Advent: A Time to Draw Closer to God, to Renew our Hope.
Faced with the difficulties of life and the tragic situations of our world, we sometimes doubt the presence of God and his love in our daily lives. Our hope is then put to the test.
The season of Advent reminds us that God is always at work in our lives and wants to be close to us as he was in the life of Saint Joseph. Saint Teresa of Avila used to say to those who are looking for a way to God: “All they have to do is take Saint Joseph as their guide and they will not go astray. Brother André, for his part, kept repeating to all those who approached him: “Go to Joseph, he will know how to listen to you, he will know how to help you.” This is why we propose that for this Advent 2022 we take Saint Joseph as our guide to live this time of preparation for Christmas. May his journey of faith inspire yours!
Saint Joseph, a Guide for Today
The preface of the votive Mass to Saint Joseph invites us to contemplate him as
- The just man whom God gave as husband to Mary
- The faithful and prudent servant to whom God entrusted the Holy Family
- The one who watched over Jesus, the only Son of God, like a father.
These few words express well the mystery of the person and mission of Joseph.
In the Bible, the righteous person is not simply the man who refuses to commit an injustice, to do harm to someone. In the eyes of God, the righteous man is first of all the believer, the man of faithfulness. A man of trust, the just man puts his life in the hands of the Lord, he hopes in him. In hard times, he continues to believe, to trust in God. Even when God’s will baffles him, like Abraham or Isaac, he continues to walk in the night.
Jesus reminds his contemporaries that their religious affiliation is not an easy assurance of salvation. The salvation brought by Jesus is a gift that must be accepted. Joseph is one of those righteous people who have made room for God in their lives and who have taken their place at the feast in the kingdom of God.
A man of trust, Joseph, the just man, is also a man of fidelity to this God who calls, fidelity to God’s will in the daily life. If the Gospels do not report any words from Joseph, on the other hand, they often show him in action: “He simply did what the angel had told him to do. He did what he had to do, like a man of action who works in silence, entirely dedicated to his task, all concerned to accomplish as best he could the function entrusted to him. Joseph’s mission was to protect the lives of Mary and Jesus. It is not surprising that he chose to carry it out in silence, as active people who prefer gestures to words know how to do.
On this first Sunday of Advent, let us ask Saint Joseph to help us grow in trust and faithfulness. May he help us to make our own the prayer of the psalmist: “Look, answer me, Lord my God! Give light to my eyes.”
