The Decree of Caesar Augustus and The Journey to Bethlehem

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrolment when Quirinus was Governor of Syria, and all went to be enrolled, each to his own city (Lk 2:1-3).

This decree of Caesar Augustus changed the whole course of human history. We could imagine how perhaps Joseph was downtown one day and he heard a town crier announcing the decree, or perhaps there was a notice stuck up in a tree—whatever the method of communication was in those days.

Joseph sees the news and begins to wonder, Well, what does this mean for us? Mary is almost nine months pregnant. And now with this decree, we're asked to each go to his own city.

We can imagine that Joseph begins to consider deeply the consequences of this announcement. What is it going to mean for Our Lady, for the child to be born, for him?

And ultimately, what is the will of God? Joseph begins to turn over this piece of news in his mind.

Like any father of a family, he has to make a big decision. Possibly, it's going to have many effects and consequences.

All of the time that Joseph gives great consideration to this new development, his conversation is prayer. He's asking God for light.

It also shows us how, often, the will of God takes time to manifest itself. The decisions that God wants us to come to—we don't arrive at them immediately. In the case of Joseph and Mary, it must have taken some time, some prayer, and a lot of consideration.

Maybe Joseph decides, I won't tell Our Lady about this until I get it all worked out. We see and we could imagine the same protective disposition that Joseph has for Our Lady.

Before, we were told he was mindful to put her away privately, not to expose her to reproach. So, we could imagine—good, just man that he was—that now he has the same approach.

I want to protect Mary from any disturbance, nervousness, discomfort, concern, or anxiety. He takes it upon himself to try and find out what the will of God is.

Eventually, he gets home and maybe he finds that Our Lady has already heard. Vox populi has functioned. The rumors have spread around the town and Our Lady has heard the news. They sit down to discuss the decree of Caesar Augustus.

St. Josemaría in his book, The Holy Rosary, invites us to listen to their conversation. We hear the traditions of the House of David. All the time, the discussions of Mary and Joseph—the questions, the soul searching—it's all prayer as they ask God for light. They try to discern what it is that God is saying to them, speaking through this decree of Caesar Augustus.

It also shows us how God's plans often work out through civil authorities. God works through all His human instruments. But at the same time, we know that there is something providential, something divine, hidden behind even what may seem the gravest of civil decrees.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child (Luke 2:4-5).

The whole of Advent is really centered on this sentence of Scripture. Joseph went up from Galilee, from Nazareth to Judea. They make their decision. They see that it is the will of God for them to travel, in spite of the difficulties, in spite of the dangers. Mary could give birth on the way. Anything could happen. But they leave themselves completely in the hands of God.

This journey to Bethlehem, which we try to relive every Advent, has many lessons to teach us. Mary and Joseph place themselves out on that journey with great humility, with great acceptance of the will of God.

They're like models for every young family, or not so young, that have to set out on a journey to which God is calling them. They leave behind everything that they have, their plans, their preparations. The nest must have been well and truly ready. They leave behind all the relatives who could have been support to Our Lady in a difficult moment. All that is placed in this great risk of this great journey. It's all hanging in the balance.

But they go forward with faith, with confidence. We're told in Scripture, Unless you become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3).

The Holy Family gives us this great model of our divine filiation, of trust, of abandonment, of looking to the future, of finding God's will and accepting it, of hoping for the things to come, with optimism and enthusiasm, with great detachment from the things of the past.

As they go towards Bethlehem, they're looking forward. We can't imagine them looking back nostalgically over their shoulder and saying, What a pity. Everything was looking so good. Everything was prepared, and now this great change of plan.

When God works in mysterious ways, we don't understand the plans of God. His ways are not our ways. How unsearchable His judgments, how inscrutable His ways (Rom 11:33). All these messages come to us from this journey.

Artists have liked to depict the Holy Family setting off in a donkey into the night. The darkness is there like a symbol of uncertainty. They don't know what the night is going to bring. The whole journey is like a night of darkness.

But yet they're journeying forward with their great virtues of faith and of hope, and of trust, and of abandonment. While they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn (Lk 2:7).

It's our joy and privilege every Advent to follow them along this journey and to learn all the lessons that are there for us to learn.

We see the Holy Family with a great trust in God. And what is trust? It's an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something, one in which confidence is placed.

For a Christian, to trust in God is to place the entirety of one's existence in His hands. And that's why this journey has so much meaning for us. They place their entire existence in His hands.

Humanly speaking, it doesn't make any sense. It's full of dangers, it's full of risks, it's full of uncertainty.

But they contemplate the love of God made man, the Christ Child. They're aware of who they have and their possessions. They go forward. For those who are more serious in their faith and are pursuing a contemplative life, God often demands complete trust from the soul.

God often tests them continuously through difficult crucibles. Souls on the path of a contemplative never stand still. God is always driving them on to greater perfection, greater self-giving, and detachment.

And that's what we see when we look in on the journey to Bethlehem. It looks very sweet and nice and lovely. But it wasn't an easy journey. It was full of discomfort. Our Lady on the back of a donkey cannot have been too comfortable.

Then St. Joseph was leading the donkey—maybe his feet got tired, maybe his legs got tired. But we don't find him asking Our Lady to get off the donkey for a while and ‘let me sit down.’ We see them totally united.

Somehow, they're very silent. Silence can be a great expression of our holocaust, of how we accept the will of God. An exterior silence, but also an interior silence. God demands this heroic trust on the part of both of them.

What are signs of the heroic trust that God may ask of us in our lives?

Well, our patience might be tried for many years. There might be continual contradictions.

Our goals and our dreams might often be frustrated.

The innocent may be treated as guilty.

We might have to endure outrageous behavior from evil people. There might be opposition from good people.

God may allow the devil to tempt the soul.

We find that on this journey to Bethlehem, quite a few of these things were present.

There were continual contradictions. The dreams they had of a nice, quiet, peaceful delivery of the Christ Child in their home in Nazareth were all shattered. God had other plans. They endured pretty rough treatment from the people of Bethlehem.

And possibly before they set out from Nazareth, they took all of these things into account. We have no relatives in Bethlehem. Where will we stay? Possibly the people of Bethlehem already had a very bad reputation for being inhospitable.

We're not told these things in Scripture, but it's a possibility. They had to take all these negative signs into account.

But yet when they saw what the will of God was, they went forward generously. There could be a temptation to say, Everything is lost; there's only failure ahead; we're doomed.

But yet often the moments of difficulty are signs of divine predilection, that God has chosen this soul in a very special way to bear the cross with Him. It’s not a moment to despair, but rather, to rejoice.

We see the joy of the Holy Family as they go forward along this journey.

Often the devil tries to prevent us from doing certain things, because he may see that that thing is extraordinarily powerful. He doesn't want us to say a rosary. He doesn't want us to spend time in prayer. He doesn't want us to say some little aspiration. He doesn't want us to accept the cross, because that little act of faith or hope or humility is extraordinarily powerful.

Of course, the examples of virtue that we see these days from the Holy Family are going to light up the home and the hearts of every family for all eternity. It's going to be the model for all of us to imitate during this journey through Advent.

God wants us to have a supernatural understanding of trust. Later on, Our Lord is going to say: You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance, you will secure your lives. By putting one foot in front of the other, by sticking to your task, by focusing on your apostolate, by not giving up, not giving in.

There's great optimism and enthusiasm in this disposition of Our Lady and St. Joseph in facing the difficulties.

Previously when we saw that Our Lady went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, we're told she went into the hill country. She faced the uphill climbs, the mountains, the difficulties. Our Lady is good at these things. St. Joseph, also. We can learn from their fortitude and their perseverance. They keep on at it.

There may be occasions when Our Lord gives us trying times, when trusting in God may seem insane or fruitless, but yet that's what God wants from us: absolute trust. Total self-giving. Abandonment to divine providence.

In the forging of the finest blade, it undergoes a process whereby it's hammered upon and scorched in fire. It's the same with the soul. God asks those He loves for extraordinary acts of trust.

There are multiple ends to this forging of trust. There are the virtues that Joseph and Mary are putting into practice now, and they're going to need later when they flee to Egypt, when they remain there, when they're back in Nazareth, and ultimately when Our Lady is led to the foot of the cross.

God wants the soul to rely completely on Him, not on himself. It's not that relying on oneself is wrong or even sinful.

It's just that surrendering to God, completely trusting in Him, reaps an extraordinary reward that will be revealed in heaven. God ultimately wants a complete abandonment of His will.

We're told in The Forge, Point 3, “My Father who art in heaven, look upon me with compassionate love, and make me respond to your love. Melt and enkindle my hardened heart. Burn and purify my unmortified flesh. Fill my mind with supernatural light. Make my tongue proclaim the love and glory of Christ.”

St. Josemaría also says, “Let me not deny you anything you ask of me.”

Notice how manly Joseph doesn't deny God anything. He's ready for anything. He's up for everything. He's like a Messi or a Ronaldo in the spiritual life. Total generosity.

“Let me not deny you anything you ask of me. Let me know how to pray. Let me know how to suffer. Let me not worry about anything except your glory.” St. Josemaría, The Forge, Point 122).

He says, “We have to learn how to give ourselves, to burn before God like the light placed on a lampstand to give light to those who walk in darkness, like the sanctuary lamps that burn by the altar, giving off light till their last drop is consumed (The Forge, Point 44).

St. Joseph gives off an awful lot of light on this journey. Blessed Álvaro del Portillo says St. Joseph subordinates everything else to carry out his task of watching over Jesus and Mary: his reputation, his family ties, the position and prestige acquired through his work, the peace and quiet of a well-deserved rest, the stability of his income.

He places all this in the great enterprise of the Incarnation. He holds nothing back. Total generosity.

In The Forge, Point 751, we're told, “Faced with the marvels of God, and with our human failures, we have to make this admission: ‘You are everything to me. Use me as you wish!’ Then for you, for us, there will be no more loneliness.”

Joseph allows himself to be used as God wanted. I could pay a lot of attention to Joseph these days.

Forgetting about ourselves. My Christmas doesn't mean anything. I'm here to imitate Joseph and forget all about myself, to make an unconditional self-giving, to occupy myself day by day, hour by hour, with my spouse, with my children, with my extended family. Forgetting all about my pleasures, material and spiritual.

Asking myself every day, How can I help to make everybody else's Christmas around me a little more cheerful, a little brighter, a little happier? To put a little bit of initiative, time, and energy into creating family life and family fun; or to transmitting messages to my children that have great spiritual relevance.

Or helping them in some way to see the beauty of these days, the beauty that is contained in the virtue of Joseph and the virtue of Mary. By imitating those virtues myself.

St. Teresa of Avila says: “Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Patience obtains all. Whoever has God wants for nothing. God alone is enough.”

At this disposition, Joseph goes forward with great patience in the plans of God. It's as though he hears Our Lord saying, Take my yoke upon you. … For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:29-30). He accepts the will of God.

Trust is very often expressed through patience; giving the plans of God time to work themselves out.

When Joseph gets to Bethlehem, they find all the doors are shut. The crucible takes on a new pattern. They're tired, they're weary, they've come a long journey.

They put a lot of trust and abandonment in God. Now it seems that everything might have been in vain. Experiencing spiritual difficulty can be a sign of an advanced soul. Yet on earth, it is often seen as the opposite. Things never went easy for Christ and the people close to Him.

We could try to understand that when things get difficult, it's the very moment when a person can advance in the greatest way. When the world seems to tell us that everything is lost, very often that's the moment when all is one. It's the best moment to trust in God.

Trusting in God along with faith is one of the highest acts of the will. We can ask Our Lord for the grace to see the world through His eyes.

It can often take a lifetime for God's will to unfold, for the providence in certain events to be seen. The best way to practice trust in God is often through adversity. That's when we grow the most.

This calls for patience. We see that patience and trust of Our Lady in spite of the difficult things.

St. Thomas More was able to write to his daughter from prison when he was facing the death sentence. He said, “Keep then your spirits high, my daughter, and don't worry about me, no matter what happens in this world. Nothing can happen to me that God doesn't want. And all that he wants, no matter how bad it may appear to us, is really for the best.”

When there was no room at the inn, it looked like all was lost. But yet this is the moment when Joseph comes into his own.

In that homily In Joseph's Workshop, St. Josemaría says, “St. Joseph faced up to difficult situations, dealt with difficult problems. He was in no way shy or frightened of life. He showed initiative and responsibility in everything he was asked to do.”

Joseph was a problem solver. When there was no room at the inn, he looked for a solution. The will of God must be that there's something else hidden here, a hidden divine treasure. And he begins to look for that treasure, and he finds the stable. And with his work and with his virtue, he converts that place into a focal point of family warmth for the whole of eternity.

We see that the whole journey, all the acts of virtue, of faith, of abandonment, of trust, were all part of God's plan. Providence was working itself out through every step of the journey.

In our prayer these days, we could ask Our Lady for the grace to go a little deeper into the hearts and minds of Joseph and Mary as they go along their journey, so that we can also walk along that pathway, all the time, like they were, focused on the Christ Child.

It was all worthwhile, in spite of the difficulties. It was a journey of joy because they had everything that mattered.

Mary, as we go through these days and hours of Advent, help us to have that same spirit of recollection that you and Joseph had on your journey to Bethlehem.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW