"Solemnity of St.Joseph"

Today's Mass Readings

Today is the solemnity of St. Joseph. He is known to us first of all as the husband of Mary and hence the foster father of Jesus. Both Mary and Joseph point us toward their holy Son, who was truly man and therefore had human parents. Today’s readings highlight the importance of Joseph’s role in salvation history The first reading, from 2 Samuel, gives an indication of the foreshadowing found in the Old Testament. The LORD instructs Nathan to tell David of David’s descendant who will be the LORD’s son. Joseph’s connection to David and Jesus’ connection to Joseph demonstrates God’s keeping of His promise. In Jesus, God saves mankind… but it takes the help of people like Joseph and Mary, who, despite their difficult circumstances and knowing the pain it would later entail, agreed to be the parents of the Son of God.

Someone once told me that Joesph should be the patron saint of complicated relationships. Here was an upright man, righteous and unwilling to expose his betrothed who was pregnant. That he agreed still to marry this woman and to raise her child as his own is a testament to his great faith in God’s providence. Joseph believed that God’s promise to David could be fulfilled in himself, a humble carpenter. Joseph believed that his agreement to act as father to a son who was not his own son, but rather God’s Son, could be redemptive. To be this sacrificing in family relationships is a model for all of us who are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

Deciding to marry a pregnant woman and to be father to a child who was not his own took courage and trust in God. More importantly, Joseph sacrificed his own expectations to accept this will of God. In our complicated family relationships, let us be willing to take the difficult with the good and to trust in God, knowing that He has already given us His Son, whose passion and death we remember during this time of Lent.

St. Joseph - Pray for Us