{"id":25,"date":"2009-08-20T10:02:02","date_gmt":"2009-08-20T16:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/?p=25"},"modified":"2010-08-04T12:16:05","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T18:16:05","slug":"the-fathers-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/meditations\/the-fathers-workshop\/","title":{"rendered":"The Father’s Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a meditation I enjoyed after a reading from the Gospel on the flight into Egypt.\u00a0 The bible verses were followed by a reading from Catherine Emerich about the difficulties of the journey.\u00a0 We were invited to imagine ourselves in the company of the Holy Family at dinner.<\/p>\n

\"Holy
Holy Family in the Workhop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When dinner is ended the boy Jesus addresses me.\u00a0 His hair is wavy and His skin dark and tanned.\u00a0 He is young.\u00a0 I am aware that He is about seven but he acts more like nine or ten.\u00a0 He is mature beyond his age but excited to speak and to show me something.\u00a0 \u201cCome, come with me,\u201d He invites, \u201cI want to show you my father\u2019s workshop.\u201d\u00a0 At once I am aware that the workshop is Joseph\u2019s but also metaphorically the workshop of the Father in heaven.\u00a0 We get there instantly, and the Child Jesus explains, \u201cWe build many things here, my father and I.\u201d\u00a0 I am aware that this means also that He and His Devine Father made all things.\u00a0 I notice a stain on a length of wood and Jesus responds, \u201cYes, it is my blood.\u00a0 I have spilled my blood on the wood many times working here.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t the first and it will not be the last.\u201d\u00a0 I am aware that this is literal and also that it means it is not His last drop of blood but that He will give His last drop also in a work involving wood, the wood of the cross.\u00a0 Young Jesus continues, \u201cWe begin work here on Sunday and continue through the week.\u00a0 Thursday is the hardest.\u201d\u00a0 I am aware that this extra load of work on Thursday is a foreshadowing of his passion that begins in agony and that The Child Jesus contemplates while at work.\u00a0 He continues, \u201cOn Saturday we go into the house and pray.\u00a0 We pray as we remember the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.\u00a0 We pray for our own deliverance from Egypt and we pray for your deliverance from your Egypt.\u201d\u00a0 I am aware that \u201cyour Egypt\u201d means both the general salvation of all souls from the hands of the evil one and also deliverance from my personal enslavement to sin.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Tim Bartel 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>

At once I am aware that the workshop is Joseph\u2019s but also metaphorically the workshop of the Father in heaven. We get there instantly, and the Child Jesus explains, \u201cWe build many things here, my father and I.\u201d I am aware that this means also that He and His Devine Father made all things. I notice a stain on a length of wood and Jesus responds, \u201cYes, it is my blood.[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[55,36,57,38],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditations","tag-catholic","tag-jesus","tag-meditation","tag-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicbookwriter.com\/goldenarrow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}