Three consecrated women and three priests in charge of Regnum Christi youth ministry in Madrid (Spain) have prepared a proposal to meditate during the time of Advent from the hand of Saint Joseph.
From their closeness with the young people they understood “the need and thirst that exists in them to learn to pray, to be silent, and, in some way, to be accompanied ‘by the hand’ to enter little by little into the Gospels”,
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This is what Tere Rodríguez, consecrated woman and director of the youth section of Regnum Christi in Madrid, explains to ACI Prensa, who adds that the choice of the adoptive father of Jesus to go through this liturgical time is based on the fact that, despite being “a saint silent and always in the shadows”, what we know reveals to us “his deep and true sanctity of life, in the simplicity of the daily routine.”
“In Advent we usually get closer to Mary, but little to Saint Joseph, who was just as much a protagonist of this last month before the birth of Jesus,” he emphasizes.
The booklet of Advent and Christmas meditations also proposes “an approach to a fundamental man in the life of Jesus”, but without making “fictional theology”.
“The idea rather is to get closer to his feelings as a man, with the little that the Gospel reveals to us (bewilderment, deep faith, love for the will of God above himself), and from here, learn what we can for our own Christian life,” explains Rodríguez.
The meditations try to get closer to the heart of Saint Joseph who “was not immaculate (like Mary), he did not have the appearance of an angel (only in dreams), he did not experience in his flesh the miracle of the Incarnation.”
In this sense, “he was ‘one of us’, like us, in totality” and that is why “we can contemplate his feelings and reactions more closely, because we ‘understand’ them, to a certain extent.”
“We can pray from the contemplation of what he has experienced, admiring and deepening his closeness to the Lord, which led him to leave his judgment and his will totally in the hands of that God who asked him for everything,” the consecrated woman emphasizes.
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.