Saturday, October 10, 2020 –
The Fifth Joyful Mystery: The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple (Luke 2:46)
Ekk! That time Mary and Joseph lost the 12-year-old Christ
THERE ARE two kinds of souls in the world; those who hide from God and those from whom God hides. But when God hides, He hides in order that He might be sought the more, as if to draw out a deeper love.
During the three days when the divine Child was lost, the Blessed Mother became the mother of sinners. The essence of sin is the loss of God, and Mary lost God, not spiritually, but physically. During those three days, she came to know something of the solitariness of the sinner, the loneliness of the guilty, and the aloneness of the frustrated. Her divine Son, 21 years later, would feel it for Himself on the cross, when He would ask why God had abandoned Him.
Let no sinner ever despair of Divine Mercy, because Mary understands the tortures of the heart, but above all, because she knows where to find Christ. She also knows how to bring the sinner to her Divine Son. As the Madonna of the Empty Arms, she awaits your embrace.
For each bead (1-10) in the decade, meditate (think) on the list below:
- When Jesus is twelve years old, He goes with His parents to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.
- After the feast of the Passover, Joseph and Mary unknowingly set out for Nazareth without Jesus.
- At the end of the first day’s journey they discover Jesus is missing.
- His parents return immediately looking for Him.
- This loss causes grief and anxiety beyond our understanding to the hearts of Mary and Joseph.
- On the third day, they find Jesus in the Temple among the Doctors who were astonished at His wisdom.
- Mary: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been searching for You in sorrow.”
- Jesus: “Why did you search for Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
- Jesus goes down with them to Nazareth, and is subject to them.
- Mary keeps all these things in her heart.
Spiritual Fruit: Perseverance / Joy in finding Christ
Ark of the Covenant, pray for us!
NOTE: These meditations are a compilation of several different sources that I have found helpful over the years:
- Meditations on the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary by Fulton Sheen
- Praying the Rosary without Distractions from The Rosary Center and Confraternity
- Pray the Rosary Daily from Marian Press
- Quick Meditations on Every Mystery of the Rosary by Ascension Press
