5: Our Lady of Sorrows: Missing child

Have you ever lost something or someone and looked desperately for them? I remember getting separated from my dad and brother in Disneyworld once and how my mom and I spent all day looking for them rather than going on rides. We were incredibly worried that something happened and were so happy to find them that we didn't care about the rides and fun we missed. 

One of Mary's Sorrows was a day she and Joseph were traveling with Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover when something happened.

Art by Rose Datoc Dall

On the way home the found that Jesus was missing. They looked for him for three day in anguish wondering if He was ok. After three days, they found Jesus in the Temple, in deep conversation with spiritual teachers. Jesus was surprised that Mary and Joseph were distressed looking for Him and said, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49). 

What I imagine it was like for Mary to find Jesus.

The spiritual parallel to this event is when we feel distanced,  having a dry spell from the Lord in our hearts and have a yearning to have the comfort of Jesus spiritual nearness but don't feel Him near to us. It is a reminder that God doesn't leave us. He asks for us to trust Him in the midst of our anguish. Mary revealed to Ven. Mary of Agreda that "The Lord absented Himself from me in order that by seeking Him in Sorrow and tears I might find Him again in joy and with abundant fruits for my soul." 

Now, in the chaos of the world and climate of humanity, is a perfect time for people to feel discouraged in their nearness to God. It is so important to seek Him! Don't wait for Jesus to reveal Himself, but do as Mary and Joseph did and seek Him. The only thing that can separate us from God is our choice to willfully sin without contrition because God doesn't live in sin. Sin separates our soul from God. When we confess our sin and receive absolution then there is no sin blocking us from Him. Seek Him out daily, through the day and stop in moments during your day to be aware of the presence of God with you. God doesn't abandon us, it is we who are weak and often choose sin over Him. 

I chose a fifth rose and took it to a child who went missing from his parents: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. 

Four prayers in roses left.

On our way.

There are three soldiers from three wars buried at the Unknown Soldiers graves: WW1, WW2, and the Korean War. For each of these three soldiers there were three sets of parents who waited for days, weeks, months and years to have their beloved child return to them. They waited with crushed hearts and I hope that they called on God for strength in their hardest moments. 

A sea of people living in eternity.

Three unknown soldiers sarcophagus and grave. In the inscription, "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God."

A rose prayer from Mary, Mother of Sorrows, for the missing.

Day Five: For Missing Children

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Holy Mother of Sorrows, intercede for us today as we pray for families. I pray today for mothers and fathers who don't speak to their children because of fighting and wounds that are not healed. I pray for those families to give the gift of forgiveness, I pray for humility and for them to desire to have peace more than to prove their point is right. I pray today for children and teens who ran away from home. I pray for their safety. I pray for all children and teens who are being used for human trafficking, and worse... I pray Holy Mother of Sorrows to please protect these children and to bring them home or to loving nurturing homes that will care for them in their development. I especially pray for the hundreds of children saved from Afghanistan who are without parents, and those children who are being held in other countries. I pray for them to be treated well and for them to treat each other well. I pray for the older orphans to care for the younger ones and for the little ones to be patient and well behaved. I pray for all parents who had a child in Afghanistan go missing. I pray Mother of Sorrows for you to console their hearts and protect their child and bring the families back together. I pray for parents who have a child in the military and their child has been unreachable. I pray for the safety of their child and for mothers and fathers to be reunited soon with their sons and daughters. I pray for children who have parents in the military to have the comfort of Our Father and Our Lady as their parent is on tour and away from them. I pray for their protection from evil, and for their homes to be places of refuge and safety. I pray for children of divorced parents who had a parent leave and not know where their parent went. I pray for healing in their hearts and to have a strong faith in God our Father and our Heavenly Mother as their parents and comforters. Lastly, I pray for adult children who have elderly parents with dementia that can no longer recognize them as their child. I pray for these adult children to rest in the full awareness of eternal life where their childlike parent will arrive and be fully alive and fully aware and well. I pray for the patience of adult children of parents with dementia, for them to see the miracle of the relationship in fragility with their mom and dad as an extension of Christ's suffering on the cross. 

Holy Mother, I pray for my special intention of (Name your intention) if it is the Divine Will of God the Father. Please hear my petition, pray and intercede for me. 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, a world without end. Amen.