Mary, no doubt, has been watching her first-born son carefully all these years. We can remember her treasuring the strange portents and encounters that marked his birth. We can imagine her anxieties and brooding over what this child will become as he grows into a man, as he sheds the innocence of childhood and begins to assert his own identity. And how does she discuss with Joseph the peculiar identity he is destined to carry? When does he cease to be their child and truly become God's child? And do they have any say in the matter?