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.
