The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Today we return to Timothy's studio and this sculpture of the Holy Family. (Some great close-ups offer interesting detail on this grouping here.)
Rare are the pieces showing Jesus in Joseph's arms when Mary is nearby but certainly there were many times when the two delighted in the baby they cared for and raised. A number of paintings image Joseph off to the side, chin in hand, looking confused or worried - or both. Although we know little of Joseph after the infancy accounts, there's no reason for us not to imagine his gentle, loving care for his foster-son.

Mary and Joseph,
what joy you must have taken in this child
when, finally, you were able to settle down.
First the trip to be enrolled in Bethlehem;
then the unusual visitors from the heavens,
from the fields, and from the East;
then fleeing to Egypt for his safety...
Finally back in Nazareth,
how grateful you must have been
just to be home, with your baby.
Do you remember showing him
to your family and neighbors?
Did they think him as beautiful as you did?
Did you sit, as parents do, simply watching him?
Watching him sleep and watching his every move?
Looking in his eyes to see if he knew you
and listening for the soft sounds you knew
were his first words of love to you?
Do you remember seeing him smile and laugh
for the first time?

In these days after Christmas,
bring us home to be with him,
to hold him in our hearts,
to wait for his smiles and sounds of love
and to trust that they are for us...