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Preparatory Prayer  (p.  115).

ho can  describe  Mary's  sorrow  when,  returning from  Jerusalem,  she  missed  her  divine Son? With St.  Joseph  she  retraced  her  steps  in anxious  search  of  Him  whom  her  soul  loved. She went to  all  her  relatives  and  acquaintances  in Jerusalem,  but  heard  no  tidings  of  her  lost  Child. She passed  three  long  days  of  anxiety  in  her search, and  this  constitutes  her  third  sorrow. Of it, Origen  writes:  "On  account  of  the  ineffable love  of  Mary  for  her  divine  Son,  she  suffered more  by  His  loss  than  the  martyrs  suffered  amid the  most  cruel  tortures."

n meditating  on  this  sorrow  of  Mary,  we ought  to  remember  how  indifferent  so  many Christians are  after  having  lost  God  by  sin. They feel no  compunction,  no  sorrow  at  having offended Him,  and  yet  they  can  weep  at  the  loss of a  trifle;  they  shed  copious  tears  when  their  will is crossed,  or  when  they  receive  a  deserved  reprimand; but  for  the  loss  of  their  God  they  have not a  tear. They have  lost  Him,  perhaps  years