12/1/2021 – First Wednesday

This advent First Wednesday, is a wonderful day to meditate on St Joseph in the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.

Today is also the feast of the Old Testament prophet Nahum whose words, “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” Nahum 1:17, would undoubtedly have comforted Joseph in the trials he endured in embracing his vocation as husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus.

Nahum’s words would have been a compass for Joseph as he journeyed to Bethlehem trying to make the ordeal as comfortable for Mary and unborn Jesus as possible, searching for a warm and safe place to spend the night and when no room was found, humbly accepting that it is not comfortable surroundings but the Lord Himself Who is our “refuge in times of trouble”

How deeply and bitterly struck, the protective Joseph would have been to hear the words of Simeon of the suffering of his spouse Mary. Twelve years later, how in addition to his own suffering, he suffered for Mary as they searched for Jesus in Jerusalem. Through every trial, Joseph would have clung to the promise of Nahum that “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him”. And in every joy that followed, he would have recalled Nahum’s words in Thanks and Praise.