An Advent Journey Invitation

 “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.” Matthew 1:20

Earlier this year, I did a consecration to Jesus through St. Joseph. If I’m honest, up to that point, I was not very close to St. Joseph. But getting to know him through the consecration, made me realize that aside from having a Mother in heaven, I also have a spiritual father, Papa Joseph, as I have began to refer to him since the consecration. 

Back in 2019, I wrote Mary’s Journey. I did it in two parts. The first part was during Advent which covered Mama Mary’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem with a side trip to Ein Karem. And the second part was during Lent 2020 which covered her journey from Bethlehem to Egypt, Nazareth and Jerusalem. I shared both journeys again during Advent 2023 and Lent 2024. But this year, even though I am in the middle of doing a consecration to Jesus through Mary, I have been thinking a lot about St. Joseph. I have been feeling the Holy Spirit encouraging me to do an Advent Journey with St. Joseph. 

How did Joseph feel when Mary shared with him that she was pregnant? What were his thoughts and fears when the angel appeared to him in a dream? Did he feel capable of the responsibility entrusted to him?  All these questions have been swirling around in my mind. Hopefully, as we walk with him, we will get the answers.

So this Advent, I would like to invite you to take a walk with Joseph. We will start on Sunday, December 1st in Nazareth. We will be with him when Mary announces that she is expecting, and when the angel reveals that she will be the mother of the Son of God. We will walk with Joseph to Bethlehem where we will witness the Nativity through his eyes. 

When I wrote Mary’s journey, I did it as if Mary was keeping a journal with her experiences. I don’t believe that Joseph would have kept a journal, but I do believe that he prayed daily to God. Therefore, this Advent, I invite you to be a fly on the wall and listen in to Joseph’s conversations with  God.

I will only be sharing this journey through a WhatsApp chat. If you want me to add you, please let me know and I will gladly include you. 

I wish it to be understood, that all I will write on this journey is a product of my imagination, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and with the help of the references that I mention below. My words are limited and my mind is too small to be able to fully comprehend what Joseph experienced from Mary’s announcement to the Nativity. But I place myself in God’s hands “for nothing will be impossible with God” Luke 1:38.

May I be a pencil in His hands, and may He use me to reveal a small fragment of the mystery that took place over 2,000 years ago through Joseph’s eyes.

References for this Journey:

1. New American Revised Edition Bible (NAREB)
2. The Mystical City of God: A Popular Abridgement of the Divine History and Live of the Virgin Mother of God by Venerable Mary of Agreda
3. Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Donald H. Calloway
4. Las Palabras Calladas: Diario de Maria de Nazaret by Pedro Miguel Lamet