Frederick, Maryland, United States - Daily Mass Reading & Catholic Meditation “The Word Among Us” for Saturday, 28 June 2014Meditations: Luke 2:41 His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.
42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, 43 and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”
49 He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
His mother kept all these things in her heart. (Luke 2:51)
Today’s Gospel story is a perfect example of why the Church honors Mary. Most mothers who have found their lost child would be relieved—and then they would “reward” the child with a harsh gaze, a long lecture, and maybe a wallop on the backside. But Mary didn’t do any of that. Instead, she pondered in her heart all that had happened.
While Mary surely experienced many joyful, peaceful days with Jesus and Joseph, she also faced some challenging, even upsetting, events. For example, at a wedding feast in Cana, she asked Jesus for a special favor. She might have been intimidated when Jesus seemed to rebuke her by saying: “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” Unfazed and still believing, she simply told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:4, 5).
The prophet Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her soul, and that’s just what happened. Like every mother, Mary felt every hurtful word, every hateful response, and every physical wound that Jesus’ enemies inflicted upon him—from Herod’s attempt to kill him as a baby to the nails in his hands and feet. But through it all, she stayed prayerful and quiet. She kept her heart pure because she stayed close to God and never acted out of anger, hatred, or spite.
Mary was able to fend off all the temptations that came at her because she kept on pondering and praying about what God was doing in her son. At every turn, her first move was upward to God, not outward to deal with the situation. She sought his wisdom, his comfort, and his guidance. This is why she was able to treat each challenge she faced with purity and humility. It’s why she was able to savor the joys of motherhood and survive its sorrows so beautifully.
Our lives, like Mary’s, have their own joys and sorrows. We will be able to hold onto our peace and resist temptation as long as we try to keep God’s presence in our hearts. Let’s learn from Mary. Let’s try our best to keep the promises and the love of God in our hearts all day every day—whether it be a day of sorrow or a day of joy.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.” Amen.
Lamentations 2:2 The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied:
He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground; he has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence;
They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth:
The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled;
My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They tell their mothers, Where is grain and wine?
When they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city,
When their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
13 What shall I testify to you? what shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion?
For your breach is great like the sea: who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity,
but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.
18 Their heart cried to the Lord:
wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no respite; don’t let the apple of your eye cease.
19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord:
Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.
Psalm 74: A contemplation by Asaph.
1 God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
3 Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly.
They have set up their standards as signs.
5 They behaved like men wielding axes,
cutting through a thicket of trees.
6 Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.
They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
20 Honor your covenant,
for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
21 Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed.
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
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