The Annunciation to Joseph
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife . . . Mt 1, 24
I have always been truly humbled by Joseph.
I have had in my life one occasion in which the Lord used a dream to direct my decisions. That probably bears recounting in the context of reflecting upon this scripture story (Mt 1, 18-25).
I was always close to my maternal grandparents. We visited them at least weekly throughout my childhood, and were always with them on holidays and birthdays, along with my maternal cousins. Grandmom passed away when I was 19, and a few years later - after I'd joined the Air Force - Granddad died in 1984.
After I left the service in 1992, I worked for a time in the commercial education sector. What a racket, though it did effectively serve some students who were never successful in traditional educational environments. At any rate, one night I had a dream of Granddad. Two decades later I can't really remember any of the details, except that it included vivid scenes of actual events from my childhood with him, and a sense that he was present to me now. I woke up from this dream with a profound certainty that I was being called to do more honor and respect the older members of our society, whom we younger people so often disregard in our haste to live our daily lives.
There was some other event that week that reinforced this message for me, though I haven't been able to recall what it was for quite some time. However, the next Sunday there was an item in our parish bulletin indicating that the local Catholic Social Services office was looking for people to serve in their geriatric respite care program. Volunteers would be trained to help older folks with tasks such as toileting, learn how to lift them safely and help them walk as needed, etc. Again, I was immediately certain that the two events I'd experienced in the previous week were preparation for me to respond to this ad.
So I contacted them, was screened and trained, and was assigned to help a 74-year-old gentleman who was caring for his 94-year-old dad. Their regular respite care provider had been injured in a motorcycle accident the previous week, and the son needed to be able to break out for a couple hours to do grocery shopping and other errands. I spent one evening per week over the next couple months hanging out with this gentlemen who'd been orphaned as a child and been employed by a baker in his youth, who'd later joined the Army and ended up settling in Dayton at the end of his service. I became concerned for them when the end of the quarter at work neared, for I was being reassigned to teach an evening class and would no longer be available to provide respite care, but it turned out that God had all that worked out already. My first week of unavailability coincided with the first week of availability of the volunteer whom I'd replaced, who was now sufficiently recovered from her injuries to be able to provide care once again.
This was no major thing, though, in the grand scheme of my life. What impresses me about Joseph was that this dream led him to make truly major changes in his life, to interpret the clear evidence of his betrothed's infidelity in an unprecedented, different way. I suspect he did not know at that time how this decision would turn his world upside down and lead him to a foreign country, and who knows what other major ramifications he may have experienced before disappearing from the gospel accounts. He had no waking visit from God's messenger as Mary had; still, he accepted this message as being from God and made radical decisions based upon it. And what a difference this made: Jesus' Davidic lineage comes from Joseph, so a significant number of the ancient prophecies concerning him came to fulfillment through Joseph's humble obedience.
Again, I struggle with living the life to which God is clearly calling me through far more accepted means than my dreams. My respect for Joseph is quite high.
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