Brooms in a Closet

Sometimes I wonder how Mary and Joseph must have felt, as the days wound down to the birth of the Saviour of the World. I especially wonder at Joseph’s outlook on it all, since he was not sinless as was his wife. Mary was perfectly in tune with the will of God, which enabled her to make the decision to bear the Son of God whole-heartedly and without reservation. From Joseph’s point of view, I would imagine that everything must have been frightening; perhaps he thought that he was being unfairly treated, or that God was putting him through these trials as a punishment for past sins. From his wife-to-be being pregnant out of wedlock (shameful in their culture), to leaving his hometown to travel to Bethlehem, to struggling to find a place for Mary to give birth, to fleeing for their lives to a foreign land after Jesus’ birth…the list goes on and on. Such a beautiful instrument, Joseph was. Praise God for this model of manliness and courage! While we have virtually no record of Joseph’s words or thoughts on these events, we know that he willingly accepted all that he was meant to do, and that he loved his family with all his heart. My spiritual director described him as a wonderful model for us, as a ‘broom in a closet’. If we are to always do the will of God, we must be willing to be used at different times for different purposes, with the faith that God has “plans for our welfare, and not for our harm” (Jeremiah 29:11). Thus, we are to be like brooms in a closet, taken out when we are needed and used according to beautiful Divine Providence. As humans, sinful by nature, we often resist this beautiful mandate in favour of our own plans and devices. I am very grateful that Joseph did not flee, or take ‘the easy way out’ when all seemed to be going wrong. This Advent, as we eagerly await the coming of our Lord and Saviour, it is a time for us to pray that God writes His name on our hearts, and to be open to His Spirit that enables us to better serve Him as ‘brooms in the closet’. Pray without ceasing!