Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Thinking
that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for
him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding
him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days
they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the
teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who
heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers.
Friday morning my telephone rang at 5:45 am. My heart raced as I thought: "That's got to be mom calling about a medical emergency. Maybe something happened to my sister or my grandparents? Oh no!" I picked up the receiver. An automated voice from the city police department announced a lost teenager missing since 3:30 am. A complete description of her height, weight, and clothing followed. I'm used to radio Amber alerts and freeway Silver alerts , but I'd never received a call from the city regarding a missing person. It's comforting to know the suburb I live in offers such a service. I prayed a quick "Hail Mary" and "Our Father" for the young teen. Thank the Lord only a few hours later another message left on my voicemail confirmed the girl was located. Where had she been all night? Hmmm.....I think most parents can make an educated guess or two.
What have you lost? Have you recently lost something like your car keys, a piece of jewelry, or an important document? We all lose things every once and a while. How we deal with these losses is the key. Do we lose our marbles? Do we complain and beat ourselves over the head in disgust and anger? Or, do we logically retrace our steps back to the point we lost the object? Of course, we can say a prayer to Saint Anthony. Along with prayer, simply calming down our anxious minds helps. I find nine out of ten times when I stop freaking out about something lost I suddenly find it. Worst case scenario: I simply forget that I lost the object to begin with. No gain, no foul. For example, I lost an extra set of house keys, figuring I dropped them on the sidewalk while walking my dachshund. One year later I discovered the missing keys in a bag of old Halloween decorations stored in the closet. Amazing how things lost are found when we no longer make a fuss over them.
Finding Jesus in the temple One of my favorite Mysteries of the Holy Rosary is this passage from scripture about Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the temple. I understand the horror parents must feel when a child suddenly goes missing. Mary and Joseph experienced the same situation. Fear and confusion suddenly become overwhelming. What happened to Jesus? Is he safe? Dear God, please bring him back to us! After three days, they find Jesus in the temple engaging in dialog with the teachers. That's when Mary and Joseph understood Jesus to be a blessed child like no other. He possessed wisdom and knowledge advanced for his years. He was simply astounding and amazing for a mere youth!
What can be found? When we have lost our way in life, burdened by grief and hardship, we can find new meaning and hope in Jesus Christ. All we have to do is open ourselves to him -- our entire mind, heart, body and soul. Most importantly is the heart. When our heart is conjoined with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we discover joy and contentment. We suddenly find that some people we've lost may not be worth finding. Perhaps God only intended us to associate with a girlfriend or boyfriend for a short period of our life. Furthermore, we realize some things may be worth the find, especially if they brings us closer to Christ. Maybe you've drifted away from the Church for a while. Jesus and the Blessed Mother are pulling at your heart strings inviting you back to the Sacraments! Make an effort to reconnect with Jesus again. He is more than willing to receive you back with loving and open arms!
"Mary,
give me your Heart: so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate; your Heart so full of
love and humility that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life and
love Him as you love Him and serve Him in the distressing guise of the
poor."
-Mother
Theresa
Immaculate
Heart of Mary, Pray for Us!
This meditation
was written by Jennifer Burgin. Please visit her blog: Jennifer's Spectrum of Spirituality.
Good meditation Jennifer! I do appreciate your thoughts on losing things. That happens all the time to me, Sometimes I also find it's not that hard to be weak in my faith. And then...
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I've been schooled by some awesome teens (chaperone duty again!) at an incredible pro-life weekend for teens sponsored by the Catholic Pro-life Cmte and the Diocese of FTW. If any of us feel lost in our faith, come out and volunteer! These teens will inspire you to be a better person. When 40 teens can get up at 6:30 am, pray the Morning Prayers, pray the rosary outside an abortion mill, sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the grave of the Holy Innocents, go to daily mass, do a service project, and do Night Prayer and Adoration and confession, ALL IN ONE DAY, you know you have something special. Not one kid complained. I was humbled.
The priest, a Franciscan named Fr. Pio, gave the most awesome homily today. He talked about how the Immaculate heart and the Scared Heart were so inextricably intertwined. When Jesus was being carried in Mary's womb, blood from her heart was actually flowing through Jesus. Their blood was mixed together so intimately. He went on to say how both Jesus and Mary want our hearts to belong to them, to be so enveloped in their hearts that we are not separated from them.
The youth need us to know our faith and evangelize so we can lead them. Let us be strong in our faith and not lose it. Please also pray for our priests today! Immaculate Heart of Mary guide and protect them.
I am with you Jennifer! This is also one of my favorite mysteries of the Rosary: losing Jesus in the Temple. It reminds me to “lose God, for God”. (It’s what Mary & Joseph had to do.) In other words, to lose what I ‘think’ is God, in order to Love (which really describes more of who God is), so that I may understand more of Who Jesus really is. He is more of a verb than a noun. He is Spirit. This helps me to love my enemies in ways that I cannot possibly see with human eyes.
ReplyDeleteAll good (and bad) things must come to an end. To lose / let go of something or someone is God’s way of saying, ‘Who / what do you love more?’ To let go is the best way to love them. No more words need to be said, just a silent & final goodbye. We can only love God in the best way we know how.
You have a great gift Jennifer. Thank goodness that Father asked you to write on his blog! You have helped me to understand that we are all essential if we are alive. God gets to make the decision if we are here or not. My developmentally delayed son has just as much dignity as Pope Francis. He is just as essential to this world as anyone. All the children killed through abortion are human beings. They are essential! What a different world we would have if they were alive today! We just haven’t understood this yet.
Thank you for your writing down your many thoughts.