Manna-not-mammon
Manna-not-mammon Podcast
Under Watchful Stone, a Child Sleeps
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Under Watchful Stone, a Child Sleeps

(A Persian-informed reflection on hidden worth, exile, and trust)

This Sunday, the Church keeps the Feast of the Holy Family—a quiet feast marked not by spectacle, but by faithful obedience lived in obscurity.

Scripture records no miracle and no sermon. Instead, it shows a family protecting a child, fleeing danger, returning home, and trusting God long before the world understands who Jesus is. Value is given before it is recognized.

This deep dive reflects on that hidden pattern of God’s work: how what is most precious is often entrusted quietly, formed slowly, and revealed only over time. Drawing from the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt, Jesus’ teaching on seeds and loss, and Paul’s language of patient formation, the reflection considers why faithfulness so often looks ordinary before it bears fruit.

The episode also reaches beyond Scripture to remember lives whose worth became visible only in hindsight—figures who labored, suffered, or gave themselves without assurance of recognition, yet whose faithfulness shaped generations that followed. Their stories echo the same truth first seen in Nazareth: God’s measure of value is not immediate impact, but what is entrusted and preserved through time.

Please listen to the deep dive.

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