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Daily TV Mass — Lenten Retreat Day 18: Father Thomas Lynch. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents, Let Us Reflect Together, 40 Days of Lent Retreat from the Cross to Hope. Day 18, Journey with the Holy Family, Joseph the Protector with Father Tom Lynch. Her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose Mary to disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took her as his wife. When Joseph was given his instructions,
he did what any good solid man would do. He got up and he acted upon what God had asked him to do. We're called to get up and to act and to carry on in that action as to what God calls us to do. Anybody should ask themselves, why am I here, what am I supposed to do, and how am I supposed to do it? I talk to all kinds of young men and in this crazy economic time when A.I. is pushing you one way and others are pushing you another way, they're often not clear about what it is they're called to be and to do. What does it mean to be a man in our time? It's not just men that are asking that, but I especially hear those echoes of it with young men. What you're called to do is you're called to be obedient in the moment. That's not an easy thing. It means that first you have to be able to listen to God, to have prepared your heart and your mind to be able to follow God.
It means that for ourselves it isn't just an impulse. Impulses are for boys. Impulses are for those people that live by their emotions. This is why often when I hear people say, oh, I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious. I say, well, then good luck to you. You're going to be afraid of your emotions and to everything that is a passing fad or a phrase. Instead, as the great, I think, writer and social activist Dorothy Day said, you have to have the long obedience. Joseph had the long obedience. It's the day in and day out obedience. It's been able to recognize that things will not be accomplished in one day or in one year and often, not even in one lifetime, but still we're called to be obedient to the Word of God and to be obedient to that directive of God. Get up, go ahead, be that protector for the Savior, but also be that protector that Joseph is for the Church. We're called to take our role as adults within the Church
and to take our role in whatever way we're called to do so. It's not as if everyone is going to have to stand at the door of a Nigerian Church to protect the people inside from mobs outside. That's not it. But we're called to be people who can understand our role is a specific role to seek that role with God. And often that role are the small things. Small things make up our life. Small things make up the life of the people we're called to protect and to guide and to develop. My mother had a big family, and one day she asked my sister and I, what's one of your earliest memories? And we said, you know, I can remember we were on a farm walking back the lane and we had a picnic on a big flat rock. And that was a big day. And she gave this strange look to us and she said, out of all the trips we took, out of all the work and time we put in to sports and to music, you remember a picnic on a rock?
But it was a big deal. And it was a big deal for us because it was something out of the ordinary. It was time with our parents. It was time that was given to just us. That's a small thing. But it's an important thing. If you look back in your own history and your own memory, think of how many small things have made you the person that you are. You may say to yourself, I don't know how effective I've been in my world, in my vocation, in what God has called me to do. You will see the multitude of the small things which make up all the big things in life. And all the small ways that you have affected for good and sometimes for ill, those people that are given to you in your life. But we are called to do so in the season and out of season, as St. Paul said. St. Joseph may not have said very much, but he was there. Often people say to me, man, you quote your mother all the time. Well, my mother was a teacher and she never stopped teaching. But my father, my father was a man of few words,
but he was always there. Not too long after he died, our family talked about him. We said, you know, we can't quote dad very much. And my brother Pat said, he didn't have to quote him because he was there. He was dependable. He was the person who really knew what the long obedience meant. You two are called to be there in season and out of season. You're called to be there even at times when you wish you weren't there, because God has put you there for a definite purpose, a definite reason, and to help him accomplish his goals in our world. Take up that role so that you too can be able to know that the promises of God made to you in this time and in all times will be fulfilled for all those who listen, rise, and act. Join us tomorrow for day 19, journey with the Holy Family, growing in wisdom with Father Tom Lynch. For more information, please email us at info at ncbc.ca,
visit our website at dailytvmass.com or call our office toll free at 1-888-383-6277.
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