For many of us, the only time we think about St. Joseph is around Christmas, when we put out the nativity scene or hear the narratives of the birth of Jesus. We know the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, was chosen by God to be His mother. However, Joseph was chosen as well ̶ chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus. While Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus, he accepted the responsibility of being the father of Jesus.

When I was ten years old, I had my first experience of God answering prayer. It was a very simple prayer, during an at-bat in a baseball game. The answer came immediately and proved a better outcome than I ever expected. I had another of these answered prayer experiences later in my young adult life. From these moments on, I never questioned the existence of God, only His plan for my life.

December is a crazy busy month and I don’t need one more thing to do. Do you feel the same way?

Shopping, gathering (now in a socially distanced way), practicing, volunteering, earlier deadlines, and (don’t forget) making time for traditions... all of us experience at least some of these things thrown into our already packed schedules, made more complicated by the pandemic still sweeping our world. It can be easy for us to wonder if we can just focus on Christmas and our mountain of tasks and only think about Advent on Sunday when we attend or stream Mass. However, our spirituality can truly blossom in a season like Advent if we do only one thing: shift our mindset. Advent is about preparing... and before you stop reading and move on to the next thing, I invite you to go a little deeper with me.