To want what God wants is a guarantee of success in one’s life
Evandro Nunes Photo: Wesley Almeida / cancaonova.com
When we understand the meaning of our own name, we also understand the meaning of our mission and existence.
Joseph is a popular name in our country. But what does that name mean? Joseph, in Hebrew, means “he that addeth.” Record this well, because today we will talk a lot about St. Joseph, patron of our Church.
My brother and sister, you have to say with your life: If You want it, I want it, Lord! And what does God want? He wants us to be holy. If what you do in your life is not contributing to your sanctification, I say without fear: “it does not suit you.”
Whoever does the will of God, I say, “There is no way to go wrong.” Ah! How wonderful it would be if we all understood that! My brothers, to want what God wants is a guarantee of correctness in one’s life.
Saint Joseph, an honest man
And we have today, as an example of holiness, Saint Joseph. The Church presents Saint Joseph as this concrete model of holiness. And see: Saint Joseph is the one who teaches us the importance of living holiness with a coherent testimony of life, much more than with beautiful words.
What St. Joseph did was far more than what he said. What a beautiful teaching for us! I, for example, am here before you in this preaching. To preach to you I use my Bible, but to evangelize I need to make use of my life. Understand it? Only a coherent life in God does evangelize others.
This biblical passage, which we have just proclaimed, states that St. Joseph was a good man, that is, an honorable man. And what is an honorable person? It is that person who does not negotiate his moral principles, it is that person who speaks and lives coherently what he speaks.
One important thing to keep in mind is that the sacred author wrote the Holy Scriptures in view of the Jewish people, not us North or South Americans. So we need to understand, from this point of view, what this gesture of rejecting Mary secretly because of her pregnancy meant to St. Joseph. In fact, in making that decision, St. Joseph was assuming for himself all the responsibility of her – until then inexplicable – pregnancy of Mary.
Want to have prophetic dreams
But behold, the angel of the Lord appears in a dream and reveals the truth of that event in a prophetic way. Joseph’s dreams were rich with details. And at that time, prophetic dreams were not common. But even so, the Lord granted these dreams to St. Joseph.
Read more:
.: Saint Joseph: an example of a disciple for Christians
.: Saint Joseph, family and work
.: Prayer to the glorious Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph, from this prophetic dream, fulfills the will of God. My brother and sister, anyone who wishes to do God’s will can only set out from the moment that God gives this order. Stay where God told you to stay! That’s what St. Joseph did! He wanted to leave, to leave Mary, but God ordered him to stay with his wife. And St. Joseph so remained.
But St. Joseph had a second prophetic dream. And in that second dream, God commanded St. Joseph to leave immediately. Now is not the time to stay, but to depart in obedience. If God had it done, my brother, do it! For a long time, I stopped doing God’s will because of the concern I had with what others would find … How much time lost, my God! But today, thank God, I learned the lesson.
I feel that God brought me here, today, because He wants to pour out on us a anointing of consolation. We have seen many tragedies in our country, my brothers. And then we ask ourselves, “Why is all this happening?” And I think it is to turn to God, to draw closer to the Lord, to return to the prophetic dreams God has for each one of us.
St. Joseph wants to inspire us at this time and motivate us to cry out to God for these prophetic dreams in our lives.
Transcription and adaptation: Alexandre Oliveira