Sunday, November 23, 2014

Finding Jesus

Most of the time when I "meditate" on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, I find myself just recalling the Scripture passages relating to that "mystery". Because through faith I just KNOW these mysteries to be true, my meditations are more often just recollections of fact. Some of my better, more insightful and more meaningful (at least to me) meditations come to me when I just ask the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts when praying the rosary.

He waited until the 5th Mystery yesterday to turn my thoughts to an "angle" I had never thought of before. For those of you who don't know, the 5th Mystery is a reflection on Mary and Joseph finding the 12 year-old Jesus in the Temple after fearing Him lost. When they finally find Him, He says, "Why were you worried? Didn't you know I must be in my Father's house?"

I started wondering how could Mary and Joseph just "lose" their son? It's not like they forgot He was the Son of God. Rather, they might have been just so comfortable in their family life that they thought He must be with one of the other families (possibly even relatives) traveling with them and so didn't worry until a couple of days had passed. But when they did notice His absence they were distraught.

Sometimes I get distraught that I'm not giving Jesus enough attention, and conclude that I've "lost" Him. When that happens it's good to remember that I know where to "find" Him---He'll be in His Father's house, in the Tabernacle. If you know someone who has "lost" Jesus or is simply just looking for Him, direct them to the Father's house. I guarantee that they will find Him there, in the Tabernacle. You can't miss it. It's right next to the flickering red lamp that keeps vigil for us when we can't be there.

Jesus' Call to Mercy

"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".