My brothers, Bishop Baker, brother priests, friends of Cenacolo, Albino and Joyce, and cherished guests, we stand today at the very edge of Christmas. Advent has almost run its course, and the Church says to us to stay awake, pay attention, do not miss what God is doing. The Lord is not coming someday far off. He is coming now, into real lives, real struggles, real flesh and blood.

That is why the prophet Isaiah gives us such a concrete sign: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name Him Emmanuel.”

This is not an idea, not a theory, not a spiritual escape, but a child, God-with-us, entering the human story in vulnerability and humility, full of dreams and infinite potential as a special gift to the world.

Almost everyone here, if not all, know something about vulnerability. You know something about being brought low, and you also know something about hope being reborn when you finally stop running and allow God to meet you where you truly are.

Joseph’s story in the Gospel is especially important for us today. Joseph is a just man. He wants to do the right thing, but he is confused. He is afraid. His plans have been disrupted. Everything he thought he understood about his life has been turned upside down.

That moment may sound familiar.

Joseph intends to walk away quietly, but God intervenes not with force, not with condemnation, but with a word: “Do not be afraid.” Then He asks him to do something that would be rather counter-cultural:  “Take Mary as your wife.” And he does so! He doesn’t question why or how. He does it!

This is always how a new path begins. Do not be afraid to trust. Do not be afraid to obey. Do not be afraid to stay.

Joseph wakes from his sleep and does what the angel commanded. That single sentence may be one of the most important lines in all of Scripture. He wakes up—and he obeys.

My friends, Cenacolo is a place where men (and women, too) learn how to wake up-to wake up from illusion, to wake up from addiction, to wake up from self-deception, and to discover that God has not abandoned them. Rather, He has been quietly present all along.

St. Paul reminds us in the Letter to the Romans that Jesus comes “according to the flesh.” That matters. It means Christ enters the very mess we are tempted to hide from. He does not hover above our wounds and hurts. He steps into them and shows us His hands and side.

Here at Cenacolo, your life of prayer and work is not an escape from the world. It is where Emmanuel meets you. Christ comes to you in discipline, in fraternity, in honest labor, in repentance, in the deep reflection on your life’s meaning and purpose, and in the embrace of God’s tender mercy received day after day.

Advent tells us this: your past does not have the final word. In the end, God will win! Jesus will prevail. Obedience (i.e., hearing deeply God speaking to us and following Him) opens up an amazing future you could never have imagined, just as it did for Joseph, just as it does for every man, every person, who dares to trust God more than his fear, more than his wounds.

Stay awake. The Lord is closer than you think! May God bless you!