Choose to reflect on the Life of Saint Joseph (left column) or on the Fullness of Sacramental Life (right column)
Announce
Life of Saint Joseph
7th Sorrow and 7th Joy
Loss of Jesus in Jerusalem;
Re-discovery of Jesus in the Temple
Holy Scripture
1 Samuel 3: 10
Pray
Speak, Lord …
R. Your servant is listening.
Holy Scripture
Luke 2: 41-45, 48
[W]hen he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers… and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
Holy Scripture
Luke 1: 38
Pray
I am the Lord’s servant …
R. Let it be done according to thy Word.
Reflect
For three days, Joseph and Mary experienced the angst of searching for the Child Jesus. They were then rewarded with inexpressible joy upon re-discovering the Person they had most feared losing.
As with Joseph and Mary and all parents, we usually find it easier to trust that God is “up to the task” than to trust that we “have what it takes” to serve in whatever role God has set before us. Yet, Jesus promised us not only to perform His role with complete constancy; He also provides the grace needed for us to complete our roles in His plan.
Fear and anxiety are contrary to God’s nature; the three Divine Persons exist in a state of perfect trust. The twelve-year-old Jesus exposed as utterly unfounded the fear of Joseph and Mary that the Child Jesus, entrusted to them, had been lost or even harmed. Even when hidden, Jesus was never “missing”.
The Lord is always available to us, exactly where and when He ought to be.
Proceed either to the next decade or to the Litany of Saint Joseph (using the CLOSING prayers navigation link at the top of the page)
Announce
Fullness of Sacramental Life
Confirmation and Trust in the Church
Holy Scripture
1 Samuel 3: 10
Pray
Speak, Lord …
R. Your servant is listening.
Reflect
We often worry that God will provide only what we require, without blessing us in the additional or different ways that we hope for ourselves. Our trust in His sacred plan must extend to knowing that if He does not bless us in the ways, or on the timeline, that we had hoped, He nonetheless blesses us in the ways, and on the timeline, that best benefits our personal relationship with the Lord.
In the Sacrament of Confirmation, we affirm the Baptismal promises made for us in our infancy, asking the Holy Spirit to entrust us with abundant graces, the fruits of restored trust earned by the obedience of Christ.
Placing our trust in the Lord, and in His sacred plan, necessarily means placing our trust in the Church, since the Church is the mystical Body of Christ, intrinsic to the sacred plan for our redemption, providing us with the Sacramental Life that nourishes and sustains our relationship with Jesus.
Holy Scripture
Luke 1: 38
Pray
I am the Lord’s servant …
R. Let it be done according to thy Word.
Proceed either to the next decade or to the Litany of Trust (using the CLOSING prayers navigation link at the top of the page)