SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Heart of the Homily Podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: I'm one of your hosts, Michelle Lopez, and I'm with Father Bagoa.
SPEAKER_00: So welcome back, Father, and happy fourth week Sunday of Advent.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: Exciting Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: Good to be with you, Michelle.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas is around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: So it's been um actually wonderful to kind of have our podcast during Advent to open up the season a little bit more deeply.
SPEAKER_03: I agree.
SPEAKER_00: Um so it's been really nice.
SPEAKER_00: And then Christmas is around the corner.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: I think even for me, per in a on a personal way, it kind of uh opened Advent in a different way, preparing for, of course, all the homilies, but even for podcasts and things.
SPEAKER_03: So thanks.
SPEAKER_00: So good.
SPEAKER_00: This is making us holy.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: Bring it up.
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Well, today we are um gonna be focusing on the fourth Sunday of Advent.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, your homily really focused on the role of St.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph.
SPEAKER_00: And I found that really wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes he's kind of like a lost character in the story of the nativity and all that.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to chat about him.
SPEAKER_00: And to open us up, I'm gonna read from the gospel since that's kind of where you pulled everything, and also it um helps us to give some context.
SPEAKER_00: So this is from the reading um from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew, verses 1, 18, and 24.
SPEAKER_00: This is how the birth of Jesus came about.
SPEAKER_00: When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_00: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and behold a son, and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took his wife into his home.
SPEAKER_03: Powerful.
SPEAKER_03: And you gotta wonder why is that on the fourth Sunday of Advent, right?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it, Father?
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's many reasons, and I think we'll get into it, but um I think that it's fascinating how Matthew presents Joseph as the first man who responds to the incarnation, right?
SPEAKER_03: And I I think you mentioned at the beginning almost uh he's like he's not this background character.
SPEAKER_03: Um yes, it's true.
SPEAKER_03: Saint Joseph says nothing in any of the gospels.
SPEAKER_03: He's not quoted at saying anything or um, but a central figure.
SPEAKER_03: Yes, he's silent, he doesn't say anything, uh, but he makes the most, one of the most important decisions.
SPEAKER_03: And and for that, we're eternally grateful.
SPEAKER_03: I remember when I was a little kid, always super devout to the Blessed Mother.
SPEAKER_03: I I think I've mentioned, I don't know if it was here, but my grandmother had a big to-do about that, uh, just how we fell in love with the Blessed Mother.
SPEAKER_03: And I remember sitting at Mass and hearing this as a little kid, hearing this gospel, and I was kind of angry at St.
SPEAKER_03: Joseph.
unknown: Oh gosh.
SPEAKER_03: Do you know why?
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because it says he wanted to divorce her quietly.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know why.
SPEAKER_03: That just stuck in my heart and my brain.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I took offense to it.
SPEAKER_03: I was like, why would you do that to the blessed mother?
SPEAKER_03: But the little the things that you remember as a kid, right?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: But I love that uh Joseph reminds us or is the model of uh of silence, of of faithful discipleship.
SPEAKER_03: Um there's something to say about what his role is and how he doesn't say anything in the gospels.
SPEAKER_03: And um he teaches us that holiness, um a lot of times it's not about visibility.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: It's about fidelity, it's about surrender.
SPEAKER_03: And a lot of times it's it's what we do in in the when no one is watching.
SPEAKER_03: I think that's where we grow the most in holiness.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Is is is in those moments when moments of integrity when no one is watching, when you're able to stick to your routine, when you're able to to form that structure in your life that keeps you in the straight and narrow.
SPEAKER_03: What what is it that we know about Saint Joseph?
SPEAKER_03: We know that he was a carpenter, we know that he was engaged to marry, but then that most famous line that kind of explains his whole life, it says that Joseph was a righteous man.
SPEAKER_03: And um that word righteous, I don't think it m is meant to be strictly a strict pious kind of way of living or passive being naive.
SPEAKER_03: But um I think the way that they talk about it in the in the scriptures is that Joseph was obedient to the will of the Father.
SPEAKER_03: And when you're obedient to the will of the Father, that that you're a righteous person, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, when we look at um even Saint Joseph in the gospel, you were saying he's he's quiet by his words, but his actions are pr very profound in his obedience to the to the father, to the plan.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I even think about how the angel visited Mary, and then the angel visited him also, you know, and like that's his own enunciation, you know, in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Of really saying yes to God's plan and his part in it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then also, you know, he didn't go out and probably share with everyone that that happened, just like Mary didn't, but they kept those things in their heart and then they were faithful to what God was asking of them.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I find that very profound because his actions throughout the gospels are um speak so much of um just his great love for God and protection of Mary and his consent to the plan, like him saying yes to the plan of God unfolding.
SPEAKER_00: That was not easy at all.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and when you talk about righteousness, righteousness, I think too, um, that word integrity that you use really speaks to me as far as like that's um at the heart of Joseph is a man of great integrity, right?
SPEAKER_00: And following through and responding quickly to God's invitation.
SPEAKER_03: And what I think it is, it's it's not moral perfection.
SPEAKER_03: What it is, it's moral surrender.
SPEAKER_03: And that's where that word righteousness is important for us.
SPEAKER_03: And how do we how do we wrestle with that in our own walk to holiness?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think you you kind of hit on, I think, the misconception misconception, which is perfectionism.
SPEAKER_00: Like when we think about Joseph, like we think like, oh, he never did anything wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Or like he was perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You know, being righteous is not perfect, but it's faithful.
SPEAKER_00: So getting up after you fall, like striving again and trusting more in God's goodness and mercy than in your own weakness.
SPEAKER_00: And especially, I think, with his scenario, no, being with the Blessed Virgin Mary and then with Joseph, with Jesus, like, you know, he probably learned a lot about like his own imperfection, and but was not discouraged by that, but encouraged by God trusting him with a huge mission.
SPEAKER_03: And that's it.
SPEAKER_03: It's uh one of the things is that before the angel comes to him, one of the things that I highlighted in the homily is that Joseph chooses mercy because he has options, right?
SPEAKER_03: So this is not his kid, he knows this is not his kid.
SPEAKER_03: He could um he could expose her to shame, save his reputation.
SPEAKER_03: There's a lot on the line here.
SPEAKER_03: And so I'm sure there was moments where he's thinking all of this through.
SPEAKER_03: And as I said, he's got some options.
SPEAKER_03: And and so what he does is he shows mercy in the sense that he says to himself, I'm gonna divorce her quietly.
SPEAKER_03: Gonna just do this with love and and not expose her.
SPEAKER_03: And he does this, he does the right thing before there's clarity.
SPEAKER_03: And but what I love is that moment when the angel does come to him because um the angel doesn't give him a roadmap, he doesn't say, This is what's gonna happen, this is what you need to say, this is what people are gonna think.
SPEAKER_03: Uh no, no, he doesn't even give Joseph a roadmap.
SPEAKER_03: He says to him, the only thing that the angel says is, be not afraid.
SPEAKER_03: Wow, it's like, how many times have we been in different situations in our own lives where we don't have all the answers, we don't have the clarity, we can't see maybe past uh just a couple minutes, but um, we're able are we able to say, to think about and say, okay, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_03: I know that the Lord is near and that I don't have anything to fear because why?
SPEAKER_03: Because I'm his and I belong to him.
SPEAKER_03: That's huge.
SPEAKER_03: I think that St.
SPEAKER_03: Joseph can teach us so much.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's huge because that's where a lot of us struggle.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, well, let me know that the plan's gonna be, you know, like okay, and then I'll do it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like we want like the assurance of like what the path looks like or that it has certain qualities to it or things to place our security in.
SPEAKER_00: But Joseph is an example of like a radical abandonment to God's will because he's asking, he's because of obedience and not because of it's gonna be easy or I know what's happening, or I'm in control of this the scenario, or um, but he really places his security knowing that the father is gonna provide.
SPEAKER_00: And like that's it.
SPEAKER_00: That's all you need.
SPEAKER_03: It's hard, I have to say.
SPEAKER_03: It's so hard.
SPEAKER_03: And something we've been talking about the past couple of podcasts is this word that you just use, control.
SPEAKER_03: We want to control the narrative.
SPEAKER_03: We feel that uh in every aspect of our lives, many times, if I can just control the situation, I'll feel safe or I'll um I won't feel as anxious or I won't feel as overwhelmed if I can just control this.
SPEAKER_03: And this is going countercultural to that.
SPEAKER_03: It's saying, no, do not, it's not about predictability.
SPEAKER_03: It's not about having control, it's about complete and total trust.
SPEAKER_03: And you see, and you read the gospel that you just read, and you see the life of Saint Joseph, and that was there from the very beginning.
SPEAKER_03: He was asked to do something extraordinary.
SPEAKER_03: And um, and so he doesn't say anything, but what he does is he makes an important decision.
SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, so Joseph didn't wait for clarity to be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Which is a big call out, I think, to all of us, you know, to be faithful and like clarity will come in God's timing and not it's not part of like I'll follow you only if I have clarity.
SPEAKER_03: You know, that's never been a part of And something that I've prayed about and I've thought about it's it's I wonder if Joseph had, I'm sure, a moment of doubt or a moment of uh anger, maybe, or why me, or why is this happening?
SPEAKER_03: Or I wonder if he had that moment where he says, Well, I'm angry at God, or uh, this is unfair, or I can't do this, or but then he has this moment to be able to get it all out, have that discussion with the Lord, be angry, or be behave like a spoiled brat or whatever, but then recover.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: To be able to come back, even like how we go to confession or we say, okay, I'm sorry, Lord, I failed you.
SPEAKER_03: I was my behavior was even if it's internally, like no one knows that you're struggling with this or some sort of decision that now is in your life, or you have to be obedient to something and and you're saying, and and it's all interior, this interior struggle where you're, uh please forgive me, Lord.
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm back, right?
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'm back.
SPEAKER_03: I I want to trust fully, I want to be faithful, I want to be your instrument of grace in other people's life.
SPEAKER_03: And I had that moment of weakness where I didn't behave as well, and I was struggling with uh with my relationship with you and understanding why, because I don't have all the all the details.
SPEAKER_03: I don't see clearly, I don't have clarity on on this, and but I just need to trust.
SPEAKER_03: But I needed that moment to get it out, that frustration, that anger, that whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that's um a real relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Relatable, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's relatable, and that's also part of um like we have to have a real relationship with with Christ, like which involves conversations like that where you know, you gotta pause and be like, I just have to tell you how I really feel, you know, and then like, but I say yes, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's it's cool to imagine Saint Joseph like that because he was he's human.
SPEAKER_00: So he's gonna wrestling with God's will is not a sin.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like it's it's part of our humanity to be able to wrestle.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's like the Psalms, right?
SPEAKER_00: They teach us that we can be in a great high or a great low and like be very expressive of how we feel, but it's ending with, okay, but I trust you and you're trustworthy, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's go, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I think that's it's an important lesson to look at um Saint Joseph and even the Psalms, which is what he would have been praying.
SPEAKER_00: He would have been praying those psalms to help him know how to have those real conversations with the Lord so that he can say yes to a great plan that was unfolding before him.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_03: And again, faith begins where control ends.
SPEAKER_03: Or a lot of times our anxiety is about control.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: That that whole sense of I don't have it in my grasp, or I'm not able to.
SPEAKER_03: And so it builds up and builds up until sometimes it explodes, or sometimes it be it it it ends in despair, or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_03: But it's at the end of the day, it's not surrendering.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Because holiness doesn't mean understanding God's plans, it means trusting in God's character.
SPEAKER_00: Can you expand a little bit on what that looks like?
SPEAKER_03: So not yeah, it's holiness does not mean understanding God's plan.
SPEAKER_03: Just like how Saint Joseph was able to one, I don't understand all of this, but he chose mercy.
SPEAKER_03: And I think you hit on it.
SPEAKER_03: Something super important is that his character was such that for before any of it anything is asked of him, he's already been faithful through all these years.
SPEAKER_03: He's been in this relationship with the Lord, he knows God.
SPEAKER_03: And so when God then asks him for a major decision, it's all there.
SPEAKER_03: The foundation is there to be able to, yeah, maybe struggle, but come out on the other side and say, all right, I'm back and I know what I need to do, even if I don't have clarity, if and I don't have the roadmap, if I don't have uh what I need to say or how people are gonna react, I'm gonna trust.
SPEAKER_03: Um and so it's it's all about that.
SPEAKER_03: It's it's maybe I don't understand God's plan in my life, but I'm gonna trust.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think for um for ourselves and all that are listening, that's very relatable.
SPEAKER_00: And that sometimes we we don't understand why God allows some things and not other things.
SPEAKER_00: But we can, but at the end of the day, sometimes our we have questions that are unanswered, which God likes that we have questions, but sometimes we're not asking the deeper questions or at least giving them to him so that we can be free to walk forward, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like there's a lot of times where, well, why did this happen?
SPEAKER_00: Why did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And until I know the answer, I'm not gonna trust.
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like we're asking the wrong questions, you know, like it's more like how are you gonna walk with me through this, Lord, instead of why did this happen, or you know, um, why not this?
SPEAKER_00: But being able to really have that humble heart of knowing like our God is a good and loving father.
SPEAKER_00: And so the things that happen, like we can trust him and also say, like, with time, you'll either let me know or like it it'll I'll come to a place of enough peace to know that it's unfolding in a greater way.
SPEAKER_00: And I can I'll know in your time.
SPEAKER_03: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And to surrender.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: And if you look at the whole story, um, what does obedience cost Joseph?
SPEAKER_03: Right.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Reputation, uh, predictability, masculine pride, perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's interesting because we look at the story now and we're like, oh, it's such a nice, beautiful story.
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like, if we look at the story deeply, like this is costly.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we know because we know the whole thing, you know, we know like the beautiful story that unfolds and think like what an honored role, like what an incredible role that Joseph played, but you know, that's not what he's thinking at the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Probably he's probably like, my life is ending, like what is happening, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But trusting that God is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like that he's wrapped up into the story of salvation and it's gonna unfold in a beautiful way.
SPEAKER_00: Although, even the story of the nativity and the flight to Egypt, like that's all kind of scary things, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but man, his his his faithfulness, his integrity to say yes and no, it's not about comfort, but about faithfulness.
SPEAKER_03: I think you're right.
SPEAKER_03: I I think it's a good when you're doing Alexio Divina, or maybe you're praying through the scriptures or praying through the situation before Christmas to really put yourself in the in that space uh in the life of the Holy Family and to think about St.
SPEAKER_03: Joseph and how it relates to your own life.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, here Mary's pregnant, he finds out Mary's pregnant.
SPEAKER_03: This you think, oh, I I this is a beautiful life that I'm gonna have, and this is where my future looks like.
SPEAKER_03: And who knows what plans he had.
SPEAKER_03: And Mary's pregnant, and he's not your son.
SPEAKER_03: This is not your kid that she's carrying.
SPEAKER_03: It's gotta have been devastating.
SPEAKER_03: A kick to the stomach.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: And so you're right, it's um, we see this beautiful story where it ends at the manger and the shepherds come and glory to God in the highest.
SPEAKER_03: But look at the different pieces of the struggles, the the thorns, the the real pain, the suffering, the decisions that need to be made.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, how does righteousness in the sense that I will do the right thing, I will will will act with integrity.
SPEAKER_03: Um and I think that that something we we were talking about earlier is when we have the foundation, we're able to, I think, respond in a better way, a deeper, more honest, holier way.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because we've already done the hard work.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And uh see the life of Joseph in that way is really really profound to know that God prepared him, you know, to be able to receive this great mission, but also prepared him to know what to do with the wrestling, the disappointment, the confusion, that it wasn't gonna be something that distracts him, but he chose wisely and faithfully in the midst of that to let it to let truth point him to be faithful and not anything else.
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03: Because I think that if if obedience doesn't cost us something, then it's really not obedience.
SPEAKER_03: Right.
SPEAKER_03: So it has there has to be this sacrifice, it has to be this giving up of to give room for what God has in store for something greater.
SPEAKER_03: But we have to be able to let go of the baggage of all of what's tying me down because why, like you said, it's God's calling you, elevating you to uh a higher, a higher mission, a higher something that He He wants to give you, but maybe perhaps you're not there yet.
SPEAKER_03: And so obedience is part of that.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I don't know what's coming.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna prepare the heart, I'm gonna be in the right disposition to be able to receive it and then work through it.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And to continue to say yes.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think about just from what you were sharing using about how the next part of the story of them going to find room in the inn and they don't find any room, right?
SPEAKER_00: For um it's just like one thing after another of like of disappointment or disappointments, um roadblocks.
SPEAKER_00: Roadblocks, but but then we look at the story and everything's perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Like it being in a stable and being in Bethlehem, like all these things are so perfect and brilliant to the story of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: But like, you know, when they're living it, it's like ah, you know, but for us it's there, uh it's just I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: For me, it speaks of like in our own life to have that confidence, like that we don't see the whole story and like that their story helps us step back in our own story to remember that God sees all like the full picture.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And it's and there's beauty and there's brilliance.
SPEAKER_00: So trust, you know, trust that he's weaving together a story that is um yeah, something that's beautiful.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because I think we live in a culture that is uh that is obsessed with words and having everything perfect.
SPEAKER_03: And um and we here we see that Joseph no recorded words.
SPEAKER_03: What he does have is recorded actions.
SPEAKER_03: And it's that whole saying, actions speak louder than words.
SPEAKER_03: And I think it I think that's true with holiness.
SPEAKER_03: I think it's true when you're in discipleship.
SPEAKER_03: Um we're good about, hey, did you see what I did?
SPEAKER_03: Or I'm gonna go prepare this and I have all this for these people, and I'm gonna go work at the soup kitchen and uh this which there's nothing wrong with that, but I but I I think that if we're doing things in the silence of our hearts, if we're doing things when no one's watching and our actions are speaking louder than words, there's where that that reveals something about who God is preparing or or what Joseph reveals that authority comes from action and and not from volume, right?
SPEAKER_03: The noise.
SPEAKER_00: And especially the hidden actions like you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: The hidden actions.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's where holiness is is when being faithful to God when no one else sees or doing the small things and knowing that at the heart of it, we're doing it for him anyways, right, and not for anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: And I I know for my own life that that was a a lesson, I think, in college that was really transformative of like integrating my faith into like the whole of my life was realizing, you know, in the small ways of when I'm alone, like do I choose to be faithful?
SPEAKER_00: You know, do I choose to make sacrifice um when I know it's only God that sees?
SPEAKER_00: And is that enough for me?
SPEAKER_00: You know, is that enough for me?
SPEAKER_00: And choosing and wanting that to be enough for me.
SPEAKER_00: Um actually I find that in in marriage very helpful because at the end of the day, like even like the small things that we do for our family, they're not they're not always gonna be seen.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: But choosing like my first, the first person I'm trying to please is God.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And like, and that's enough, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And I might not get a credit or a thank you, and that's not complete total surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: But I, you know, it's pastoral honesty, I think, is important.
SPEAKER_03: People most people want God to affirm their plans.
SPEAKER_03: I've already figured it out.
SPEAKER_03: I have it all laid out.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sprinkle a little blessing here.
SPEAKER_03: Can you do a little blessing on this plan that I have?
SPEAKER_03: And if it doesn't align with your thinking, can you kind of change it so it does align with your thinking?
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so a lot of times we spend a whole lifetime trying to fit that into the wedge.
SPEAKER_03: It's this is my plans, and Lord, can you affirm my plans?
SPEAKER_03: Um, which is kind of cool when you're looking at the story from this weekend.
SPEAKER_03: Joseph allows God to replace his plans.
SPEAKER_03: I'm sure he had it all laid out.
SPEAKER_03: Where this is where we're gonna live, this is what we're gonna do, we're gonna have a beautiful life, and uh and then it gets turned upside down.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: He said, No, I'm gonna need you to step up and uh here's a little curveball.
SPEAKER_03: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_03: Because again, freedom plays a lot into this, and uh he could have stepped away and he could have said, Well, he was charitable, he was he chose mercy, he chose love.
SPEAKER_03: He says, I'm gonna divorce her quietly and go my own way.
SPEAKER_03: He says, Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary into your home.
SPEAKER_03: That's powerful.
SPEAKER_03: It's it's just you think about this, and we're not talking about a fairy tale or some myth or some nice story, and uh you know, Joseph and Mary going, and there's no room at the inn, and then they find a little cave.
SPEAKER_03: And no, this is real life.
SPEAKER_03: Real life, and it it's uh it it matters to our salvation, and it's Jesus Christ uh born, God made flesh in our own human history.
SPEAKER_03: And um, and precisely why it's to show us the way.
SPEAKER_03: And again, this weekend, Joseph shows us the way.
SPEAKER_03: That it's that's the model.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: He he shows us the way when why?
SPEAKER_03: Because everything that we're talking about is so relevant.
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's it's part of our everyday life.
SPEAKER_03: The biggest struggles that we have, the biggest disappointments, the biggest um just our everyday um is is is this desire to control everything and and struggling with God or fighting with God because God is not affirming our plans.
SPEAKER_03: And and so this, and one of the things I mentioned at the end of mass, I was saying, go back and reread this before Christmas.
SPEAKER_03: Because our whole life, the way we act, the way we we operate and and we in and out of our work and our family life has to do with everything that Joseph dealt with and how he deals with it.
SPEAKER_03: What's the outcome?
SPEAKER_03: Um so I think it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: It is very beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I have to ask the story that you shared as part of the intro.
SPEAKER_00: Um, what was the inspiration for that?
SPEAKER_00: It fits so beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: And it was actually really um, I I thought it was very profoundly connected to to Joseph and all that.
SPEAKER_03: I read it.
SPEAKER_03: I read it somewhere a couple years ago and I didn't use it.
SPEAKER_03: I I don't know if I told you that before.
SPEAKER_03: I I love stories.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.
SPEAKER_03: I uh I think that sometimes uh stories for me don't work.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I do love them when they do work, and I think it worked here.
SPEAKER_03: Why?
SPEAKER_03: Because poor Wally, right?
SPEAKER_03: He's there and he's practicing his line.
SPEAKER_03: And I could, I you can almost see it for your in your mind's eye, where this little kid gets so wrapped up in the story, right?
SPEAKER_03: Where this drama is not just now this play that they're putting on, but an actual an occurrence that's happening in real time.
SPEAKER_03: And so Wally gets caught up in it.
SPEAKER_03: And then this poor Saint Joseph, who the kid who's playing Saint Joseph, gets overconfident and starts ad-libbing and and and doing things that they didn't practice.
SPEAKER_03: And as they're walking away, this little kid gets his eyes filled with tears and says, Wait, wait, please come back.
SPEAKER_03: I you you can take my room, right?
SPEAKER_03: But the reason why I used it was um because that's exactly what Joseph did.
SPEAKER_03: He struggled, he was firm, but he he said, No, Lord, use me, use my room, whatever it is, I don't care.
SPEAKER_03: Literally my house, you know.
SPEAKER_03: His plan, use my plans, my everything, my future.
SPEAKER_03: I don't care.
SPEAKER_03: I want to be faithful to you.
SPEAKER_03: And even though I don't know what's up what's coming down the road, use me.
SPEAKER_03: Use my room.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I I one of the things that I thought was so beautiful about that comment too, is and connecting it to what we're talking about is um that's a really difficult part of the story, right?
SPEAKER_00: That there's no room for the end.
SPEAKER_00: And again, in the story when they were going through that, very difficult.
SPEAKER_00: But now, now it means something so much more to us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, like and I love someone told me the other day, like, and you know, for Christmas, we have to make sure we don't repeat the story or we don't want to repeat history that we don't have room for Jesus in our own inn, our hearts, like in within ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, you know, that is so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Like we want to make room to be welcomed and to be like Joseph and Mary to like welcome God's plan in our life and welcome Jesus into our life.
SPEAKER_03: Right.
SPEAKER_03: And there's that whole thing, what what's cluttering that room?
SPEAKER_03: Because it's not free and clear to receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: So there's a lot of rooms that are just cluttered with bad behavior and and things that just we can't seem to shake and um vices and um uncertainty, whatever it is, whatever is distracting you from having that clear open room for for crisis Christmas.
SPEAKER_03: Again, there it is.
SPEAKER_03: That's the story of the fourth Sunday of Advent that is helping us in in preparing for just in a couple days here for the incarnation of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, as we wrap up, because we have just a minute left.
SPEAKER_00: Really?
SPEAKER_03: One minute?
SPEAKER_00: I know, it's true.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of flew by.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we we do have a few days left before Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: What would be some of your advice?
SPEAKER_00: Um, whether be inspired by St.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph or just how can we allow these next three days to open wide our hearts so that we don't repeat history and have no room, but we do have that room ready for Christ in our heart.
SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm glad you said about the whole room and and brought Wally back into that because Advent uh does not ask us, do you believe in God?
SPEAKER_03: That's not where we're at, Advent.
SPEAKER_03: It's not, do you believe in God?
SPEAKER_03: Advent is asking, will you make room when God disrupts you?
SPEAKER_03: Remember, we began talking about that at the beginning, first Sunday of Advent.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, the Lord is disrupting, it's interrupting to shake us up and say, hey, hey, this is a new season here.
SPEAKER_03: What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_03: Uh to prepare your hearts to make room for the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Joseph's legacy, he made room and salvation entered the world.
SPEAKER_03: That decision, right?
SPEAKER_03: Um, so Joseph made room, history changed.
SPEAKER_03: The question is, are we really serious about buckling down and saying, what is it that I need to do to change, to be better, to make room for the coming of the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: Well, beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you've had a really terrible advent, there's three days left to let the Lord reveal um the answer to that question.
SPEAKER_00: And for all of us, we always, there's always places for more, more of the Lord, more room to make.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Father, for that reflection.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Michelle.
SPEAKER_03: It's been a beautiful advent.
SPEAKER_03: I'm looking forward to the Christmas season.
SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's gonna be beautiful.
SPEAKER_03: And uh so yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you want to listen to Father Vigo's Homely, um, please check Spotify or other our Apple Podcast or our YouTube channel to be able to check out the homily that we just mentioned and other podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: And we look forward to hopefully seeing it at Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: If not, we'll pray for all of our listeners.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03: Merry Christmas, and we will see you, I think, Monday after the Feast of the Holy Family.
SPEAKER_03: So excellent.
SPEAKER_03: God bless.