith in her . . .

And Baudouin, addressing the Lord, wrote, Teach me too to respect her personality with its differences and its inconsistencies. Jesus, I thank you for having given me this wonderful treasure.

Both King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola in these extracts reflect the spirituality of a book that Cardinal Suenens had given the King before he met his future queen and wife, Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade SJ. One English translation of this masterpiece has the title The Sacrament of the Present Moment, which captures the essence of the book, that God's will is in the present moment.

Shortly before he left for Motril, Spain, in 1993, where he died suddenly, King Baudouin confided to Cardinal Suenens and Veronica O'Brien, I love Fabiola more and more each day: what an inspiration she is to me!

This led the Cardinal to quote Jean Guitton, the first lay person to be invited to Vatican II as an observer, Love is always fruitful, were it only because it transforms those who love.

Children's Games (detail)

Pieter Bruegel the Elder [Web Gallery of Art]

One of the great sorrows in the life of Baudouin and Fabiola as a married couple was that they had no children. The Queen had five miscarriages. Reflecting on this, the King said to a group visiting the Palace, We have pondered on the meaning of this suffering and, bit by bit, we have come to see that it meant that our heart was freer to love all children, absolutely all children.

In a letter to a young mother the King wrote about a children's party that he and the Queen had hosted at the Palace: In one corner there was a group of handicapped children, several of them with Down's syndrome. I brought over a plateful of toffees to a little girl who had scarcely any manual control. With great difficulty, she succeed in taking a toffee but, to my astonishment, she gave it to another child. Then for a long time, without ever keeping one for herself, she distributed these sweets (candies) to all the healthy children who could not believe their eyes. What a depth of love there is in those physically handicapped bodies . . .

One by one the children left. We really felt as if they had become in some sense our children. I think they felt it too. It was a very special afternoon; the presence of the Lord was really tangible. There was such peace and joy. That was pure gift!

I have read Baudouin, King of the Belgians, The Hidden Life, a number of times and each time I am moved by it. I see in it a reflection of what's in today's gospel: his gratitude to God, like the gratitude of all at the wedding feast, not mentioned explicitly but clearly there; his and Fabiola's submission to God's will through Mary: Do whatever he tells you; and the extraordinary generosity of Jesus, God and Man, turning water into  the equivalent of about 500 or 600 bottles of the best wine, a generosity that led Baudouin and Fabiola, who couldn't have children of their own, to see that our heart was freer to love all children, absolutely all children.

When we allow him, Jesus can turn the very ordinary in our lives into the extraordinary, just as a little girl with physical and mental disabilities revealed the presence of God to the King of the Belgians, just as Fabiola, his wife and queen, was a daily revelation of God's loving presence to him.

God has the same desire to reveal himself to each of us every day, specifically in the present moment. And He has given us his Mother, who is our Mother also, to guide us with her words of absolute faith, do whatever he tells you.

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-16-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Romans 12:6-16.  Gospel: John 2:1-11.

This Sunday the Mass in both forms uses the same Gospel.

Marriage at Cana (detail)

Paolo Veronese [Web Gallery of Art]

'The baptismal font that unites the child with the Body of Christ and the life of the Church.' Sunday Reflections, The Baptism of the Lord, Year C

 

The Baptism of Christ

Francesco Mochi [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Note: In the New American Bible (NAB) lectionary you will find an alternative First Reading, Responsorial Psalm and Second Reading that may be used in Year C.  The Jerusalem Bible version above gives only only what the NAB gives as alternative readings and psalm. The Gospel below is always read in Year C.

Gospel Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 (Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition)  

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,  John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Comfort ye, my people

From Handel's Messiah

Tenor: Jon Vickers; Conductor: Sir Thomas Beecham

This is the beginning of the alternative First Reading of today's Mass (Isaiah 40:1-3). The translation is that of the Authorized (King James) Version, used by Handel.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

Baptism of Christ

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

At our baptism the Father spoke the same words to each of us, his beloved sons and daughters. At Mass yesterday, Saturday, these powerful words of St John were read: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins  (1 John 4:9-10).

At our baptism, as at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan the love of God was made manifest among us. What greater assurance can we have of God's love?

In 1984 a young person in Belgium full of anger towards everything connected with religion wrote a letter to an older person, a layman, expressing his feelings. The older man replied, in part:

When I was still a teenager, I discovered that God, in the person of Jesus, loved us and loved me with a love that is foolish, but very real. He suffered the most excruciating torture in order to save us, to save me, to save each one of us personally from the grip of evil, and to enable us to share, if we so will, in his divine life. That, if we accept him, his Father will become our Father, my Father. That Mary, his mother, will also become my mother, our mother.

From that day on my life changed. By that I mean my way of looking at things, because I'm afraid I'm still the same poor chap, with the same faults as before. But my weaknesses don't discourage me any longer: on the contrary, they provide me with a reason for trusting totally in the all-powerful strength of my Father who is also your Father.

The ‘same poor chap’ who wrote that letter was the late King Baudouin of the Belgians who died suddenly in 1993. In it he was taking to heart the words of the First Letter of St John: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And in recognising that he himself is still the same poor chap he is acknowledging that Jesus is not ashamed of him, no more than Jesus was ashamed of the sinners he lined up with to be baptized by John, even if he himself was utterly sinless.

King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola in 1969

[Wikipedia]

King Baudouin wasn't ashamed of his subjects or of those who came to his country from elsewhere. The London newspaper, The Independent, carried an astonishing story about his funeral (I've highlighted some parts):

A former prostitute paid an emotional homage to King Baudouin at the funeral Mass. One of a handful of people chosen to deliver orations, Luz, a Filipino, praised the King for his fight against the international sex trade. She stood in silence as a writer, Chris de Stoop, read aloud the words she had written. She had met the King when he paid a highly-publicised visit to a brothel in Antwerp, and De Stoop said both the King and Queen had wanted her to address the funeral. This was her homage:

Now my friend passed away, who else can help us? I come from Manila. My family is very poor. I was promised a nice job in Europe. But Belgian men put us in a sex club. Belgian men put us in prostitution. We cried and we refused. But nobody could help us. We were forced. We were treated like slaves. When I could run away, I was arrested by police. I had many problems. 

Last year the King came to see us in Antwerp. We were five girls there. We cried again but it was different tears. The King was holding my arm. He listened to me. Only the King listened to us. He was shocked. There are too many victims here. From Manila. From Bangkok. From Santo Domingo. From Budapest. From eastern Europe. All looking for a better life in the West. All pushed into prostitution. The King was fighting against this sex trade. He was standing up for us. He was a real king. I called him my friend.

Mary Magdalene in Penitence

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

King Baudouin, living his faith in Jesus Christ, brought hope into the lives of people on the margins, the hope that Jesus brought into the world by standing with us sinners in the River Jordan. The King himself had suffered much in his lifetime. His mother, Princess Astrid of Sweden, died in a car accident when he was only five. He, his sister and brother, with their father King Leopold III were under house arrest during World War II and spent part of it in Germany. In 1951 Leopold, a cause of bitter division in Belgium because of his surrender to Nazi Germany in 1940, abdicated and his elder son took over, not yet 21.

In 1960 the young king married Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón from Spain. To their great sorrow, they had no children. Queen Fabiola had five miscarriages.

In 1990 King Baudouin asked the government to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he wouldn't have to sign a bill legalising abortion. The government agreed. The King's stand was one of principle, though he was unable to stop the law coming into force.

King Baudouin went to Mass every day and to confession regularly. The baptism of Jesus by St John the Baptist might spur each of us on to avail of the sacrament of reconciliation often and to us priests to make ourselves available for it. The King would write a 'thought for the day' in his pocket diary, a text from the Mass.

And in that diary, after his death, this prayer was found:

Lord, make us suffer with the suffering of others. 

Lord, let us never again keep our happiness to ourselves. 

Make us share the agony of all suffering humanity. 

And deliver us from ourselves, if that is in accordance with your will.

Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens

[Wikipedia]

The king’s close friend and biographer, Cardinal Suenens, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, wrote that Baudouin once confided to a friend his purpose in being King of the Belgians:

To love his country, 

to pray for his country, 

and to suffer for his country.

King Baudouin lived out his baptism as a disciple of Jesus, knowing that through baptism he was a brother of Jesus and of the Belgian people he was called to serve. He lived out the sacrament of matrimony by his great love for his wife and queen, Fabiola. He truly believed that Jesus loved him with a deep personal love.

Though none of us is a king or queen, Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, loves each of us with that same personal love and draws us into the love of his Father as our Father. And we can adapt King Baudouin’s words in expressing his purpose in being king as our purpose in living out our baptism:

To love our family, community, country, 

to pray for our family, community, country, 

and to suffer for our family, community, country.

Baptistry, St Mark's Cathedral-Basilica, Venice

Italian Mosaic Artist [Web Gallery of Art]

Baisteadh

leis An Athair Pádraig Ó Croiligh

Nuair a chaoineann páiste ag an Bhaisteadh

Deirtear go bhfuil sé sona.

An é go dtuigeann an páiste ag an aois sin

An bhaint idir Eaglais agus céasadh Chríost?

Nó an dtuigeann an páiste an chiall

Atá le sagartacht, ríogacht and fáidheoireacht

An uair a chuirtear an ola ar a cheann?

Éide bhán, ola agus coinneall,

Ní mó iad ná an t-uisce a dhoirtear ar a chloigeann.

Agus is comhartha cinnte arís é

Pobal na clainne atá bailithe timpeall.

Umar an bhaiste a aontaíonn an páiste

Le Corp Chríost agus le saol na hEaglaise

Tionchar an phobail agus críonnacht na muintire

A chuireann fás faoin saol úr i gCríost.

From Brúitíní Creidimh published by Foilseacháin Ábhar Spioradálta, 2005.

Baptism

by Fr Pádraig Ó Croiligh

My non-poetic, literal translation from the Irish.

When a child cries during Baptism

It is said to be happy.

Is it that the child at that age understands

The connection between Church and the Crucifixion of Christ?

Or does the child understand the meaning of

Priesthood, kingship and prophecy

When it is anointed on the head?

A white garment, oil and candle,

But none more important than the water poured on the child's head.

And another sure sigh is

The family community gathered around.

The baptismal font that unites the child

With the Body of Christ and the life of the Church.

The influence of the faithful and the wisdom of the community

Bring growth to this new life in Christ.

Pater Noster

Our Father sung in Latin by St John Paul II

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

First Sunday after the Epiphany

Feast of the Holy Family

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 01-09-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: Colossians 3:12-17.  Gospel: Luke 2:42-52.

Christ Among the Doctors

Leonaert Bramer [Web Gallery of Art]