St Joseph, Patron Of The Church
Introduction
Today’s gospel calls Joseph “a just man.” It is a title that the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments give to people who try to live according to God’s plans. Indeed, he played an important role in God’s plan of salvation; God entrusted our Saviour, Jesus, to his care. He experienced that his important role brought him many difficulties, but he stood the test and served God well, as a man of faith, generous, and indeed “just.”
1 Reading: 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The LORD spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David,
‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.'”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 89
His descendants shall last for ever.
I will sing forever of your mercies, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your fidelity.
I have declared your mercy is established forever;
your fidelity stands firm as the heavens.
“With my chosen one I have made a covenant;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your descendants forever,
and set up your throne through all ages.”
“He will call out to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the rock of my salvation.’
I will keep my faithful love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.”
2. Reading: Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said. Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
Verse before the Gospel: Ps 84:5
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord;
they never cease to praise you.
Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“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.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
Commentary
A friend who was having a lot of trouble with his family said to me once, “St. Joseph must have been the greatest man who ever lived!” I asked why. “Because he never said a word! When Mary told him she was expecting a baby: not a word! When the child got lost in the Temple: not a word!” Silence comes hard to my friend—but he knows it, and there lies his hope.
It may be a bit of a cliché to say that fathers are great when they can be strong silent types. It would have to be the silence of wisdom, though—not a sullen or a disengaged kind of silence. That one kills the family. “Your father and I,” said Mary. To many children those words mean that they are being ganged-up against. But in the right atmosphere those same words can convey a sense that the world is not all rupture and discord and violence as on TV and social media. To speak with one voice to their children, parents have to be at one with each other. Someone said that the best thing parents can do for their children is to love each other. Sure. Let kids see parents caring and loving each other. Human life has to be ‘modeled’ rightly for children, because there are so many who model it wrong for them.
The quiet wisdom of Joseph, and his harmony with Mary, must have contributed immensely to the family life of the most obscure, the most famous, yet most holy family in history.
Blessing
May the Lord make us his good and faithful servants, trustworthy and just. Let his blessing come down on us and accompany us on the road of life: the blessing of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
PRAYER TO ST JOSEPH
Prayer
To you, O blessed Joseph,
do we come in our tribulation,
and having implored the help of your most holy Spouse,
we confidently invoke your patronage also.
Through that charity which bound you
to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God
and through the paternal love
with which you embraced the Child Jesus,
we humbly beg you graciously to regard the inheritance
which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood,
and with your power and strength to aid us in our necessities.
O most watchful guardian of the Holy Family,
defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ;
O most loving father, ward off from us
every contagion of error and corrupting influence;
O our most mighty protector, be kind to us
and from heaven assist us in our struggle
with the power of darkness.
As once you rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril,
so now protect God’s Holy Church
from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity;
shield, too, each one of us by your constant protection,
so that, supported by your example and your aid,
we may be able to live piously, to die in holiness,
and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven.
Amen.
Blessed Joseph, guard and protect my family as you did for the holy family of Jesus and Mary!