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Welcome to the Catholic influences podcast where we go deeper into Sunday's gospel reading to help you influence the world for Jesus. I'm Danny Sullivan and I'm father Rob Galea and this podcast is presented to you by fig ministry.

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[inaudible]

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Hey, welcome to the final week of advents . It's going very quickly.

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Yes, it has four weeks, four weeks of advent. And we're on our last candle. And those of you who have , um, chocolate adventure wreaths , you should be at the end of that. I've had a not advantageous .

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I was like , what do they have in most of this? I'd been raised an amazing full of chocolate .

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Well, you know what? I was seeing it online. Someone's sent a few people, send me a link to a whiskey one. Oh , you have a whiskey every day. A good one I think. Sounds terrible. Well, I enjoy one whiskey, but not, not, I don't want to sound like an alcoholic. Yeah. But this is the end where we're reaching Christmas. We have just a beautiful, beautiful season coming upon us where we can sit with Jesus, baby Jesus, his vulnerability, his beauty, and also understand the journey. And that brought it came to this moment, Joseph and Mary, what are your plans for Christmas? Well, Christmas is always bitter sweet for me. It's an ICAP , beautiful time, but it's one of the saddest times for me as well because I don't have family in Australia and I haven't been home for Christmas. I think for 17 years. I haven't sat at my family table. I get passed around the table on an iPad. That's pretty fun. Nice. So all my family, including my aunts who have no idea. That's great. Great answer . I have no idea what they're looking at. They look at what they think is a photo of me and then they just stare at me for two for two awkward moment or minutes.

Speaker 1 1:54

We want to hear a cute story too with great aunts. My father's auntie was a non and she was quite old and got quite unwell and my brother went up to Sydney to visit her and he happened. She was losing kind of her memory a little bit. So he brought a photo on his phone of dad and this auntie just to be like, I'm Chris's son. So he pulled out the phone from his pocket and showed her and she was like, Oh, your Christmas sign. Kind of got her bearings a little bit. And then he put it back in his pocket, his phone away. And my great aunt looked at him and said, Oh, you keep a photo with me all the time. That's so Hayden corrector . He just let her believe that he carries a photo fair around. Um, but yeah, so similar, great arms , true blessing ,

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beautiful. But I'm, it's , I miss the great arts , you know, like I haven't seen and sat with them for awhile . So , um , yeah, Christmas is a beautiful time for family, but we have to also remember, it's also a very sad time for many people, especially those who don't have family, those who have lost family, those have lost their parents, husbands and wives. And so it is a , it is a difficult time for some. Um, but also again, such a beautiful time, especially when our focus is not only on presence and, and even family, but it is on the reason for the season. It is Jesus, Jesus, who is born and to become one of us, to be our company, to be our , um, our companion through life, even through the difficulty of being alone or lonely.

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So this week's gospel rating comes from Matthew. I've gone right back to the start over the gospel of Matthew. So the gospel this way, it comes through in Matthew chapter one, verses 18 to 24.

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This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy spirit. Her husband, Joseph being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicly decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you must name him Jesus because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet. The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call him Emmanuel and name, which means God is with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do. He took his wife to his home. Can you imagine

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the anxiety of Joseph? I don't know. Just imagine someone you'd be throat betrothed to from childhood in a sense. You know , parents would have organized that. You'd be married to this person. Um, and so all his life is brought up thinking this is going to be my wife. Traditionally. This is what happened, that I'm being assuming that could be so and there . All of a sudden they're engaged and he finds out she's pregnant. Like , Oh my goodness. Can you imagine the betrayal? He would have felt the anxiety and the sleeplessness and his thinking, but when would this have happened? How would this have happened? Why would this have happened? And this thing that she doesn't love me, she doesn't want me. She wants someone else and someone else's child. And it's just even the things that he would have imagined and just, just how absolutely devastating it must have been fought for him. And to come to that place where he eventually believed it was from God. He probably asked her, but tell me the truth. Come on. You're not saying the truth. And he just does. I can mention this argument they would have had. And Mary's saying, I am telling you the truth. And he's saying, no, you're not. And , and this, all of a sudden they comes to believe not because of he comes to belief because an angel tells him in a dream. And so this is just a miracle in itself, the anxiety. So this is just the , the beautiful miracle in, in that God brought peace in amongst turbulence, you know, by speaking himself through an angel. And it's an even, not through Mary, not through a as Holy woman, but he spoke directly himself to the heart of, of Joseph. And I thought that was just, that's so beautiful. And sometimes I need to hear the voice of God a and spoken to me. And when we're anxious, how we can just stop and say, God, you speak to my heart, take this anxiety, take this pain from me. And uh, yeah, just, I just, I love Joseph. I just love the pain that he went through and yet the, the, I love God that God has intervened so beautifully in this gospel.

Speaker 1 6:49

One thing I really love about Saint Joseph amongst many things, but it particularly shines through in this gospel is that, you know, he made up his mind, he resolved that he was going to divorce Mary, but he was going to do it quietly. He didn't want to kind of publicly shame her or cause her any embarrassment. Like he knew that Mary was a good girl. Um, so he didn't want to kind of throw it out and, you know, tell the whole town what's happened. He wanted to do it quietly and he'd resolve to do that. Um , before, you know, the angel of the Lord came and intervene and told him what he should do. Um , but , but I think that one interesting thing that I learnt when studying for this podcast is that there's three main beliefs in the Catholic tradition of why he had resolved, you know , to divorce her quietly. One of those is like the first one is that like that suspicion. Okay. So it's not my child. He would have known that. So I guess like who, whose child is this? And then it wasn't until the angel of the Lord revealed to him that it was a Holy spirits that he knew. So that was the first of these three traditions that the Catholic church believes as to why he, yeah . Wanted to, you know, separate from Mary quietly. Um , the second one is the perplexity. So he understood that it was from the Holy spirit, but he didn't understand how that could be. So he was confused and he wanted to distance himself from that situation. And then the third one is out of reference . So he knew that it was the child of the Holy spirit. And he knew that there was a big plan for this child's life, and he didn't think he was worthy to be part of that plan. So he knew that this was a big grand plan from, you know, from the Lord, from God. And he didn't think that he was in a position where he was worthy to even play a part in that. But we know that he needed to play a part in that. Um , because you know, he's a descendant of King David. And that's, you know, part of Jesus' lineage. Like he needed to have Joseph as his first

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because it was a prophecy . So when it was prophesied in the old Testament that he would be on in the line of David's , but he's in the line of David, not because of Mary is in the line of David [inaudible] through her adoption because of Joseph. And I think that's a sort of God's plan. How God uses us sane . And not because our vow goodness, but because of his plan, his goodness towards us. And so this is our Christmas time. This is where we're approaching now. The Holy family, the , um , Jesus is conceived and , and he's there with Mary. They've been through all of this anxiety and now they , the anxiety is not over because they have to start journeying . They have to start Jenning towards the birth, which is Christmas next week. I'm over these next few days. And so again, the strength of a Holy family that has been through so much and anxiety before but also continues to continues as they are exiled as they , um , tried to find this place of birth. And again, I don't know, I just, I just find this, this Holy family I can associate with them so much because of the strength they're found in, in spy, int and through that adversity

Speaker 1 9:54

and also the selflessness they have for each other that Joseph didn't want to shame Mary, that he was willing to kind of, you know, he was willing to leave her and he had resolved to do that, but he wanted to spare her because you know, he loved her. He knew that he, she was a good Holy person and that she wouldn't have done something if she said that she hadn't, she's not a liar. Yeah. And that she did speak the truth to him. We imagine if he even went and asked her that she would have spoken the truth and he chose to believe her. And then, you know, when the angel of the Lord came, he chose to believe that angel and stay with her. And at the end of the gospel it says, you know, bring her into his home. He chose to, you know , stay married to her and live with her and provide for her and this son as well.

Speaker 3 10:36

Yes. And so this fourth week of advent , this is what it's about. So about love and peace and love is not something you see. This is one of the things that we often think that love again, is an emotion. Love is one of the, the fruit of the Holy spirit. Love is a decision. Love is something we do, not something we feel. And so Joseph chose to love Mary by giving her the benefit of the doubt. By choosing to believe he chose to love her even though it was uncomfortable for him, even though it was difficult for him, he chose to love her even though maybe it was easier just to walk away and then peace that follows once we choose love and that again, peace is something that comes when we choose to follow and we choose God over ourselves, over our sin, over what we think is best and we choose. You see, this is one of the ways I, I, I know where God is, is where peace is, you know, there's a lack of peace when we're in a place that , that we're choosing ourselves and we're choosing what is comfortable for us and what we think is best for us over what is best for the kingdom of God and for the love of God. And that's sometimes really difficult. It would have been really difficult, Joseph, to choose to love Mary and to choose because it's easy. It would have been so easy for him just to walk away. This is too complicated, you know, I'm not worthy of this. Even if it were true, even if it isn't true, it just so much easier to walk away. But he chooses, he chooses to love, he chooses the family, he chooses God over himself. And that's where he would have found peace. And again, in our lives, you know how many times we choose ourselves and what is easier over what is God's will and , but the thing is when we choose ourselves and we choose even sin, when we choose comfort, we are choosing a lack of peace as well.

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Story time, story time. You can't say I'm a father. I've just tried to dance. It was lovely. Um , Storytime about choosing I guess. Yeah, those like those comfort things. Very relevant. Uh , just this morning I was having a discussion with Janine , our office manager, Janine , Johnny yell hello. Cracks me up every time. Um, I was like, Janine , I don't want to do season three of the podcast and I'm going to have to tell father Rob and he's really tired and I'm scared to have this discussion. She tells me now, I tell him all the bad guys. But since that conversation and since now wait from that conversation till now I have kind of resolved that it's not really like choosing that choosing not to be on season three is because I don't like my voice being heard all around the world. And that's a selfish thing. I want to hide away. I want to be hidden in Bendigo and no one know who I am. Um , but that's not what I'm called to do. So it's pretty, I think a pretty good compromise that um , God's been very generous to me. He's like, okay, you can proclaim, but no one has to see your face. So that's good.

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And again, this is what like st Joseph, you know, choosing again to the will of God or what we think to be the will of God over, over what is comfortable for us. You know, I mean, talking about this, you know, this is strange, but it's so true. It is so true. Sometimes it is so much easier to hide. I know what you're going through, Danny, in a sense, because you're an introvert. Yes. But even for me, like it's so much easier to stay home. It's so much easier to hide. It's so much easier . But at the end of the day, there's this goodness in our heart, this experience, this love, this encounter in our heart that we need to speak out. It is not an option to speak out when how we speak out. That's fine. There are different ways of speaking out. But I think this is my restlessness. You know, this is always my wrestle with God is, and it would be so much easier just to sit, to proclaim Jesus, Jesus from here, from my office, or to proclaim Jesus from writing songs in my room. But the same time I'm also called and gifted in a sense to go out and to proclaim Jesus around the world. And until I have the strength, until I have the will, until I have the , um , the power, I will continue to do this. You know, and I think this is something that st Joseph went through is thinking that , Oh , this , this is really, really difficult for me, but I'm going to say yes. I want to say yes out of love and I know that peace will follow.

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So following that example of st Joseph brings us to our site of the week . Um, so this week , uh , as a community, as a Catholic influences family around the weld , we are going to look a little bit at st Joseph and his life and his legacy as well. Like what he instilled the different characteristics that he would have instilled in our Lord , um, from the patients that it takes to be a carpenter to, you know, the selfless love that he would have shown. Mary . All these things are things that Jesus observed as a young child. So we're going to look at st Joseph A. Little bit more and our activity for the week. Um, maybe a little bit unrelated. I don't know if st Joseph was a talented or good or you know, enthusiastic singer, but I think carols are going to be played a lot this week. Um , Christmas is not that far away. It's the middle of the week this year.

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And is , we don't mean like the Mariah Carey one. No. Oh, Chris .

Speaker 1 16:14

Oh , he's Mariah . There is so many beautiful , um , carols that we can sing this Christmas and every Christmas. It just to proclaim how exciting it is that , you know, our God has become one of us. So what, what we're proposing that we do as a big Catholic influences family is finding a Carol H and looking into it, looking into the words and the tradition and the history and bringing that to prayer. Um, and really praying with this Carol to , you know , deepen our relationship with Jesus and to kind of get even more excited about the birth of little baby Jesus. Say go Germany , favorite Carol's father. Um ,

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well I do like silent night and you know why I like sound nineties , because I just imagine every time I hear that song, I just imagine myself sitting next to baby Jesus and looking at baby Jesus and just watching. You know, there are so many people who have kids and they put constantly post photos of their kids on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, like constantly, it's like 10 times a day and you think far out the child looks the same in this photo as it did in that photo for me because it's not my child, but they, for them it is. Every movement counts, you know, because they're loud. They're in love with this baby. So if the baby smiles for the first time, let's post about it. If it stands up for the first time, let's post about it. But someone who's detached, it's just the child that's just been positive. They can't tell the difference between this photo and that photo. But I think that's the thing is when I think of silent night, I think of that mother who's infatuated, who's in love with their child, that every movement counts and that it is so , so beautiful to this Christmas as well to sit with baby Jesus and just to stare at an imagined baby. Jesus. The smile, the giggle may be the , the bubbles. They make it with the uh , and just, just sit in that silent night and just imagine yourself sitting with Jesus , um , there, but also with Mary and Joseph, just admiring and in love with their baby Jesus.

Speaker 1 18:25

Nice. Good choice. Um, and then follow , I don't know if you would like to lead us in a prayer. Yes . Um , to finish off our final episode of the advent series , um , just a prayer of Thanksgiving, this time of preparation, this journey together, and then you know, what is to come and just a few days time,

Speaker 3 18:43

okay. So we'll crane the name of the father and of the son of the Holy spirit. Amen. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of view , for the gift of your birth, for coming into this world to become one of us, to show us how to become like you. Lord, you didn't stay in heaven distant from us, but you became this vulnerable baby so that we could fall in love with you so that we could become and more and more like you. So Lord Jesus, I pray that this Christmas we may sit with you. We may be with you Lord, and recognize the greatness of this season as you became one of us to change us and to bring us into relationship with you. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for the gift of Christmas. We thank you for the gift of each other and we ask that this Christmas, we will fall more and more in love with you and we ask this in Jesus name, amen. The name of the father and the son, the Holy spirit. Amen.

Speaker 1 19:48

Thank you so much for tuning in each week of advent for this special series. It's been a real joy. It's been a real joy to journey through advent with you. Merry Christmas to you and all of your loved ones. Um , have a safe, happy knee , all of that. And we'll see you in 2020 for season three.