Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/144

 II. The Blessed  Virgin  addressed  her  Son:  "Son,  why hast  Thou  done  so  to  us?" (Luke ii.  48.)  In  this  expression there  was  no  complaint  against  His  conduct but an  amorous  manifestation  of  her  past  sorrow  and present happiness. Such was  the  expression  of  Christ to His  Father:  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken Me?" (Matt, xxvii.  46.)  "  Behold,"  continues  the Virgin, "Thy  father  and  I  have  sought  Thee  sorrowing." Observe her  humility:  she  styles  her  spouse,  though  only the reputed  father,  the  "father"  of  her  divine  Son. She names him  first,  though  far  unequal  in  dignity,  to  teach you to  prefer  others  to  yourself. They sought  for  Him sorrowing, and  therefore  they  found  Him;  "for  those who  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy." (Ps. cxxv.  5.)

III. Consider the  answer  which  Christ  made  to  His blessed mother:  "Did  you  not  know  that  I  must  be about  those  things  that  are  My  Father's?" (Luke ii.  49.) A divine  sentiment,  and  deserving  of  our  continual  recollection. We are  to  prefer,  then,  the  service  of  God  to every  other  affair  whatever,  and  to  every  other  service and duty. Frequently examine  yourself,  if  you  are  occupied in  the  things  that  are  your  father's.  If  you  are  not, you are  losing  your  time,  and  trifling  with  the  best  gift  of a  bountiful  and  just  Providence.

I. Our  divine  Model  having  now  performed  the  will of His  Father,  notwithstanding  His  love  of  solitude, prayer, and  the  immediate  worship  of  God  in  the  temple, "went down  with  His  parents,  and  came  to  Nazareth, and  was  subject  to  them." (Luke ii.  51.)  From  this action we  learn  a  very  important  lesson;  viz.,  that  the