Good News of Great Joy

Happy St. Joseph's Day! St. Joseph played an immensely important role on my Eight Day, especially beginning on his feast day, but last year the 19th was on Sunday so his Solemnity was observed on the 20th. So much more on St. Joseph tomorrow.

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I awoke to clouds that were breaking and sun that was finally shining through. Christ had conquered sin anew in my life and all creation joined in the celebration of my freedom and joy.

Throughout the morning, I was riding so high on the joy of the night before that I had trouble settling down to focus on a meditation - I could focus on God, but not on a particular meditation. So I spent the first Holy Hour outside, sitting in the sun, sitting with Him, basking in His Love, seeing Him and myself perhaps more clearly than I ever had before. Finding it natural and beautiful simply to be and to receive from Him.

I went back inside to try to pray with the Incarnation. I was still having trouble settling down to focus, so instead I channeled my delight and pictured myself lying in the grass with God nearby and asked my Father to "tell me a story". And it was from that image that I approached the glorious scene of the Annunciation.

My meditation on the Nativity (Matthew's narrative) that afternoon was a little more difficult, but I could identify that it was because fear was creeping in again. I used St. Paul's language often to remind myself that "For freedom Christ has set me free, I will not submit again to the yoke of slavery."

The conference that night was on the Incarnation and the invasion behind enemy lines that was our Salvation. But also how God always reaches down to us, even in our lowest moments. In praying through it today, I was especially struck by what Fr. John Ignatius said about the attitude this incredible reality allows us to have. That: "I am fearless in transparency because He loves me through and through."

My final meditation was on the Nativity as seen through the eyes of the Shepherds. I've loved this passage for a long time, the striking beauty of the angels words, and of what is happening to the whole world seen in the encounter with the shepherds. I usually pray with it in the context of my favorite passage in the entire Bible: Isaiah 9:2-6. As I prayed with the scene, I found that I had Nutcracker music playing in my head - and it really worked rather well. One particularly beautiful moment was once we had reached the Stable. Holding the beautiful Christ Child, several lines that had stuck in my head from Song of Songs suddenly took on a strikingly different but lovely meaning of receiving the love of a baby. "Oh that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth."

Be not afraid for behold, I bring you GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY which will come to all the people.

#EightDay2017 #Sunlight