“Consider that the Holy Spirit chose only Joseph to be the protector of the Blessed Virgin, to be her true husband and consequently, no created being can equal the glory of this great saint.”— Blessed William Joseph Chaminade
Good evening Lord.
I am praying to you from the middle of the desert. I am on my way to Ein Kerem to pick up Mary. She has no idea that I’m coming because I had no way of sending her a message. Hopefully, it will be a pleasant surprise to her.
The sky has started to turn rosy as twilight turned to sunset. Even though summer is just around the corner, the nights are still cool. It’s a clear night so I can see thousands of stars. The moon is so bright that it looks as if I was surrounded by a hundred torches. There must be olive trees nearby because their pleasant odor permeates the air around me.
My journey began two days ago. I started on my own because there was no one from Nazareth headed in that direction. But I knew that on the way, I would meet up with other groups going towards Jerusalem. I was right. As soon as I left Nazareth, I was able to join a group of twenty, plus three small children.
The men from our group have been taking turns at night keeping vigil, because we have already encountered robbers on our way. This is our third night, and tonight is my turn. I’m supposed to keep guard with two other men, but they have wives and small children so I told them to go to sleep, and I would wake them up if I needed to be relieved. Hopefully, I can hold on for the entire night, so they can rest.
We should reach Ein Kerem in two days, but it will all depend on how much we can advance. The first day of our journey was good, but yesterday and today have been more difficult. On the first day, we traveled south along the flatlands of the Jordan River, which was the easiest part of our journey. We then headed west through the Judean desert, and today, we started climbing the hills surrounding Jerusalem. We have had to trek uphill through three mountain ranges, nearly 1,336 feet in elevation. Yesterday, while we were crossing through the desert, we encountered a sand storm. We had to stop and take cover under our cloaks and blankets. We were only able to complete four leagues distance, so that caused a big delay on our travel plans.
It certainly has been a grueling trip. I have been walking the entire way because I could not afford to buy another donkey. But on a positive note, all the persons traveling in our caravan have been wonderful. We all help each other out, and we share everything that we have brought. Mostly, breakfast consists of dried bread. At lunch, we eat more bread dipped in oil, and in the evening, herbs with oil and bread.
We should arrive to Jerusalem by tomorrow afternoon. Ein Kerem is just two leagues further south, but I will probably need to spend the night in Jerusalem, and head to Ein Kerem the following day. I cannot wait to see Mary. Hopefully, Elizabeth already had her baby. And in no time, we will be able to return to Nazareth. Even though I was able to finish all the work that I had pending, I had to turn down a lot of new orders. I’m praying that this won’t affect my future workload, because we will need the proceeds from my work to maintain us. But I just knew that I had to take this time to make sure that Mary returned home safely.
I am going to take a walk around our camp to make sure everything looks fine. Then I will say my evening prayers, and try to stay awake until dawn breaks. At that point, everyone will wake up, we’ll have breakfast, and then we can start moving again. Please God, continue to lead the way, and send your angels to protect us. I should be with Mary soon.
Good night, Lord.
Reflection:
Even though Joseph was supposed to share his vigil with two other men, he decided to sacrifice, and spend the entire night awake so the other two men could rest. There may be people in my life right now that need a small sacrifice from me. God has placed them in my life for me to encourage them, or to strengthen their faith. I need to be available when they need me. Think of someone that could benefit from a small act of kindness during this Advent season.
Copyright © 2024 Christy Romero. All rights reserved.
Resources from the following books are being used on this journey:
- 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
- Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Donald H. Calloway
- Las Palabras Calladas: Diario de Maria de Nazaret by Pedro Miguel Lamet
- All Bible references are from the New American Revised Edition Bible (NAREB) unless otherwise specified.
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