The Fifth Joyful Mystery
The Finding of Jesus in the Temple
1. Mary and Joseph came according to custom to celebrate the feast of
the Pasch in Jerusalem. They took with them Jesus, Who was now twelve
years of age. When the feast was over, the pilgrims came together to
return to Nazareth. As usual, they gathered in the temple to say a final
prayer and then divided into two companies, one consisting of men, the
other of women. The children were assigned to either caravan.
At any rate, when the two groups came together for the night after a
day’s journey, Mary and Joseph looked in vain for Jesus. He could not be
found in either caravan. We can imagine how they suffered. However,
they returned without delay to Jerusalem to look for their Child. They
searched for three days. At last, when they went into the Temple to pour
out their troubles to God, they found Jesus sitting among the doctors,
who were amazed at the wisdom of his answers and of his questions. There
was joy and sorrow in Mary’s countenance as she regarded Him. “Son,”
she said gently, “why hast thou done so to us? Behold, in sorrow thy
father and I have been seeking thee.” Jesus’ reply was also mild and at
the same time mysterious. “How is it that you sought me? Did you not
know that I must be about my Father’s business?”
Then He
returned with them to Nazareth, where He remained “subject to them.” But
His mother, we are told, “kept all these things carefully in her
heart.” (Cf. Luke 2:41-51)
This mystery of the Rosary is at the
same time joyful and sorrowful. We can learn a good deal by meditating
on it. We can admire the divine wisdom of Jesus, Who even from childhood
desired to reveal a little of the truth, and also His obedience to Mary
and Joseph until He reached thirty years of age. We can admire, too,
His hidden life in the workshop in Nazareth, interrupted only by this
brief demonstration of His divinity; and the anxiety of Mary and Joseph
to find Jesus when they had lost Him, as well as their delight when He
was restored to them.
2. If we should ever have the great
misfortune of losing Jesus, let us have recourse at once to Mary and
Joseph, who lost Him without any fault on their part, searched anxiously
for Him, and did not rest until they had found Him.
To search
for Jesus is the principal obligation of the soul, to find Him is its
highest happiness. If we are without Jesus, our minds are in darkness
and scarred with false ideas. Separated from Him, our hearts are filled
with remorse, emptiness, and yearning. Only when Jesus is with us have
life and death any meaning. Then we can set our journey towards the
unfading star of Christian hope.
When Jesus had promised to
give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink, He saw that his
listeners were going away scandalised. “Do you also wish to go away?” He
asked His Apostles. “Lord,” replied St. Peter, “to whom shall we go?
Thou hast words of everlasting life.” (John 6:69)
3. By mortal
sin we lose Jesus, and we lose our peace of soul. By venial sin we put
Jesus farther away from us. For this reason we should not only avoid
mortal sin, which leads to spiritual misery, but also venial sin, which
diminishes our charity and weakens our spiritual life. We should,
moreover, have compassion for poor sinners, who are our own brothers and
are supremely happy, even if they may not realise it. We should pray a
great deal for them, so that they may soon return to Jesus, Whom they
have lost.
We should ask the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph to
intercede for sinners so that they may return forever to the merciful
embrace of their divine Redeemer.
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