Revelation, Instruction and the Grace to Follow Through
Do you guys know that this is the Year of Saint Joseph? I vaguely heard about it in the fog between the end of last year (the year that shan’t be named) into the start of this year, you know, pandemic 2.0.
I had just made it out alive from pandemia. And Los Angeles. Feeling like a hot mess and somewhat Biblical – though not transporting a holy family – just a slew of rolling suit cases (all five of them), my personal papers, a few holy images and my little Miss fading away California self. My lease was up and the inner “get up and flee” scripture was pounding inside my soul. California was plagued…by the plague and with much of the film industry shuttered AND being alone, LA LA land seemed just that. A sad movie.
Aint’t got time for THAT.
Flash forward to a new year and a familiar old coast with so much hope and promise, yet the barrage of obstacles and waiting and limbo and tight squeeze of living quarters (where are you Saint Joseph?!!) trotted into another WINTER. I’ve been squatting at my parents’ house until things even out in the spinning world, praying, waiting, praying more, branding my business, hanging with family that I’ve not seen as much as I wanted to in my many hectic years away, and working on myself.
My good friend Deacon Steve Greco called and proposed a massive undertaking for the YEAR OF SAINT JOSEPH. Deacon Steve prayed through Father Donald Calloway’s Consecration to Saint Joseph and it really transformed him. He had this desire to return the grace and gift he received back to the Church and any others like him who felt they didn’t have a strong enough devotion to Saint Joseph.
As he was talking and proposing that we collaborate on a massive gathering for Saint Joseph, I was thinking about what all this meant and where would this would all go. I was thinking “Am I devoted enough to Saint Joseph to take this on?” And I was thinking “Where is the consecration book – I need to do that!” And, “What if other things come along?… “Is there a way?” Above all, “What do you want Lord?”
For the longest I have loved Saint Joseph. He is formidable. I have leaned on his strength and looked to him, even without words, to sort out things that are difficult or lacking. Work, love, family… the hard things. When I worked in TV news, I always kept this tiny cheap plastic figure of St. Joseph on my desk in the newsroom as a reminder of his presence and intercession in my work. It helped, especially on the challenging days. When I left, my co-workers sent me off to new assignments with a party and a giant piñata filled with “I love Jesus” bracelets that cascaded out when crushed. Saint Joseph always pointed to Jesus in my life and helped me to be bold for Him even when it was hard or seemed foolish.
When I was living in Palm Beach, I immersed myself in the apocryphal gospels and various writings about Saint Jospeh. During the spring of 2015 and just before I moved to Los Angeles, I prayed the Novena to the Holy Cloak and it was the longest novena I ever prayed after the 54 day novena to the Blessed Mother. Extraordinary things were happening for me in work and life at that time and Saint Joseph seemed to really make his presence known. That was six years ago.
Flash all the way forward to this year which has been entwined with the glory and the Cross, letting go and dying over and over again to my own dreams and desires. So. Much. Death. To. Self. So much loss. So much transition. So much exile. So much unknown as if being blind folded. In the dark. Some of you might feel the same way, but for different reasons. So before LA and after LA, here is Saint Jospeh emerging like two massive bookends of his presence in this season of my life – the going in, the coming out, and the unknown future yet to be. It’s coming.
God ordained this time for you and for me as a particular point of grace for Saint Joseph to show up. I don’t know what’s been added or subtracted in your life. I don’t know what your daily struggle is. But I know that in these days where it can seem harder, longer, lonelier, that’s when Heaven breaks in. It’s the way of God. It’s the way He proves His power. It’s the way He confounds the world. In his generosity, he uses the Body of Christ to work things out on His behalf. Saint Joseph has the tools, he’s a working carpenter and we need to let him work.
The mission to bring about the Saint Joseph Summit and the friendship he offers to each and every single person comes at a time and place when many of us need the consolation of heaven and the best friend we could ever have to intercede for us, advocate for us, and care for us. Saint Joseph was entrusted with the highest call – to protect, love, provide for and serve Jesus Christ and his Mother. What would he not do for us? If life has failed you, or work has been scant, or if friends have betrayed you and let you down, or if suffering has overwhelmed you, I need you to make time to attend this summit. This is your invitation. Don’t miss it. RSVP right now! You don’t even need to leave your living room to have this encounter.
I hope you will join me and so many others at the Saint Joseph Summit – here are the formal details. It’s an all virtual event that takes place September 30 – October 3. Please register now by visiting www.SaintJosephSummit.com. The event is themed OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER: Pilgrimage to the heart of Saint Joseph and will be the largest gathering of Catholics in the Year of Saint Joseph. From priests who minister in Harlem to Biblical scholars to former models and filmmakers as well as Cardinals, bishops and media nuns, this is the most ON FIRE group of presenters whose love for Jesus and the saints will light every smoldering wick.
It turns out Saint Joseph has carried me this year. Maybe you need to be carried in a particular area of your life. I want to encourage you no matter where you are in this life – whether you are broken, or have left the Church, if you are stuck in sin and can’t find a way out, or if you are on fire with unshakable faith: join this summit and receive. God has something just for you. No one is coming to the summit and leaving the same.
The presenters will be speaking about various things under themes pertaining to the family, healing and spiritual warfare. I will be speaking about Revelation, Instruction and the Grace to Follow Through and how to know God’s will and do it. My witness will speak to hearts who may find themselves in a place of retreat and are waiting to hear from God and to know what move to make next. My witness will speak to the revelation we need from Heaven in order to do His will, even when it seems totally foolish to the world.
We are not living in easy times. We are living in times that require heroic virtue and heroes in Heaven to show us the way through the darkness, through the brokenness, through the noise, through our weakness, through our fears, through our past to the path that leads to Heaven. Saint Joseph is that man. Saint Jospeh had direct download from heaven – a divine strategy to make all the right moves. Let him move behind the scenes for you. I know I am.
Go to Joseph.
See you at the summit. . .
Praying for you+
Lexi
JMJ
LexiCali 