After the meeting in the Temple, Jesus returns to Galilee with Mary and Joseph. He went down with them on their journey to Nazareth and lived there in subjection to them.  The Holy Spirit wanted to leave this fact clearly stated in the Gospel. Its source can only be Mary who, time and time again, saw the silent obedience of her Son. It is one of the few pieces of information we have from those years of hidden life: that Jesus obeyed them. St Augustine comments that Christ, to whom the universe is subject, was subject to them. To obey His Father, Jesus subjected himself to those who, in his earthly life, were invested with authority; in the first place, his parents.

Our Lady must have reflected very often about Jesus’ obedience, which was extremely refined and, at the same time, very natural. St Luke tells us immediately that His Mother kept in her heart the memory of all this. The whole of Jesus’ life was an act of obedience to the will of the Father.  What I do is always what pleases Him, he will tell us later; and on another occasion he said clearly to his disciples: “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me; and to accomplish the task he gave me”. Food is what gives energy for life. And Jesus tells us that obedience to the will of God – manifested in so many different ways – should be what nourishes and gives meaning to our lives. Without obedience there is no growth in the interior life, nor true development of the human person. Obedience, far from lowering the dignity of the human person, leads it to maturity by extending the freedom of the sons of God.

 God is not indifferent to any situation in our life. He is waiting for a response from us at each moment; the response which coincides with his glory and our personal happiness. We are happy when we obey, because we are doing what Our Lord wants for us, which is what is best, although at times it costs us effort. God’s will is shown to us through his Command­ments, through those of his Church, through things that happen and, also, through those persons to whom we owe obedience.

Fruits of obedience.

In the Gospel we see how our mother Mary obeys: she calls herself the handmaid of the Lord showing that she has no other will than that of her God. St Joseph obeys – and always rapidly – whatever is commanded on the Lord’s behalf. Promptness in doing what is commanded is one of the qualities of true obedience.

The Apostles, in spite of their limitations; know how to obey. Because they trust in Our Lord they cast the net to the right of the boat where Jesus has told them; and they make a great catch of fish, despite its not being the right time, and despite their earlier experience that day of there apparently not being a single fish in the lake. Obedience, and faith in Our Lord’s word, works miracles.

Many graces and fruits accompany obedience. The ten lepers are cured by obeying the words of Our Lord:

Go and show yourselves to the priests and thereupon, as they went, they were made clean. The same happened to that blind man on whose eyes Jesus put clay. He said to him, “Away with thee and wash in the pool of Siloe” (a word which means sent out). So he went and washed there and came back with his sight restored. What an example of firm faith the blind man gives us – a living, operative faith! Do you behave like this when God commands? When so often you can’t see, when your soul is worried and the light gone? What power could the water possibly contain that when the blind man’s eyes were moistened with it they were cured? Surely some mysterious eye salve or precious medicine made up in the laboratory of some wise alchemist would have done better? But the man believed. He acted upon the command of God and he returned with his eyes full of light. How often we too are going to find the light in that person placed there by God to guide and cure us, if we are docile in obeying. In the Acts of the Apostles we read God gives the Holy Spirit to all who obey Him.

 The Gospel gives us many examples of persons who knew how to obey: the servants of Cana in Galilee, the shepherds in Bethlehem, the Kings – all received abundant grace from God. Obedience makes our actions and our sufferings meritorious, in such a way that the latter, which could seem futile, can become very fruitful. One of the marvels performed by Our Lord is having made what was useless, like suffering, become so advantageous. He has glorified suffering through obedience and love. Obedience is great and heroic when one is ready to face death and ignominy in order to fulfill it.  

 Obedience and freedom. Obedience for love.  

Christ obeys for love. This is the meaning of Christian obedience: that which we owe God and his Commandments, that which we owe the Church and our parents – their commands and those of the Magisterium of the Church – and that which affects all those very intimate things of our soul. In every case, more or less directly, we are obeying God, through the authorities. And Our Lord does not want unwilling servants, but children who want to do his will. Obedience also brings about a true formation of character and great peace to soul: the fruits of sacrificing and giving up one’s own will for a higher good.

If we come very close to Our Lady we will learn easily how to obey promptly, joyfuly and effectively. Following her example of obedience to God, we can learn how to serve with refinement, without being slavish. In Mary we don’t find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish virgins who obey, but thoughtlessly. Our Lady listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn’t fully understand and asks about what she doesn’t know. Then she gives herself completely to doing the divine Will: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word’ (Luke 1:38).

He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. (Phil.2:7-9)

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.        (Heb 5: 8)

Fr. Francis Ferandez

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OUR LADY’S FAITH

For hundreds of years Christians have given special attention to Mary on Saturdays. Throughout history and in our own times as well, theologians and ecclesiastical writers have explained some of the reasons that make this devotion particularly appropriate. Thus, Saint Peter Damian writes that Saturdays commemorate the completion of God’s work of creation. God rested on the seventh day, and Mary is the one in whom, through the mystery of the Incarnation, God made for himself a holy resting-place.

Saturday, the Sabbath of the Old Law, is also an anticipation of the Lord’s Day, a symbol and sign of heaven. Christ, risen from the dead, is the gateway to eternal life in heaven; and the Blessed Virgin is our way to Jesus, just as she was his way for coming into the world. Saint Thomas, also, points out that Saturday is dedicated to Mary because on that day she kept faith in the mystery of Christ after his death. In any case, we Christians need a special day to honor our Lady and show her our love in a special way.

And so, since ancient times, special Marian devotions have been held on Saturdays in churches, chapels and shrines throughout the world. Many Christians make a special effort to honor the Blessed Virgin in some special manner on this day. Some choose one favorite aspiration to repeat often throughout the day. Others pay a, visit to a sick person, or to a poor family, or to someone who is lonely or suffering, in honor of our Lady. Still others visit a church or shrine dedicated in her honor, or simply make a special effort to be attentive in reciting the Rosary, the Angelus, or the Hail Holy Queen.

There are many good Marian devotions. There is no need to practice every single one of them. But anyone who doesn’t live some of them, who doesn’t express his love for Mary in some way, does not possess the fullness of the faith. Those who think that devotions to our Lady are a thing of the past seem to have lost sight of the deep Christian meaning they contain. They seem to have forgotten the source from which they spring – faith in God the Father’s saving will and love for God the Son, who really became man and was born of a woman, and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies us with his grace.

If you look for Mary, you will necessarily find Jesus; and you will learn, in greater and greater depth, what there is in the Heart of God Let us consider how our own lives reflect this ancient Christian practice of special devotion to our Lady on Saturdays.

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The only thing that really matters in life is getting to Heaven!

Among all the achievements of our life only one is really critical. It is attaining the goal–Heaven–set for us by God. We must be ready to give up everything, if necessary, to achieve this goal.  We must also be ready to set aside anything that even gets in the way of our achieving it, no matter how valuable or appealing it may seem. Everything else has to be subjected to that one supreme objective in our life: possessing God.

If anything becomes an obstacle rather than and aid to this end, then we must be prepared wither to set things straight or to put the obstacle aside completely.  Eternal salvation–our own or our neighbor’s–comes first. Our Lord tells us so in the Gospel of the Mass:  If thy hand is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off!…and if thy foot is an occasion of sin to thee,, cut it off!..and if thine eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out! (cf Mk 9:40-49)  It is better to enter the kingdom of Heaven maimed, lame, or lacking an eye than being physically sound to be cast into hellfire where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. It is better to lose something as necessary as one’s hand, foot, or eye than to lose Heaven, which is our supreme good, implying as it does the beatific vision of God for all eternity.

By employing these very graphic images, Our Lord teaches us that it is our positive duty not even to run the risk of offending Him; we have the serious duty of avoiding or setting aside proximate occasions of sin…anything that entices and draws us closer to sin must be energetically excised from our lives. We cannot toy with our own salvation or with the salvation of our neighbor.

Often the obstacles we have to set aside will not be tremendously significant ones. In the life of a Christian who is striving to please God in all things, this will usually be the case. What will have to be set aside and cut out are our in or whims and preferences. We shall take prudent steps to correct small breaches of temperance where Our Lord asks us to mortify our taste or our appetite, to control our temper or our moods, to overcome any excessive concern we may have about our health or comfort.  All of these more or less habitual failings need very much to be taken into account, even though they may not be more than venial sins. They slow our pace and can trip us up or worse: they gradually lead to or bring about more serious falls.

Fr. Francis Fernandez(In Conversation with God)

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“And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” (Mt 1:16)

Among the Jews, as among other peoples of nomadic origin, the genealogical tree was of vital importance. A person was known fundamentally of the clan or tribe to which he belonged rather than by the place where he lived. Among the Hebrews we have the added circumstances ­of belonging to the chosen people through ties of a person’s ancestry being traced through the male. Joseph, as the husband of Mary, was the legal father of Jesus and, as such, carried the duties of a true father. Joseph, like Mary, was of the house and family of David of whom would be born the Messiah.

It would also be Joseph’s responsibility to name the Word incarnate, in accordance with the instructions given him by the angel: You shall call his name Jesus.

God had foreseen that his Son would be born of the Virgin Mary, in a family just like any other, and that in her he would develop in his humanity. The life of Jesus had to be in this respect the same as that of other men. He was to be born defenseless, in need of a father who would protect him and teach him the things that all fathers should teach their sons. The essence and ultimate meaning of Joseph’s life had to lie in the fulfillment of his mission as Mary’s husband and as the father of Jesus. He was born into the world to act as the father of Jesus and to be Mary’s most chaste spouse, in the same way that every person who comes into the world has a specific vocation from God, in which is rooted the whole meaning of his life. 

When the angel revealed to him the mystery of the virgin birth of Jesus, Joseph quietly accepted the vocation to which he was to remain faithful until death. St Joseph’s whole glory and happiness lay in his knowing how to understand what God wanted of him and in his having faithfully carried it out to the end.

Let us contemplate Joseph at the side of the Blessed Virgin, who is with child and soon to give birth to her only begotten Son. And let us resolve to spend the time of Christmas at St Joseph’s side, a place as unnoticed as it is privileged: How good Joseph is!

Joseph’s relations with Jesus:

Joseph, we read in a sermon of St Augustine, not only claims the name of father, but has a greater claim to it than any other. And then he adds: How was he a father? All the more effectively, the more chaste the paternity. Some thought that he was the father of our Lord Jesus Christ in the same way as other fathers, who beget sons of the flesh and do not receive them only as the fruit of a spiritual love. This is why St Luke says: ‘he was thought to be the father of Jesus.

St Joseph was deeply in love With Mary. He must have loved her so much and with such generosity of heart that, when he learned of her desire to preserve the consecration she had made to God, he agreed to marry her. He would rather renounce having children than live apart from the woman he loved. His was a pure, refined and deep love. It was full of respect with no hint of selfishness. God himself had definitively sealed their union with a new and even stronger bond, which was their joint earthly mission of bringing up the Messiah. And they had already been betrothed, which was why the angel had said: Do not be afraid to take Mary to be ‘your wife’.

What kind of relationship would Joseph have had with Jesus? Joseph loved Jesus as a father loves his son and showed his love by giving him the best he had. Joseph, caring for the child as he had been commanded, made Jesus a craftsman, transmitting his own skill to him. So the neighbors in Nazareth would call Jesus the son of the craftsman. Jesus worked in Joseph’s workshop and by Joseph’s side. What sort of man must Joseph have been, and how must grace have been active in him, that he was able to carry out the task of bringing up the Son of God?

For Jesus must have resembled Joseph: in his way of working, in the traits of his character and in his way of speaking. Jesus’ realism, his eye for detail, the way he sat at table and broke bread, his preference for using everyday situations in his teaching – all this reflects his childhood and the influence of Joseph.

We stay close to Joseph as we meditate on the approaching Nativity. He only asks us to be simple and humble in our contemplation of Mary and her son. There is no room for the proud in that little group in Bethlehem.

Go to Joseph, so that he may teach us to live side by side with Jesus and Mary:

Joseph is only a silent witness to the Holy Maternity. Joseph, full of admiration, unspeak­ing and respectful, contemplates the child and its mother. After Mary, he was the first person to see the Son of God made man. No one could have experienced more happiness than he when he took in his arms the Messiah, who in no visible way could be distinguished from any other child. Initially, Joseph’s participation in the mystery had come about through the knowledge given him by the angel’s revelation of the mission he was to carry out for these two exceptional people.

St Joseph was present later when the shepherds arrived. He saw them approach the cave, timid and curious, to see for themselves the ‘babe wrapped in swaddling clothes’. He heard them explain to Mary about the apparition of the heavenly messenger who had told them about the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem and about the sign by which they would recognize him, describing how a multitude of angels had gathered with this first herald envoy, glorifying God and promising peace on earth to men of good will … Joseph also contemplated the radiant happiness of the woman who was his wife, this marvelous lady who had been entrusted into his keeping. Enthralled by the way she gazed at her son, he saw her own unspeakable joy, her own overflow­ing love, her every gesture so full of exquisite tenderness and meaning.

If we stay close to Joseph during these few days between now and Christmas, he will help us to contem­plate this tremendous mystery of which he was a silent witness and to gaze lovingly at Mary as she holds in her arms the Son of God made man.

From the very start Saint Joseph grasped the fact that his whole reason for living was this child, precisely because he was a child, and as such, in need of help and protection, as Mary was too, for God himself had commissioned him to take her into his home and give her protection.

How grateful Jesus would be for all the vigilance and attention that Joseph paid to Mary. That is why the Church has always paid him great tribute and been fervent in his praise, having recourse to him in times of greatest difficulty. Saint Joseph, pray for them (for our loved ones), pray for me (for I too need your help). In whatever need, the Holy Patriarch, together with the Blessed Virgin, will hear our prayers. Today, we ask him to make us simple of heart so that we will know how to show our love for the child Jesus as he did.

From “In Conversation with God” by Fr. Francis Fernandez

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 “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;  they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev 7: 14)

As we celebrate some martyrs this week we see that these holy ones can include anyone from a young girl to the Holy Father and all in between.  The 20th century had more martyrs, it is said, that all the centuries before.  All the faithful will know persecution to some extent although mostly of the “white martyrdom” kind and not unto the shedding of blood in the red martyrdom. Here is a meditation on this thought from Fr. Francis Fernandez:

The Church wants to make us realize that the Cross is always very close to Jesus and His followers. As he struggles for perfect righteousness–sanctity–in this world, the Christian will meet difficult situations and attacks from the enemies of God. Our Lord has warned us:  If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you…remember the word that I said to you; a servant is not greater than his master:  if they persecuted Me, they will persecute you. (Jn 15:18-20).  Since the very beginning of the Church this prophecy has been fulfilled. 

And in our days too, if we really follow Our Lord, we are going to suffer difficulties and persecutions in one way or another and of different kinds. Every age is an age of martyrdom, St. Augustine tells us. Don’t say that the Christians are not suffering persecution; the Apostle’s words are always true…all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  All, he says, with no one being excluded or exempted.  If you want to test the truth of this saying, you have only to begin to lead a pious life and you will see what good reason he had for saying this.

Persecution has taken many forms. During the first centuries it tried to destroy the Christian faith by physical violence. At other times Christiana have also been, and are, deprived of their most elementary rights or attempts are made to confuse simple people by campaigns aimed at undermining their faith.  Even in countries with a great Christian tradition, every sort of obstacle and difficulty is put in the way of parents who wish to educate their children in a truly Christian way.  Or Christians, simply because they are Christians , are denied a fair chance of advancing in their professions.

Our Lord also wished to warn His followers not to be disconcerted when they are misjudged, not by the heathen, but by their own brothers in the faith…who would think that they were offering service to God by this unjust behavior.  All contradictions…must be endured in the company of Our Lord in the Tabernacle: there the apostolate in which we’re working will acquire a special fruitfulness.  Circumstance like these mean that Our Lord is calling us in a special way to be united with Him through prayer. They are times when we have to display great courage and  patience, without ever returning evil for evil. What is more, our interior life has need of contradictions and obstacles in order to grow strong and consistent. With the help of Our Lord, the soul comes out of these trials purified and more humble.  We taste the joy of Our Lord in a special way and can say with St. Paul:  I am filled with comfort, with all our affliction I am overjoyed (2 Cor 7:4).

The Christian who is persecuted for following Jesus will draw from this experience a great capacity for understanding other people and a firm resolution never to wound them, never to offend them, never to treat them badly. Our Lord asks us, as well, to pray for those who persecute us…speaking the truth in love.

The last beatitude finishes with a fervent promise from Our Lord:  Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. (Mt 5:11).  Our Lord is always a generous paymaster.

The history of the Church shows that, at times, tribulation makes someone grow cowardly and cold in his relationships with God; at other times, on the contrary, it ripens sanctity in souls which take up the cross of every day and follow Christ, becoming identified with Him.  We always see this double possibility: the same difficulty–illness, misunderstandings, etc.–have different effects according to the dispositions of the soul.  If we want to be saints, it is obvious that our disposition has to be that of always following Our Lord closely, in spite of all obstacles. Mary, our Mother, is especially close to us in all difficult circumstances. 

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Earthly things must simply be the means that bring us closer to Christ.

Mark 8:³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul?

It is far better to be with Christ and have nothing, then to have all the treasures the world contains and to be without Him. All earthly things are simply means to bring us to God. If they do not serve that purpose they are worse than useless. Jesus is of more worth than the most lucrative and important business transactions; more than life itself!

Following Jesus is not compatible with almost everything else. We have to make a choice, and give up every single thing that is an obstacle to our being with Him. For this reason we must have deeply rooted in our soul, a clear disposition of horror for sin, asking Our Lord and His Mother to take away from us anything that might separate us from Him.

No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. (Mt 6:24)

Fr. Francis Fernandez

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When the world first issued from the Creator’s hands, everything overflowed with goodness, which reached its culmination with the creation of man. But evil came into the world with sin, and rooted itself like a weed in human nature.

True joy, which is always united to goodness, came to earth fully on the day that Our Lady gave her consent, and the Son of God took flesh in her womb. A profound joy already reigned within her because she had been conceived without Original Sin and her union with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was complete. 

At her loving response to God’s plan she became the cause of new happiness in the world. This is because Jesus Christ came to us through her. Christ: the full joy of the Father, of the angels and of men, in whom God is well pleased. Mary’s mission, then and now, is to give Jesus, her Son, to us. This is why we call Our Lady the Cause of our Joy.

Fr. Francis Fernandez

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It is difficult to explain many of the things that happen nowadays any personal and at a public level if we do not bear in mind that so many people who should be awake, watching and attentive , have allowed their faith to fall asleep; love has been snuffed out in so very many hearts. In many spheres, the normal Christian now generally means someone who is lukewarm and mediocre. Among the first Christians the normal Christian meant one who lived the heroism of each day and when the occasion presented itself, accepted martyrdom itself. It could and did mean very often the surrender of one’s very life in defense of the faith.

When love grows cold and faith falls asleep, the salt loses its savor and is no longer good for anything. It is just something for throwing away; what a pity if a Christian were to become as useless as this! Lukewarmness is often the cause of apostolic ineffectiveness, because if we are in its grip the little we do becomes a task devoid of human or supernatural attractiveness, and bereft of a spirit of sacrifice. Faith that appears moribund and radiates little love is unable to win anyone over or find the right words with which to attract others do a deep and intimate relationship with Christ.

Let us fervently ask God for the strength to react. We will be the true salt of the earth if we keep our daily conversation with God and if we go with ever greater faith and love to receive the holy Eucharist. Love was and is the moving force in the life of the saints. It is the whole reason of every life dedicated to God. Love gives us wings with which to soar over any personal barriers to our advance, or any obstacles presented to us by our surroundings. Love makes us unyielding when confronted by setbacks.

Lukewarmness gives up at the slightest difficulty. It makes mountains out of mole hills. Love for God, on the other hand, makes a mole hill out of the mountain; it transforms the soul, gives it new lights and opens up new horizons for it; it makes the soul capable of  achieving its highest desires and gives it capacities it never as much as dreamed of possessing. Love does not make a fuss about the effort involved, and fills the soul with happiness as it surveys the results of its efforts.

As we finish our meditation, let us turn with confidence to the Blessed Virgin, the perfect model of loving correspondence with the Christian vocation. Let us ask her to remove effectively from our soul any shadow of lukewarmness. Let us ask our guardian angel also to make us diligent in God’s service.

Fr. Francis Fernandez

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