“…behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…” Mt 1: 18-24
How many days did Joseph witness or experience injustices that he longed for the Lord to remedy? How many nights did he fall asleep aching and yearning for the Messiah to come? And how many of those occurred while a tiny child grew hidden in the womb of a young virgin, caring for her cousin in the hill country of Judea?
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Long before an angel ever visited him in a dream, the Lord was working out Joseph’s prayers while he was sleeping. During fitful sleeps of worry, deep sleeps of fatigue, comfortable sleeps of contentment, sleeps riddled with nightmares or with no dreams at all… God was working out Joseph’s salvation as he slept.
It can be so easy to cling to our cares and worries as if we’re the only ones keeping things together. Subconsciously, we can trick ourselves into believing that if we weren’t actively worrying about it and clinging to it, everything would just fall apart. This can get in the way of us trusting in God’s hidden work. If we can’t see it with our waking eyes, it seems like he isn’t doing anything - so it must just be up to us!
But Joseph tells us a different story.
We don’t need to be afraid to step back, let go, and entrust our cares entirely to the Lord. We may not see what he is doing, but that doesn’t mean he is not at work. For the Lord works even while we are sleeping.
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Reflection by Sr. Orianne Pietra René