Jan 20 Mon
Do I try to seek Jesus when I lose Him?
As good Israelites, Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem every year at the Passover feast. The journey from Nazareth would usually take four days. Jesus was twelve years old.
They would have traveled in one of the many groups, accompanied by neighbors. It would have been a tiring but calm journey.
When the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. At first, his absence didn't cause them any alarm. Supposing him to be in the company they went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances, but all their inquiries proved fruitless.
“Where is Jesus? The Child, my Lady! Where is he? Mary is crying. In vain you and I have run from group to group, from caravan to caravan: no one has seen him. Joseph, after fruitless attempts to keep from crying, cries too... And you... And I."
Sorrow is proportional to love. And love always leads to the desire to recover anything good that has been lost. Thus, love for Christ means being firmly determined to return to him, if we should ever have the misfortune of leaving him.
“If some day you were to lose the way (something I don't desire: I don't want it and it won't happen. I say to Jesus: our Jesus, you have always been the love of our loves, I ask you that we may never stray again from the path; that we may never wander from the path because of difficulties we come up against; that we may never again fail to take up the cross and bear its joyful weight; and that we may never leave this divine path, which is yours).”
“But if some day something of the kind were to happen to us, and we were to lose Jesus, may we be humble enough to recognize our mistake, and may we also be willing to follow once more the path he has marked out for us. It will not happen; but, if it ever were to happen, we all ask you, all of us ask you, for a sense of responsibility; and for the cheerfulness to return to our dedication, our struggle, our victory. Because God doesn't lose battles, and if we unite ourselves to God our Lord, we can return to the right path and continue going forward, triumphantly."
Mary and Joseph, their hearts rent with sorrow, searched the whole caravan for Jesus. And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him.
“The Mother of God, who looked for her Son so anxiously when he was lost through no fault of her own, and experienced such great joy in finding him, will help us retrace our steps and put right whatever may be necessary when, because of our carelessness or our sins, we have been unable to recognize Christ. With her help, we will know the happiness of holding him in our arms once more, and telling him we will never lose him again."
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