@TheLoquaciousLady - You are correct! It was hard to find a photo of the altar in which you could see both Mary and St. John at the Cross; oftentimes poor St. John was behind a pillar. I found the page where the picture came from and apparently it is a photo from an occasion where the Institute of Christ the King (a Tridentine group I guess!) celebrated the classical rite at the Cathedral. I’ll bet it was beautiful!

I actually went to my first Tridentine Mass here in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago. I brought with my my grandmother’s old Daily Missal that she received when she became Catholic at the age of 21 in 1940. She got such a kick out of it when I wrote her and informed her that even after all of these years, her missal “still worked.”

@living_embers - That’s what everyone tells me, world’s largest! The entire ceiling and the upper portions of the walls are all mosaics; it really is an amazing sight. I loved the Tridentine Mass; it was beautiful and gives so much opportunity for personal prayer. It also helped me to appreciate the Novus Ordo (when it is celebrated well!) even more, and I can understand a little better the misconceptions/difficulties people have with the “old” rite. I’m very happy that the rite can be celebrated again, for those who find it more conducive to prayer and worship.

@fading_roses19 - A great feeling to be sure.

@chadwilly - Questions are always welcome!

It seems that by the age of twelve, Jesus at least had an idea of who he was. Mary, Joseph and Jesus had gone to the Temple in Jerusalem and on the way back, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not with them. They returned to Jesrusalem and after looking everywhere for him they found him in the Temple:

“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 his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “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?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man.” (Luke 2:46-52)

It seems by this that Jesus at least had some idea who his Father really was! And also we can deduce that even if Jesus didn’t know, other could recognize it, for example John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb when he sensed the Christ-child was near, and Elizabeth recognizing the same immediately after. Also Simeon and Anna in the temple shortly after his birth, and the Magi before that.

This last sentence is pretty much the only scriptural hint as to Jesus’ youth, known as “the hidden life of Jesus.” Legends and theories abound, everything from going to Britain with Joseph of Armimathea and attending a Druidic school with Pontius Pilate, to traveling east and studying Buddhism. Many saints, scholars and theologians over the past two thousand years, however, have engaged the issue with prayer and deep thought, and many have concluded that Our Lord’s hidden life, while we do not know for certain, was likely very ordinary. He was likely raised mainly by his mother during his youngest years and, when he came of age, began spending more time with his father, learning the carpenter’s trade. Tradition suggests that Joseph died while Jesus was still a young man, perhaps in his early twenties, but again there is little to no scriptural support. Regardless, it seems that Jesus had a peaceful and loving upbringing, little surprise when your mother is the Virgin Mary and the man taking care of you is known to be a just and good one!

@chadwilly - You are always more than welcome. God bless you!

@god_stories - Please forgive the delay in replying, but I wanted to wait until I could spend some time on a reply, to at least honor the time you took to comment in the first place. So, firstly, thank you for taking the time!

Praise God that our experiences are so different! As you mention, he is the living God, and he works in diverse ways.

I’m sorry that my style of writing hasn’t been helpful to you, and your comment has been on my mind regarding that. I suppose that much of it comes from the influence of what I read; fathers of the Church, various saints, mystics, etc. Also, yes, I do write from a Catholic perspective which, for non-Catholics or Catholics who are not as familiar with such topics or writing, could be hard to understand. I do write moreso for a Catholic audience I suppose, but never with the intention of being exclusive to those who are not a part of the Church. The main goal for most of my posts is to try and help fellow Catholics on Xanga appreciate their faith in ways they perhaps never considered and, so far, I’ve been very encouraged by the response. But I am always open to critique and perhaps I do need to be more mindful of those who may not be Catholic who would like to read my blog and try also to benefit in some way from it. I will definitely keep that in mind for the next time I am blessed with the opportunity to blog. It could also be and likely is that we are at two different points along our faith journey; not to say that one of us is ahead or behind, but merely in different places. So please, if ever you are wondering about Catholicism, please feel free to ask anything!

Regarding the Church as Mother: I suppose the idea I was trying to get across is something more like this: All Christians believe that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary; in other words, the Virgin Mary is the mother of Christ and is also the source of his earthly body. There is an ancient tradition in the Church of observing the mystical parallels between Mary and the Church (Hugo Rahner SJ’s book “Our Lady and the Church” is a good one on the topic), and one of the parallels is that just as Mary is the physical mother of Christ, the Church (giving “birth” to the Body of Christ through baptism) is the mother of Christ’s mystical body of believers. There are many other parallels, but I was trying to convey the idea of the Mother Church, not that the Church is in herself some spiritual being, but just as a new way of looking at the Church I suppose. It’s hard to articulate! I can see, though, how non-Catholics would have a difficult time finding anything useful in all that. It wasn’t so long ago, though, when all Christians used “holy mother Church” in every day speech, so who knows what the future holds?

Regarding the consolation of the perfect mother- this is regarding Mary specifically. As the literal Mother of Jesus Christ, Catholics believe that Mary prays for us and loves us as she did her Son, for we are the Body of Christ and just as through baptism we share in Christ’s relationship with the Father as Son/Child, so are we “adopted” in a sense by his mother, though it is not to be paralleled to the Father. It is a motherhood of love and prayer and intercession; all gifts and graces are from God alone. So what some Catholics take from that is when they want a mother to comfort them, a shoulder to cry on, or when we stand before Christ crucified and are tempted to flee, we have the example, the love and prayers of Mary to help us. You are totally right in mentioning the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Amen! We remember, too, the special role that the Holy Spirit had through Mary, both in the Incarnation of the Son of God, as well as the “incarnation” of his mystical body, the Church, in the upper room with the apostles. Many Catholics are consoled by the Holy Spirit through Mary, just as St. John at the Cross was or, I’m sure, many of the apostles and other followers of Christ in the days after his death and after ascension days later.

I don’t know if any of that was helpful; I hope something was. But there are ancient writers who are much more able than I am! But always feel free to ask questions, always. I am more than happy to try and clarify/explain things or whatever, as long as you are as kind and patient as you have been! God bless you!  -Jacob