Day 8: Mary Hidden in Advent-Joseph's Youth (add for 25 days)

Jacob Receiving Joseph's Coat, Diego Velazquez

Day 8: Joseph's Youth (Add for a 25-day Advent Season)

     Read The Jesse Tree, pp.30-32.  Hang coat of many colors ornament.
     Joseph dreams of his future greatness and his brother's become envious.  They attack him, selling him to slave traders, and telling Jacob that Joseph was killed by wild beasts.  They show Jacob Joseph's blood-covered coat to prove their tale.  Jacob is devastated; Joseph is abandoned to a life of slavery in Egypt.

     Scripture reference:  Genesis 37

     Comment:  Joseph was the light of his father's eyes and the joy of his heart.  He was a favored son, who was to inherit his father's blessing.  Just as Joseph gave such joy to his father, Mary gives joy to us.  She is the Cause of Our Joy, because her obedience to and love of God resulted in our salvation.  Her "Yes!" brought forth the Savior into the world, and her cooperation with God's plan made God-With-Us (Emmanuel) possible.

Related Title:  Mary, Cause of Our Joy

 

     "Through Mary, the Cause of Our Joy, you discover that no where on earth are you more welcomed, no where are you more loved than by Jesus living and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.  He is really there is person just waiting for you." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Prayer to Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy

O God, Who brought joy to the world 

through the Incarnation of Christ your Son,

grant to us who honor His Mother as Cause of Our Joy

the grace to follow your commandments

and to set our hearts on the true joys of heaven.  

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, 

one God for ever and ever. Amen.

-The Missal with readings of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, London, 1997