neyed a whole day without noticing His absence. But when evening came, they looked for Him, and, not finding Him[1], were overwhelmed with grief.
They returned immediately to Jerusalem, and during three days sought Him[2] through the city, but in vain; no one had seen the Child. At length, on the third day, they went to the Temple, and there they found Him[3], sitting in the midst of the doctors of the law, hearing them and asking them questions. All the doctors were astonished [4] at His wisdom and His answers.
Mary and Joseph were filled with wonder[5] and joy at seeing Him again, and His Mother said to Him: “Son, why hast Thou done so[6] to us? Behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing." But He answered: “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?"[7] But “they understood not Redeemer from sin, and the Light of the Gentiles, but they did not understand in what way He would accomplish the great work of Redemption, and how His remaining behind in the Temple could be connected with it. [8] the word that He spoke to them."
- ↑ Not finding Him. What anxiety must they not have felt when they lost Jesus, who had been entrusted to their charge by God! Was He lying in prison — or killed? Had His sufferings already begun? Such thoughts filled their hearts with the keenest pain, and they could neither rest nor sleep till they had once more found the Divine Child.
- ↑ Sought Him. They sought Him on the way back, inquiring about Him from all the pilgrims behind them, and at all the places through which they had passed; but nobody could give them tidings of Him. With growing anxiety they arrived at Jerusalem, and vainly searched the streets of the city.
- ↑ They found Him. In a hall in the outer court of the Temple, where the doctors met to expound the law, and to answer questions and objections. To these assemblages there came both the earnest inquirers and the curious, all of whom sat at the feet of the doctors on low stools, placed on the ground.. Jesus however was not sitting among the inquirers, but among the doctors, who were held by the people in the highest esteem! He listened to them, put questions to them, and answered their questions, so as to lead them to a knowledge of the truth. Most likely the discourse was about the prophecies.
- ↑ Astonished. Because such questions were unheard-of as coming from a boy of twelve years old. They suspected that they were in presence of some supernatural manifestation.
- ↑ Wonder. They “wondered” at seeing Jesus seated among the doctors, and the gaze of every bystander turned on Him with astonishment and veneration.
- ↑ Done so. Remaining behind without our knowledge. These words are the expression of the great love and anxiety of soul which Mary had experienced on account of her beloved Child.
- ↑ My Father s business. You should not have sought me, nor have feared for me, for you ought to have remembered that I leave you only to do the work which my Heavenly Father has given me to do.
- ↑ Understood not. They understood, indeed, the literal meaning of what He said, but not its deeper sense. They knew that Jesus was the Son of God, the
