7 October, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

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.