FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
Dear St. Mary’s Parishioners:
During this “Year of St. Joseph” declared by Pope Francis, it is appropriate to spend some time reflecting on the husband of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. You may recall that St. Joseph has two feast days. March 19th is the Solemnity of “St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary”. And May 1st is the Optional Memorial of “St. Joseph the Worker”. Most saints have one feast day; St. Joseph has two (not counting the “Feast of the Holy Family” on the Sunday after Christmas Day). Moreover, St. Joseph is mentioned in the four main Eucharistic Prayers that are prayed during Mass. Pope Francis noted in his Apostolic Letter on St. Joseph entitled “Patris Corde” (With a Father’s Heart): “After Mary, the Mother of God, no saint is mentioned more frequently in the papal magisterium than Joseph, her spouse.” All this points to the fact that we Catholics place much importance on St. Joseph. Indeed, we honor and esteem him, not only because he was the spouse of Mary and earthly father of Jesus, but also because he excelled at being a single man, a husband and a father.
Nonetheless, perhaps husbands and fathers struggle to identify with Joseph, because he did not have a typical marriage. After all, he was not the biological father of Jesus and he lived a life of chaste celibacy with Mary. Still, I think what St. Joseph exemplifies not only for husbands and fathers, but for all men, is that he is manly. In today’s culture, perhaps it is not politically correct to say that a man is manly and a woman is womanly. But, in the Scriptures, Joseph is depicted as a strong, decisive man who loved his wife and Son deeply. He protected Mary and Jesus from Herod’s murderous intentions by taking them away from Herod in the middle of night and departing for Egypt. (cf. Mt 2:13-15) Joseph remained celibate throughout his whole life and thereby honored Mary’s fertility and protected the vow of virginity she made to God so that she could be the pure vessel of the Son and a Mother to us all. Joseph worked hard to provide for Mary and Jesus through his woodworking and would have taught Jesus all he knew about the trade, so that by the time Joseph died, Jesus could continue to provide for Mary and himself through his own woodcraft. (Most scholars agree that Joseph died sometime before Jesus began his public ministry around the age of 30.)
Undergirding Joseph’s obedience, faithful love for Mary and Jesus and his hard work was a profound prayer life. Pope Francis writes: “Joseph set aside his own ideas in order to accept the course of events and, mysterious as they seemed, to embrace them, take responsibility for them and make them part of his own history. Unless we are reconciled with our own history, we will be unable to take a single step forward, for we will always remain hostage to our expectations and the disappointments that follow.” (Patris Corde) We catch a glimpse of Joseph’s prayerfulness when he listened to the angel on three different occasions (marriage to Mary, the flight to Egypt and return from Egypt) and obeyed God’s directives. All this is evidence of Joseph’s strength of character, his virtue and, yes, his manliness. Consequently, he not only serves as an excellent model for husbands and fathers (biological, adoptive, spiritual), but also for all men. We pray that all of us men at St. Mary’s Parish may look to St. Joseph as a preeminent example of holiness and that through St. Joseph’s intercession, we may be the men that God created and called us to be. St. Joseph, pray for us! A most blessed Easter season to you!
In the Resurrected Lord,
Father Berg
