Meditation Lk 2,41-52

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace:I will beg God our Lordthat all my intentionsand actions may be directed purelyto the praise and serviceof His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Jerusalem during the Passover. There are a crowd of people. According to festival custom Mary and Joseph went there with the twelve-year-old Jesus. In this huge crowd they are losing Jesus. At first, they think that he was in the caravan or with their friends and relatives. However, they do not find him there. They were looking for him with great anxiety. After three days they find Jesus in a temple surrounded by teachers. They tell him how much they worried about him. Instead, they hear a gruff answer from their child. In the end, they went to their house to Nazareth. Be in this scene with the holy family.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for getting to know my way to God ever better

1. Mary and Joseph were full of pain because of the loss of Jesus. A holy family is not experiencing difficulties for the first time and by difficult feelings. It certainly was not easy. In such a situation, you may have a grudge against yourself that you did not look after the child and the child that it was disobedient. As we read in the Gospel, Mary kept in her heart the hole event, she did not run away from pain, nor did she seek it. What can this mean? Perhaps, in today’s language, she took that situation into prayer, she considered to learn a good lesson for herself in the future and to see what the situation teaches her.

See how you are experiencing your difficulties? What are you doing with them?

2. … I must be in my Father’s house and we can read in Gaudete et exultate pt. 11: The important thing is that each believer discerns his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gift that God has placed in their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 12:7), rather than hopelessly trying to imitate something not meant for them. (…) For Good’s life is communicated “to some in one way and to others in another”.

What is your Father’s house for you? What is your path? What is the most personal gift that God has placed in your heart, how do you find it and how do you share it with others?

3. Now Jesus asks you: why are you looking for me?You can answer him …

Meditation:St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)