By Bill Dodds | Catholic News Service

First, a disclaimer: I'm not a Scripture scholar. Full disclosure: I'm not a scholar.

As someone who has spent part of the past 40 years writing fiction, it's easy for me to picture people and scenes and to "eavesdrop" on what they're saying to each other.

Lately, I've been thinking about the Virgin Mary and St. Luke. You may know that tradition says Luke and Mary were close and that's why his Gospel includes some material about her that's not in the other three.

Luke mentions Joseph and Mary misplacing Jesus for a few days and then finding him in the temple. I've had a child wander from me in the grocery store, or I've wandered away from him or her, but it was only a matter of a worried minute or so before we were reunited. My little one wasn't the Son of God, the Messiah, so I didn't have that added pressure.

It seems safe to assume that Mary told the story to Luke or he wouldn't have been able to record it. It appears that Mary, born without sin and sinless all her life, um, made a mistake. She lost her child for three days. That's a long, long time to be searching. Years later, she told someone who was going to make the story public.

God bless her for sharing the story. God bless her for pointing out that even in a family without sin, mistakes can be made. A teen can assume his parents will know where he is. A dad can assume he's with his mom. A mom can assume the child is with his father, and all of them can be wrong.

Apparently, even the Holy Family wasn't "perfect" all the time, if the definition of that word means mistake-free.

I've thought of that more since my wife, Monica, died two years ago. I remember the good times, the blessed times, but also the times when I made mistakes. I remember the actions that, unintentionally, caused her concern or pain. Even now, with grown children and as a grandparent, I still make mistakes.

Mary, in her generous humility, offers comfort to every spouse, parent, grandparent, every son or daughter, every sibling, every family member and friend who has made a mistake involving the family.

"We all make mistakes," she says to each of us. "Let me tell you one of mine."