Finding The Child Jesus - Rosary Meditation

This is the first in what I hope will be a series of meditations on the Rosary. As an auxiliary member of the Legion of Mary, I pray the Rosary at least once daily.

Since today is Monday, my thoughts lead me to the fifth Joyful Mystery: the finding of the child Jesus in the temple.

The Child Jesus in the Temple - Image is from gardenofmary.com

You can read the Joyful Mystery here, along with all of the other Mysteries.

1. When Jesus is twelve years old, He goes with His parents to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.
2. After the feast of the Passover, Joseph and Mary unknowingly set out for Nazareth without Jesus.
3. At the end of the first day's journey they discover Jesus is missing.
4. His parents return immediately looking for Him.
5. This loss causes grief and anxiety beyond our understanding to the hearts of Mary and Joseph.
6. On the third day they find Jesus in the Temple among the Doctors who were astonished at His wisdom.
7. Mary: "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow."
8. Jesus: "Why did you search for me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?"
9. Jesus goes down with them to Nazareth, and is subject to them.
10. Mary keeps all these things in her heart.

Actually, I am more concerned about the events prior to Mary and Joseph finding Jesus, namely, the fact that they left the temple without Him in the first place. This event is also one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary that I pray daily, so it is frequently in my thoughts.

What are we to make of this serious lack of parental supervision on Mary and Joseph's behalf?

The moral/message revealing itself to me is more along the lines of a cautionary tale: If we do not constantly pay attention to Jesus, we will lose sight of Him. Luckily, we always know where to find Him, for, as he tells Mary "I must be about my Father's business."

I think the difficulty is first of all realizing that we have lost sight of Him, and then figuring out how get Him back into our lives. Without knowing that we have lost Jesus (and all that this sad state of affairs entails, including His redemptive sacrifice on the cross for us), we cannot move toward changing our situation.

So, how do we know if we have lost sight of Jesus?

One way to find out is to perform a sincere examination of conscience to see if/how we are leading exemplary Christian lives. Do we follow all the commandments, not just the easy ones that we are comfortable with? Do we truly see Jesus in others? Do we give our lives completely to Christ? Do we read the Bible and meditate on God's Word on a daily basis? As Catholics, do we read/study the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Do we regularly seek reconciliation, and all of the other sacraments God has instituted on Earth for us? Do we study the lives of the saints, in order to learn how they were able to dwell on Earth and to follow God's Law? Do we respect human life from conception to death?

If we're not as close to Jesus as we would like to be, where do we find Him again?

The very easiest way is to invite him back into His temple - in us, body and soul.

The second (and also easy) way is for us to go to the temple - His Holy Church. Jesus waits for us in His Church, especially in the Blessed Sacrament; in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We will always find him there.

No one is perfect. We can all be better. The question is: are we willing to make the effort, before it is too late? The first step is to ensure that we search for, and find, and then keep our eyes firmly on Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.

Amen!

~JT~