Saturday 25 June 2022
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19. Lord, forget not the life of your poor ones – Psalm 73(74):1-7, 20-21. Luke 2:41-51
Mary stored up all these things in her heart
Familiarity with today’s Gospel story can cause us to brush over the terrifying situation Mary and Joseph find themselves in when they cannot find their child. A missing child stirs something in us. Jesus’ parents experience the distress of every parent who has ever lost a child, even for a few moments. They search ‘everywhere’, and we can imagine the frenetic pace of that search. He who is so precious to them is gone, missing.
In prayer we might sit with what those hours must have been like for Mary and Joseph. Have you experienced the loss of something precious? Can you recall that experience and so identify with this scene? Let yourself feel that gently, but deeply.
Jesus’ reply to his mother’s reprimand might sound frustratingly precocious. As you come to the end of prayer, you might ask: in the midst of loss, what is the more precious thing Jesus points towards?
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