Sorry to be a little late in posting this reflection. I let myself get busy about other things ... a sign of the days.Joseph is the star in today's gospel. He is the one who had to set aside some time to respond to the will of God that came in the silence of his dreaming. This calls to mind a silence quote from Kahil Gibran: "Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights."
As a priest friend has remarked, "If Joseph had his mind set on what he wanted today, imagine the mess of the first Christmas."
We are especially distracted during the final days before Christmas. How much time do we give to responding t0 the spiritual shopping that we might find helpful to our celebration of the feast day? Surely we give enough to the material shopping. The pressures of the season weigh heavily at this time especially if there are youngsters in the house ... maybe even oldsters!!! Perhaps we might ask ourselves just how much time we set aside for our spiritual preparation for Christmas? Honest answers to that question might be painful ... the truth usually is. Down deep, we might search: How important are spiritual realities in our lives for this spiritual feast? Only you can answer that question, you and your God!
Let Joseph be something of a model for us. With some personal discipline we can find the time not only for ourselves but for those with whom we live and celebrate these holidays.
