THE MYSTERY OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

The devout soul meditates on Jesus in the Temple when, at the age of twelve he hid himself there and wisely withdrew from his parents in order to serve God his Father.

O gentle Jesus, you willed to return from Egypt
only because it was the will
of your eternal Father
who caused the order to be given
to Saint Joseph.

At twelve years of age
you were led to the Temple
by your holy mother and Saint Joseph.

What lessons have you not given to me
in this mystery?

You taught me
that we must be attached
to the will of your heavenly Father,
and that to accomplish it
perfectly,
we must be weaned
from our sweetest consolations
and have no regard
for flesh and blood
nor for our most cherished friendships.

It was to accomplish this adorable will
of your Father
that you withdrew from the company
of Saint Joseph
and your holy and loving mother.

You knew quite well
the extreme affliction
that your loss
was to cause them.

You were deeply touched
by it.
But the designs of your Father
made you embrace
both
the sorrow of your parents
and
the compassion
that you experienced
because of it.

Your Father's good pleasure
was the sole measure
of your life.

It was in order to follow these designs
that you wanted
to remain lost for three days
in Jerusalem
and that,
among the doctors,
with a very gentle
and humble simplicity,
you revealed
some glimmer of the brilliance
of your sovereign wisdom
which filled those assembled
with astonishment
and wonder
at your teaching
and at your divine answers.

Grant, good Jesus, that I may imitate
these wonderful examples
and profit
by your holy lessons.

Let me attach myself solely
to your heavenly Father's will
and when it is a question
of accomplishing it,
may I pay no heed
to flesh and blood nor
to the impulses of my self-love
which could obstruct it.

May I obey promptly,
joyously, completely,
and in perfect fervour of spirit,
all the designs that Providence
may have for me and make known to me
either through interior enlightenment
or through the commands of my superiors."

 

(Writings of Jean-Pierre Médaille, p.117-118)