Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,

We have all experienced the frustration of looking for something which we have lost. My conversation with myself on such occasions usually goes something like this: “I just had it in my hand! There is no place else to look! I always keep it right here!” When all seems to be hopeless, I turn to Saint Anthony. I always wonder why I do not turn to prayer right in the beginning!
If to lose something is frustrating, to lose someone  is devastating. The third sorrow of Mary is the loss of Jesus for three days before finding Him in the Temple. Again the finding Him in the Temple is one of the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary: another time when devastating sorrow leads to joy.

In the Gospel of Luke, the story reads that Joseph and Mary set out to return to Nazareth from Jerusalem. They thought their twelve year old son was in the company. After not seeing him for a day, they returned to Jerusalem to look for Him.

One might question how Mary and Joseph did not realize that He was not in the group when they left for Nazareth. In my years of priesthood there have been at least three times when a lone child stood before me after everyone had gone home from Mass, and said, “My parents left me.” In every case, both parents brought a vehicle and when they left, they assumed that the child was with the other parent. Usually it only takes a phone call and an embarrassed parent arrives to retrieve the abandoned child. Joseph and Mary lived in the days before cell phones. Also, twelve year old boys were much more mature and independent than now.

The holy couple must have been frantic as they searched for Jesus. To lose a child is a great tragedy. To lose the Son of God would be unthinkable. Imagine their relief to find Jesus in the Temple. It would have been a most joyful reunion. Yet the sorrow in Mary’s heart must still persist as she realizes again who Jesus truly is and what His mission will be. This sorrow of losing Him temporarily is a reminder of a greater sorrow that is to come.

It is during these days of Lent that we reflect on the price that was paid for our salvation. In our lives, we lose sight of Jesus; we forget that He is with us; we wander away. It is good to remember that He is always their waiting for us.

May the sorrow of losing Him lead us to the joy of finding Jesus again!

Msgr. Cox
Christ Disputing with the Doctors, Franz von Rohden (1860s)