Friday, December 30, 2016

Discernment: Learning to Listen to "the Angels" God sends as Guiding Messengers

Discernment:  Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Shortly after Jesus’ birth and after the Magi left to return to their perspective countries, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to make an immediate departure in the middle of the night for the land of Egypt. Herod would be searching for the child Jesus to kill him.  When in Egypt and those who wanted to kill Him had in fact themselves died, an angel again appeared to Joseph instructing him to return to Nazareth.  A third time, again in a dream, Joseph is counseled by an angel concerning the  place in Judea  to settle that would be best for the Holy Family.

Joseph is alert to heavenly messages. He listens to the good spirits guiding him as foster father of Jesus.  All along, Joseph is fulfilling the prophesies concerning Jesus, God's plan for his life as our Messiah.

As with the Holy Family, God has a plan for your life as well. If you follow the promptings of “the angels,” the messengers of the Lord speaking to you, guiding you to making right choices, you, too, will be growing in the skill of discernment.  As with Joseph, so, too, with you: you are being guided day and night with warnings and instructions. Do you heed God’s guiding  voice? Do you see God’s guiding hand? Do you trust your "dreams”? Joseph did!  You can, too!

May you develop the kind of intimacy with God that Joseph had developed  and that enabled him to hear God's voice, trust God's messengers that He sends to you in your dreams.

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