Discernment

19 Mar

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.  (Mt 1:24)

We spend — or, at least, should spend — a great deal of our lives attempting to discern God’s will for us.

The reason that we have to spend so much time is that God’s will is not always crystal clear.

It would be so easy if a sign would be suspended in the sky or a big arrow would appear pointing us in one direction or another, wouldn’t it?

That is not how our lives work, however.

God’s ways are often not clear at all.

Especially when they get mixed up with all sorts of human emotions.

In today’s Gospel for the Feast of Joseph, Husband of Mary, Joseph was rattled to the core.  He had found out that his intended bride, Mary, was pregnant.  Joseph was not the father.  Mary told him that she was asked to be the mother of the Son of God.

As one can imagine, this did not sit well with Joseph at all.

Joseph had a few choices that he could make.

One choice would have been to call Mary out, to castigate her publicly.  She would have been dragged out of town and stoned to death.

Another choice would have been to divorce Mary and get on with his own life.

Now, Joseph was a just man.  He did not want any bloodshed.  He wanted both of them to get on with their own lives.  He chose to divorce her quietly.

But, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him that Mary, indeed, was carrying the Son of God and that God wanted him to take Mary as his wife so that he could protect her and the child.

Joseph was a just man and a servant of God.  He awoke and did as the angel had commanded.

God may not send an angel to us in our dreams — then again, He may, you never know — but, He does speak to us in a myriad of ways and experiences each day of our lives.  We, for our part, need to discern the voice of God and the movement of God in our lives so that we can serve Him as He asks.

FAITH ACTION:  If you believe you are being called to do something and you really do not want to do it, ask God for the grace to discern His will.