Remember, we are all “Practicing Catholics”, which implies we need to “practice” because “practice makes perfect”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Matthew…The text today focuses on St Joseph, the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary….Joseph was a “regular guy”. However Joseph’s faith was iron-clad….He took God at his word….And was obedient even when things did not make sense…Joseph played the “long-game”…Even when he could not “see” the end result….Joseph trusted that God could and that God’s plan was far greater than his own…."Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”……..So the question is…How do we acquire faith like St Joseph?…Like anything else, we work at it!……The term “Practicing-Catholic” should tell us everything we need to know…When we “practice” at something, this implies we are not perfect…No one is perfect - That is why we practice…..The more we purify our hearts, through the Sacramental life, through daily prayer, through weekly fasting, through living a sacrificial life serving our families…God will give us grace…And the result of that grace will strengthen our faith…The problem is…We sell ourselves too short!…..We are ALL capable of accomplishing things that are far beyond our wildest imagination!…..We simply must put our hand into the hand of God and never look back!…..Because God sees the entire picture, we do not….In order to trust in this manner requires us to “practice” our Catholic faith….And as any athlete knows…………..”Practice makes Perfect”

“When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home”

All great things start small…A priest told me once, “Joe - Every great business at one time started out in a garage”……If we use this analogy, we can say the same thing about ourselves….We are all a work in progress - When God looks at us, he sees nothing but potential…..We are the ones that sell ourselves short and believe the lie of the evil one - “You can’t do that!”……Tell the devil to go to hell!…….Before we can believe in ourselves the way that God does, we must allow “the seed” of faith to germinate and grow……That is really our one and only job - To do all the things to make our faith grow….Simple things that really do not take too much time…Pray the Rosary every day, Go to a Sacramental Confession once a month….Let me stop there…Do you really think that what you have done in your life God has not heard or seen before?…Do you really think the priest hearing confession has never heard sins like yours before?….Time to get over it and take the step!…….Let me continue…Receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace weekly…Fast on Friday…..Siting before the Blessed Sacrament once a week in silence for 15 minutes……If we do these simple things that cost nothing, in time….The “seed” of faith placed in us at baptism will GROW!!!…That is all we have to do and God will do the rest…..The "fruit" that will come from those activities are limitless!!!…Don’t believe me?…Look at St Joseph…He was just a “regular guy”…Look at what God accomplished through him….Please allow me tell you about another "regular person" who let God work through them……Many years ago I found myself on a connecting flight from New Delhi to Kolkata…It was a small commercial flight leaving at night…Most of the people on the plane were locals from the West Bengal State of India…By this time I was a seasoned traveller through this part of the world, so I could identify by sight what people from Eastern India looked like and the language they spoke….Interestingly enough on the plane sitting directly behind me was an Afro-American woman with a Southern accent…We were the only two Americans on the plane and as you could imagine, we both “stuck-out” like sore thumbs….So I started talking to this woman….....”What are you doing here?”- I asked her…So she told me her story…She said she was from Houston Texas and her son died when he was a small child and the death of her son propelled her to fund and establish a school in Eastern India for poor children…She was on her way to visit the school…….Once again, I thought to myself…How brave this woman was - Her story left me speechless!…Traveling all by herself to a far corner of the world - She was not a young woman either!…Why bring this encounter up?……If you asked this lady, say thirty years ago - In your life you will establish a school and help thousands of children do you think she would have believed you? - Probably not…I got news for you! - If we trust God and allow our faith to grow - YOU may do even greater things than that!…….Scripture tells us…..“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you”…..When we read that statement from the Bible we say to ourselves…..”Whatever! - That can’t be real”…..Tell that to the woman sitting next to me on the plane, that channeled the grief of losing a child into helping thousands of children and establishing a school against all odds! - She was just a “regular person”……God can do so much more with your life than you can do with it!….If only we allow the ever “small seed” of faith placed in us to grow

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David”

Today the gospel from Mass highlights the life of St Joseph….”A regular guy”……In St Joseph there was a complete submission to God’s messenger and a total acceptance of the will of God….Like with all things…”Rome was not built in a day”…St Joseph can serve as a model for us…..Remember, we are all “Practicing Catholics", which implies we need to “practice” because “practice makes perfect”