[Pearls Ep 150: Preparing for Sunday.]
This Sunday’s Gospel reading brings us St. Joseph receiving a message in a dream, from an Angel of the Lord.
In this week’s Pearls of the Interior Life we take a brief look at whether we receive messages from God in our dreams – and, if so, how to approach them.
But then we move from the topic of the dreams of our sleeping, to the dreams of our waking; which is to say, our hopes and aspirations. God most assuredly desires to work in our dreams and aspirations – as He did in those of St. Joseph.
We’ll look deeper into these topics in our follow-up messages.
First, one item of clarification about St. Joseph. More and more people are taking the view (as did many of the early Fathers, and as do we) that Joseph was not concerned that Mary had been unfaithful to him. He sought to “quietly divorce her” because he understood that she was at the center of some manner of miraculous, divine plan, and he didn’t see himself as being capable or perhaps worthy to be part of such an exalted plan. The Angel came to reassure Joseph by reminding him of his royal bloodline and that he was exactly the man God had selected for this mission.
And that is a message God has for each of us – that we are exactly the person He desires for the very specific mission He has for us in this life.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life
Postscript: Matthew 1:18-24
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”