Tuesday, January 9 : Fr. André-Jean Hamon

Immediately after the Passover feast, Mary and Joseph resumed the way of Nazareth, taking the Child Jesus with them; But however, by kind condescension, leaving him to the crowd that surrounded him to enjoy his company and his conversation. It was therefore very easy for Jesus to separate from them and to return to Jerusalem, without them noticing. In the evening, arriving at the place where they had to spend the night, they are looking for Him, they ask everyone and cannot find Him. O Jesus, why do you steal your beloved parents? Let us listen to the answer in the bottom of our heart. Jesus will tell us that it is to teach us that many lose him, him or the feeling of his presence, sometimes by deadly sin or venial, by relaxation and lukewarm, by infidelity to their exercises, sometimes by negligence to do everything well or to keep in meditation, by the cowardice which does not know how to overcome or deprive oneself, to monitor his thoughts, his words and his eyes; But also the example of these holy parents will tell us that we can lose Jesus without any personal fault. It is true that often God sends or allows the abandonment and the obscurities, the troubles and the repulsions which hide Him from the soul; Sometimes to hold us in humility, make us acquire more merits, strengthen our virtue, train us with patience, resignation, conformity to divine will; Sometimes to incite us to look for Him with more ardor, remain more assiduous, taste more delights. Because what we looked more and what we had more difficulty in finding, we consider it more, we keep it more carefully when we found it, and we have more pleasure possessing it . Let us examine if we have not often lost Jesus by our fault, and when we lost it without our fault, if we accepted these trials without discouraging ourselves.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team