The Mystery of Presence

This month’s post at CatholicMom.com is about the Fifth Joyful Mystery: the finding of Jesus in the Temple.

You know, it’s odd. Most of the Joyful Mysteries have short, pithy names: the Annunciation. The Visitation. The Nativity. The Presentation. And then there’s “The Finding of Jesus in the Temple”.

Here’s a preview:

My reflections on the first four Joyful mysteries have all focussed on receiving Christ, and then carrying Him with us wherever we go. In the Annunciation, we accept Him, and his commands. In the Visitation, we take Him with us as we serve in charity. In the Nativity, we learn how He trusts us to go about his business. In the Presentation, we learn how He can accomplish great things by our willingness to bring him along, great things we had no inkling of before they occurred—and, in many cases, no inkling of afterwards, either.

The Finding of Jesus in the Temple is different. It isn’t about carrying Jesus with us; it’s about what we do when we realize that we’ve left Him behind.