Today we celebrate this Solemnity honoring St. Joseph the husband of Mary...
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of St. Joseph (March 19, 2022): 2 SM 7:4-5,12-14,16; PS 89:2-3,4-5,27,29; ROM 4:13,16-18,22; MT 1:16,18-21,24
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
He was especially entrusted with her care and that of her Son Jesus, our Lord and Savior, whom he cared for and raised as his own.
In God’s eternal plan for the salvation of His people through the incarnation and sacrifice of His Son, He chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be His mother. But it seems fitting that the next person called to play a vital role would be the guardian and foster father of Mary’s Son Jesus. Almighty God surely wanted that man to be, in his own way, both a guardian and a model for the Messiah, the Savior of the world. And St. Joseph would fulfill His desires. Yet we can only imagine the grief, confusion, even anger, that he must have experienced on learning that Mary was going to have a baby that he knew was not his own. When Joseph finally fell into what must have been a troubled sleep, an angel revealed what God wanted him to do. Joseph was to welcome Mary as his bride and to raise the Son she had conceived by the Holy Spirit’s power as his own child. And that is exactly what Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth did.
“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 … ‘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’” (Matthew 1:19-21). Joseph was loyal to God and His law, more than that, he was strong and brave, humble and quiet, compassionate and generous. This was the one man who would look after his wife Mary and her Son. He surely loved them both and treated Jesus as if he were his own. In his quiet way, Joseph spent his whole life doing everything God asked of him. We venerate him today as a good and holy man deeply respected and loved by Jesus and Mary. Over the centuries, great devotion to St. Joseph spread around the world. There is a lovely prayer based on the words of Pope Pius X that we can say often to celebrate the Holy Family: “All for Jesus, all through Mary, all in imitation of you, Joseph, most faithful.”
Suggested missionary action: Let us pray to St. Joseph to help us to imitate his faithfulness to God’s will, even when it is difficult. Let us also ask him stay near us each day, so that we can always be close to his beloved spouse Mary and her Son, our Redeemer and King.
