26th Meditation.
“And
when He was twelve years old, they going up to Jerusalem, according to the
custom of the Feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the
child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and His parents knew it not."
Saint Luke ii. 42, 43.
And His parents knew it not!
Of what were Mary and Joseph thinking Of Jesus. Most likely that, in accordance
with the usual custom, Joseph was in company of the men and Mary in that of the
women. The age of Jesus would admit His travelling with either party. Joseph
thought that the Child was with Mary, and Mary imagined Him with Joseph.
Why, then, did the Divine
Child take advantage of this circumstance, and cause His parents such poignant
grief? First, He wished to afford them an opportunity of evincing the depth of
their love. He Himself will give the second reason. Often, without fault of
ours, Jesus hides Himself from our sight. He leaves us alone; we remain
indifferent to prayer, and void of energy in His service. A vague and
indefinable disquietude possesses us. Let us not be cast down. The greatest
saints have all, even as Joseph and Mary, passed through the same trial.
Watchword. In the hour of trial, fear not.
26. Conversion due to Saint Joseph.
A young man who had been to
Paris to perfect himself in his trade, returned home, having lost both faith
and health. His mother and his sister pray earnestly for his conversion. The
month of Saint Joseph arrives, and an oratory is prepared in honour of the
Saint. The young freethinker asks his sister the reason of these preparations.
She replies, "It is the month of Saint Joseph, and we are going to pray
for your conversion." The youth began to laugh, but remained listening to
the reading which formed part of the devotions, then, uncovering his head, he
exclaimed, "Ah, my poor sister, how miserable I am! What a wretch I have
become, for I no longer know how to pray! Teach me, for I wish to live as a
Christian." The wish was soon complied with, and the genuineness of the
young man's conversion was evident in the patience with which he endured the
acute suffering of a fatal disease, which he accepted in expiation of his
faults, and which after a few months conducted him to heaven.
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