What lesson may we draw from this second sorrow of Mary in Egypt? An important one is this, that sufferings and trials, if they come from God, are far better for us than great consolations. To be well convinced of this truth we must be thoroughly imbued with a spirit of faith. Even pious people rebel when they think they suffer without having deserved it. How many, instead of profiting by tribulations, become almost blasphemous in their murmuring against God! We may be sure that the little troubles sent us by God, rightly endured, are better for our spiritual welfare than hours of prayer in which the feeling of consolation has a prominent part; who knows whether this luxury which our souls enjoy is not the object that we look for, without regard to our real good or the glory of God? We also learn from the flight into Egypt that we must not question the designs of Providence in our sufferings. Would we find it amiss if God had worked miracles so that the Holy Family might at least have comfort? But no, He seemed to afflict them without mercy. Prayer. O Heart of Mary, I offer, etc., etc. Fourteenth Day. The third sorrow that our blessed Mother endured was the loss of the Child Jesus for three days. According to the Law, the Jews living in the neighborhood of the holy city had to make a pilgrimage three times a year, in order to celebrate the great feasts. They had to go on the feast of the Pasch, which was instituted to commemorate the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt; the second feast was that of the weeks, corresponding to our Pentecost, and the third feast was the feast of the tabernacles, where the devout of the nation thanked God for all the mercies shown them during the year. It was at one of these feasts of the Passover, or Pasch, that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph journeyed to Jerusalem. The Pasch must have been a feast of peculiar significance to the members of the Holy Family, for they knew what it really meant to them. There was to come a Pasch at which the principal actor of the feast would be Jesus, Our Lord. He certainly had that last Passover before His mind, and no doubt St. Joseph was also informed of the future. Mary, certainly, could not be ignorant of that great event in the future life of her divine Son. Prayer. O Heart of Mary, I offer, etc., etc. Fifteenth Day.