A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
In the old calendar, this is the "Sunday Within the Octave of the Nativity." In the new, today is dedicated to the Holy Family.
So with the Holy Family in our hearts, and in light of what I posted last Thursday, I was a bit disturbed that, while I've been praying fervently to Our Lord, and begging the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, I've kind of neglected St. Joseph. Recollecting myself, this simple thought and prayer occurred to me:
Dear St. Joseph, I’ve been lax, in a sense, in asking for your intercession. But maybe it’s because I just know you are “there,” know that you are always present, watching, protecting, willing to intercede, just as you were as Mary’s spouse and Jesus’ foster father. They didn’t have to ask you over and over for every specific need they had. Maybe I, too, can be under your protective wing, one who can always and everywhere look to you, whether or not it’s in the very moment of need, or with any specific request. Maybe I can rely on you and have confidence that you know what is the best thing to do. And so I come to you this day with that understanding and in that spirit. Be my guide, my counselor, my protector, my intercessor, as the need arises, whether or not I specifically turn to you every moment that I have need of your help.
With this, sure knowledge that St. Joseph is always "there" each of us might let this sinks in and remain in our hearts. We all need him, sometimes more urgently than others. In the end, we need him all the time for his example as man, husband, father. The Christmas Season and its focus on the Holy Family gives us all the opportunity to "reconnect" with St. Joseph.
And just as it has been appropriate to remind ourselves of St. Joseph's role then and in our lives, we can do the same with Our Blessed Mother. As Sister Mary of Agreda said, our Blessed Lord had in his mother all the intimacy and perfection He had wished for him from the whole human race, and of which our sin had disappointed him. Perhaps you're one of those - as I assure you am I - who have caused this disappointment - over and over again.
But, wonder of wonders, He remains our Friend. He came into the world to save us from our sins despite knowing how we would disappoint him. As the Christmas Season continues, we would do well to remain close to Him, with the help and intercession of His and our Blessed Mother.
Here's a further suggestion from The Inner Life of the Soul to help us remain recollected and in the presence of the of the Holy Family during these days of the Christmas Season.
"Let us enter the stable with the Wise Men or the shepherds, - would to God that it might be with the self-forgetful faith of the Wise Men, or the shepherds' meek humility! - and let us kneel humbly at Mary's knee. Who worships Jesus must needs kneel there. Look reverently now, as Mary does, on Him the Infant God. We indeed with her, as Father, privileged by faith as she by sight, may watch his pulses rise and fall, feel His warm breath against our faces, kiss His living lips; and yet, 'it is the wonderful, the terrible, the all-knowing, the unbeginning God, Who lies so little and so calm on Mary's knee.
Abide there long in reverent silence..."
In light of what I posted on Thursday, you might understand why this year, I most fervently desire to abide in reverent silence, begging for His mercy for our son.
So with the Holy Family in our hearts, and in light of what I posted last Thursday, I was a bit disturbed that, while I've been praying fervently to Our Lord, and begging the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, I've kind of neglected St. Joseph. Recollecting myself, this simple thought and prayer occurred to me:
Dear St. Joseph, I’ve been lax, in a sense, in asking for your intercession. But maybe it’s because I just know you are “there,” know that you are always present, watching, protecting, willing to intercede, just as you were as Mary’s spouse and Jesus’ foster father. They didn’t have to ask you over and over for every specific need they had. Maybe I, too, can be under your protective wing, one who can always and everywhere look to you, whether or not it’s in the very moment of need, or with any specific request. Maybe I can rely on you and have confidence that you know what is the best thing to do. And so I come to you this day with that understanding and in that spirit. Be my guide, my counselor, my protector, my intercessor, as the need arises, whether or not I specifically turn to you every moment that I have need of your help.
With this, sure knowledge that St. Joseph is always "there" each of us might let this sinks in and remain in our hearts. We all need him, sometimes more urgently than others. In the end, we need him all the time for his example as man, husband, father. The Christmas Season and its focus on the Holy Family gives us all the opportunity to "reconnect" with St. Joseph.
And just as it has been appropriate to remind ourselves of St. Joseph's role then and in our lives, we can do the same with Our Blessed Mother. As Sister Mary of Agreda said, our Blessed Lord had in his mother all the intimacy and perfection He had wished for him from the whole human race, and of which our sin had disappointed him. Perhaps you're one of those - as I assure you am I - who have caused this disappointment - over and over again.
But, wonder of wonders, He remains our Friend. He came into the world to save us from our sins despite knowing how we would disappoint him. As the Christmas Season continues, we would do well to remain close to Him, with the help and intercession of His and our Blessed Mother.
Here's a further suggestion from The Inner Life of the Soul to help us remain recollected and in the presence of the of the Holy Family during these days of the Christmas Season.
"Let us enter the stable with the Wise Men or the shepherds, - would to God that it might be with the self-forgetful faith of the Wise Men, or the shepherds' meek humility! - and let us kneel humbly at Mary's knee. Who worships Jesus must needs kneel there. Look reverently now, as Mary does, on Him the Infant God. We indeed with her, as Father, privileged by faith as she by sight, may watch his pulses rise and fall, feel His warm breath against our faces, kiss His living lips; and yet, 'it is the wonderful, the terrible, the all-knowing, the unbeginning God, Who lies so little and so calm on Mary's knee.
Abide there long in reverent silence..."
In light of what I posted on Thursday, you might understand why this year, I most fervently desire to abide in reverent silence, begging for His mercy for our son.
Merry Christmas!
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