Dear friends and fellow apostles,
May God bless us and consider with compassion each of our intentions, according to His holy will.
As we await the coming of the Infant King, we consider Joseph, Mary and Jesus and look for the parallels in our own lives.
When the angel Gabriel imparts to Mary the plan for her maternity, she is apprehensive. No doubt, as time went on, she grew more comfortable, even rejoicing in the plan. Then, when heavily pregnant, she is told she must leave behind that place she has prepared for her baby and travel a long distance to a strange land. Is it not possible that in her humanity Our Lady pondered the new plan and thought, “I could have coped with the plan as it appeared yesterday, but with this new plan? This is going to be very difficult.” Our Blessed Mother must have fought many temptations to be afraid.
Joseph, through the grace of heaven, accepts Mary and her pregnancy and moves to protect her and the child to come. No doubt his acceptance came with at least some trepidation. Perhaps he was becoming comfortable with his part in the plan and then he found that he had to bring the heavily pregnant Mary to a new place. Is it possible he thought, ‘I could have protected my wife and child as things were, but how will I care for them in the unknown circumstances to come?’ Joseph must have fought many temptations, also.
In contemplating the journey to Bethlehem and the birth of our Lord, it is clear that Joseph and Mary, charged with protecting Jesus, were also participants in the protection of the plan for the salvation of mankind. This plan probably did not appear very safe to them on that first night. They were poor, uprooted and entering a future filled with uncertainties. And they were not welcomed. Is there anything colder than the coldness of finding indifference when one is achingly vulnerable and in need?
Truly, on that first Christmas Eve, as Joseph entered Bethlehem with Mary, God’s plan must have seemed to be a plan filled with holes, filled with danger, even peril. And then what happened?
God’s plan worked out just fine. The Saviour is born. A weary world rejoices.
Dear apostles, be confident in the plan God has for you, even if you feel fear and apprehension. Be confident that God hears your prayers and understands the wounds and desires of your heart. For me, I feel great joy on this Christmas because so many of us have answered God’s call to spread these words of consolation and reassurance. Our labors and sufferings are bearing great fruit! And we must keep working.
Listen for a moment to what our Holy Father says in a wonderful new book entitled Light of the World by Peter Seewald.
“Only time will tell what we will be able to do and achieve. But we must summon fresh energy for tackling the problem of how to announce the gospel anew in such a way that this world can receive it, and we must muster all of our energies to do this” (p.130) Pope Benedict XVI.
May we all continue to do our part in announcing the gospel and welcoming as many of our brothers and sisters as possible back to the Jesus and His Church.
I thank you all for the prayers for my health, which seems to be improving. I am most especially grateful for the prayers for my family. I am sustained by these prayers and I return them to you each day, when I pray for your strength, your families and each of your apostolic endeavours. We are a team, working together, even though we are far flung across the globe. God’s love unites us and in heaven we will see how closely we worked during our time of service here on earth.
I will write again in January to share with you some of our accomplishments in 2010 and our goals for 2011. For now, may we all share in the peace and joy of the little manger.
With love from your sister in Jesus,
Anne, a lay apostle
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