When Mother Mary and St Joseph lost the child Jesus, they went searching everywhere for Him. They could not find Him for three days. However, on the third day, they found Him sitting in the Temple, talking with the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. They were relieved when they found Him, but He posed this question to them; “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s House?”
Where is Jesus?
There are many instances in our lives where we are constantly trying to find God. We attempt to find Him in our hectic lives, and we search everywhere to seek His presence. Mother Mary and St Joseph spent three days searching through all the marketplaces and the alleyways within Jerusalem to find Jesus. On the third day, they had the thought of looking for their son at the Temple. To their surprise, He was there. St Paul says in his writings, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Corinthians 6:19) The Lord is already within us as we are His Temple. May God give us the grace to always remember this and to keep our bodies clean from all impurities.
Search Within
Although Jesus knew that His parents were searching for Him, He did not go looking for his parents, but remained in the Temple. Since Jesus was God himself, He would surely have known the anguish they suffered during the whole three days, however, He didn’t take a single step out of the Temple. Those three days represent the times that we are lost and can’t find the Lord in our daily life as we search for Him. But once we open our eyes and realise that He is in the Temple, waiting for us, all our worries will disappear, and we will be happy that we are reunited with God once again. He is waiting for us to return to Him. Jesus is giving us the responsibility to find Him and realise who He truly is with our personal effort. As St Augusine of Hippo says in his book, Confessions: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
Prayer
Jesus, give us the grace to sense Your presence in our lives. Help us to have full faith and trust that You will always be there for us, through our ups and downs. Take us on that three-day journey just like your parents did and bring us to your presence at the end of that third day. Lord help us to know that we should search for You in our daily lives so that our faith will become stronger. Lord You are already in our hearts, give us the wisdom to understand this. Amen
by Allan Jomon