Finding The Child Jesus In The Temple

Fruit Of The Mystery: Joy In Finding Jesus

The following meditations are provided to assist you while praying the Holy Rosary. It is offered in a format where a question is posed to lead the meditation and then is followed by an answer below it.  It may be more helpful to grow in your meditation skills if you try to contemplate the question while praying this decade of the Rosary, and view the possible answer upon completing the prayers for the Mystery.

The meditations below offer possible answers to questions regarding these Mysteries.  Because the Wisdom of God is infinite, there are limitless insights that one may gain from meditating repeatedly upon the questions surrounding these Mysteries.  There are no wrong or right answers when praying the Holy Rosary in this way.  We are simply seeking to be inspired in our understanding of who Jesus is and how much He loves us, as the Holy Spirit gently guides us through reflective prayer.

For many reasons it may be difficult to engage our minds to enter into meditating on the Mysteries at hand.  An alternative option is to simply meditate upon the meaning of the core prayers of the Holy Rosary as you are praying them.  You may find these reflections on the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be prayers to be helpful during these times.


Finding Jesus

1.  Where do Joseph and Mary look for Jesus before finding Him in the temple?  How does this help us to find Jesus in our daily lives?

Before finding Jesus in Church (the Temple), Mary and Joseph look for Jesus among family, friends, neighbors and strangers.  So must we seek to find Jesus within and among our family, friends, neighbors, and strangers if we are to successfully find Him in the Church.

2.  Mary and Joseph literally found Jesus in the temple.  In our quest to find Jesus in our lives, do we literally find Jesus in Church?

Jesus is literally present in the Blessed Sacrament.  If we truly believed that we are going to literally meet Jesus in Church this Sunday, would you approach the day with more excitement?  If Jesus is indeed present– Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – in the Eucharist, do we approach this Sacrament with due reverence and devotion.  The more we grow in our faith and love for Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist, the more we come to experience the peace and joy that comes from a deeper relationship with Him.

3.  Are there any advantages to losing Jesus and finding Him again?

Experiencing various emotions and extremes in our feelings contribute to a heightened level of awareness of what true joy and peace is.  At times ‘losing’ Jesus is calculated in Our Father’s loving plan, that we may experience grief and sorrows and in turn more fully rejoice in finding Our Lord Jesus.  We find Him in the events and people surrounding us, but mostly within the temple of our own bodies and souls where the Most Holy Trinity dwells for all time and eternity.

4.  Are you looking for Jesus? How so? Does anyone know you are on this mission?

Knowing that Joseph and Mary were seeking Jesus among family and friends, those around them were well aware of their missing child.  In such a close-knit society, with fair accuracy we can say that some people went with Mary and Joseph to help them look for Jesus.  Thus, it is also fair to say that they were there at the finding of Jesus.  Like Mary and Joseph, when those close to us know we are searching for Jesus, they will accompany us.  Sometimes they do this out of pure love for us if they do not know Jesus yet, and to their delight and joy- they will find Him.  They must first, however, know we are looking for Jesus.

5.  What do we learn from Jesus’ question to His parents that can help us find Jesus when we are looking for Him?

Basically Jesus asks Joseph and Mary, why they were looking for Him, instead of knowing they would find Him involved in His Father’s business.  When we are seeking Jesus in our lives, He asks us the same question: where are we looking for Him?  Our question to ourselves must be: what is His Father’s business? If we can answer these two questions we will be sure to find Him.  Some helpful points to consider may be: what places are we frequenting? (Is Church one of them?); who are we surrounding ourselves with?; how do we fill our free time?; are we involved in activities that selflessly help others in need?  If the answer to these types of questions indicates that we are involved in His Father’s business, then we can be sure that we will encounter Our Lord.  

Being Lost

1.  Without question Our Blessed Mother loves us as her very own children.  Knowing how she responded when her Son Jesus was lost, how do you think she responds when our faith weakens and we seem to have lost our way in life?

Our Blessed Mother loves us so much, each individually, that just as she searched for Jesus when He was lost, so she ardently seeks out those of us who are lost or have fallen down and need our Mother.

2.  Why would God allow His Son to be lost for three days? 

God uses all things for good purposes.  Though Mary and Joseph may have been terribly upset, anxious and troubled in their loss, ultimately it was the cause of a great moment of joy.  We must have struggles and trials to savor His great plans for us and to have a reference point to contrast His goodness, peace and joy.  He wishes us to overcome all obstacles to arrive at a deeper Faith, Hope and Love for Him, as we realize the immeasurable Love and faithfulness He offers us.

In this time we also see Our Father’s love for Jesus. Although He was willing to begin serving His Father in public ministry at such an early age, God’s guidance offered through Mary to return home would allow Him more time to grow in wisdom and stature, obedience and humility.  Ultimately, this would prove to benefit Him in the future for achieving His salvation plan.  As a grown man, more people would take His message seriously, and He would be better able to sustain the brutal physical, mental and emotional abuse that He would have to endure in His Passion.

3.  Why do the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was lost for three days in Jerusalem during Passover while doing His Father’s Will?

This detail prefigures the Crucifixion and death of Our Lord Jesus.  It is during Passover in Jerusalem a little more than twenty years later that Jesus will challenge the Jewish teachers in the Temple, amaze them with His Wisdom, and will die and be “lost” for three days.  Just as Jesus was found and returns home to be present again among His Mother, family and friends when He is twelve, Jesus is “found” on the third day as He Resurrects in order to be present again to those who love Him.

Prayer in Difficult Moments

1.  How do we handle difficult moments in our lives?  How do you think Joseph and Mary spent the three days as they were searching for Jesus?

As Mary and Joseph traveled from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem back to their home in Nazareth, they discovered that Jesus was missing from the caravan.  Immediately their joy from this celebration was turned into anxiety and grief.  We learn from other accounts in Scripture that Mary often prayed and reflected over unexpected moments in life in the silence of her heart.  Though Joseph and Mary could probably think of neither sleep nor food or anything else as they searched for Jesus, they must have prayed without ceasing to the One who entrusted them with such a blessed task.  Though this prayer may have been disheveled and distracted by their emotional state, they persevered until they finally found Him.  During the difficult moments in our lives we must remain faithful in prayer to find the grace to persevere until we also find Jesus who fills us with His joy and peace. 

2.  Why was this time particularly trying for Joseph?

How terribly stressful this must have been for Joseph.  On top of the fact that someone you love is missing, he had been assigned to be the protector of God’s Son, who was now lost.  It could only have been through prayer that the grace of God sustained him in this difficult trial.  How joyful then must the finding of Jesus been for Joseph when his prayers were answered.  And, yet again, it must have been a roller coaster of emotions for Joseph as his heart must have sank when he hears Jesus verbalize that He knows that God is His Father, and not him.  We see the virtues of Joseph shine, as humility must have been so necessary in his character during these times in his life.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

1.  What virtues do we see Jesus display during this event in His life?

When His parents began to travel home after the Passover celebration, Jesus remained behind teaching in the temple for three days, where He felt God had called him to stay.  This was a very bold move for such a young boy.  He must have considered that His parents would not have been happy with His decision to stay without their approval, not to mention what other people would be thinking and saying about the Holy Family.  It takes much courage to do what God is asking when we know we will meet the resistance of others, especially those closest to us.  As we consider the mind of Christ, even at such a young age, this was an act of love toward His parents.  In His Wisdom He knew it was time He must open their hearts to grow in their mission of raising Him, as He revealed to them His knowledge that He was truly the Son of God.

2.  We do not hear anything about Jesus’ life for another eighteen years after He was found in the temple.  What do we learn about the Sacred Heart of Jesus in this last time before He re-emerges for His public ministry at thirty years of age?

Before He enters into His hidden life in Nazareth, we catch a glimpse of how much He truly loves His Father and the Divine Plan above all things.  The zeal of His Sacred Heart moves Him to boldly begin to proclaim the truths of God to those in the highest authority and most educated in the temple laws.  In that culture the teacher would often ask the questions to the students.  As Jesus questioned the doctors of the law, He was trying to open the eyes of their heart to the truths of His Father which He believed so passionately.  As we learn from the following encounter with Mary and Joseph, He was completely absorbed in “His Father’s business.”  

3.  How did the Immaculate Heart of Mary shape the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout His life?

It was not only on the Cross that Jesus made an offering for our sins.  Throughout His life on earth He offered every step, every word, and every action as an act of reparation for the sinful decisions we make.  Our Blessed Mother lived her sinless life in this way, which must have shaped the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus as He grew in wisdom and grace.  We can see how the Blessed Virgin Mary repairs for our sins in the likeness of Christ in all of the Joyful Mysteries.  This becomes most clear when we compare them with the Sorrowful Mysteries: Consider Jesus’ Agony in the Garden- Just as Jesus repairs here for those who do not surrender to the Will of God as He repeatedly prays “Thy Will be done,” Mary’s “yes” in the Annunciation to God’s Will for her to become the Mother of Jesus repairs for those who deny the will of God; In the Scourging at the Pillar, Jesus repairs for those who abuse their bodies for selfish works and pleasures.  As Mary places her new monumental concerns of becoming the Mother of God beneath the needs of her aged cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy, her Visitation repairs for these abuses also; In the Crowning with thorns, Jesus repairs for all those who do not worship Him as the King of Heaven and earth.  In the Nativity, Mary helps to repair for these same sins as she offers true adoration and worship to Christ the King from the moment she gives birth to Him.  In the Carrying of the Cross, Jesus repairs for the disobedient and proud who reject their crosses, by carrying His with complete humility and love.  Mary also repairs for pride in the Mystery of the Presentation as she obediently gives the most precious gift of her Son back to God in the temple.  And just as Jesus teaches us to rise again after our falls with our crosses, Mary also shows us this when she falls and loses Jesus.  She teaches us that when Jesus is missing in our lives, we must quickly return back to Church to find Him; In the Crucifixion, Jesus literally dies to Himself that we may have the opportunity to be washed of all of our sins and have new life in Him.  In each of the Joyful Mysteries, Mary dies to her ‘self' as she becomes one with the life of Christ.  Our Blessed Mother lives alone to fulfill the Will of God, and offers all of her good works to repair for those whose souls are in need of salvation. 

Temples of God

1.  Because the Holy Trinity dwells within us we are temples of His glory.  Do we reverence His presence within us?  Do people who meet us find Jesus within this temple? 

If we truly believe that God dwells within us we must act accordingly.  This means choosing very carefully what we allow to enter within these temples, with substances such as food, drink, drugs, and even things we take in through our other senses such as what we listen to, conversation we indulge in, what we view on the television and the internet, etc.  These things that we take in enter the presence of God.  They also shape our thoughts and the purity of our hearts.  If what we take in impacts the purity of what leaves our bodies in the form of words and actions, surely they affect how we radiate God’s pure love to others.  If we desire to be witnesses for Christ, we must consider that in this age where not many attend Church on a regular basis, that we may be the only temples or Churches that people may visit to encounter God.  Thus it is critical that we maintain this temple as a holy place filled with God’s pure love alone.

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