This weeks reflection on St. Joseph is seeing his call to duty in the formation of the Holy Family in his care and partnership with Our Blessed Mother in being living witnesses to the love of God in the gift of his son Jesus. If we take time to imagine the heart and mind of Joseph, the turmoil and doubt that filled the early days of marriage, the hope and dreams constantly in flux it would not be a stretch of the imagination to find Joseph pondering where this is all leading. He recognized and embraced his duty as husband and father of the child growing in the womb of Mary. He knew his task would be one of caring and providing for as well as protecting his family. And as they traveled forth to Bethlehem we cannot doubt his worry. And then he encounter the Christ child.

Fr. Maurice Meschler in his book “The Truth About Saint Joseph”, shares this thought, “All his sorrows were now forgotten in the contemplation and embrace of the divine Infant, to whom he was to be father on earth. How this child must even now have ravished his eyes and captivated his heart! What a joy was his at this gift from God and of his beloved spouse, Mary, to whom this divine token bound him anew in admiration and love.” (p 28) St. Joseph reminds us of our own need to be captivated in the love of Jesus. We are called to bring our sorrows, our suffering and our sins to the altar and be ravished by the merciful and gracious love of God. Do we allow our hearts to see Jesus with the eyes of St. Joseph? Is our heart and mind silent to the soft sounds of the child in the arms of our Mother? It should be the moment of recognition of how we desire to be united in dutiful love, not the sentimental fleeting feelings, but the knowing we are united and are called to an act of sacrifice greater than we had thought possible.
Pope St. John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation “Redemptoris Custos” writes, “One can say that what Joseph did united him in an altogether special way to the faith of Mary. He accepted as truth coming from God the very thing that she had already accepted at the Annunciation.” (#4) Accepting truth is important. Knowing truth is vital. From the beginning the Evil One has sought to distort the truth of who we are and how we are called into relationship with God and others. In many ways, St. Joseph, through his relationship with the Virgin Mary, shows us what it means to fully accept truth which turns us towards the ultimate and eternal love. By seeking the desire of God we find the peace within the troubles of the world helping us to have a heart open to healing and purity. Fr. Meschler writes, “At that moment he realized his entire duty toward this child and made a complete sacrifice of himself to fulfill the office entrusted to him. It was his duty to support Mary in her services to the Child Jesus.” (p 28)
Recognizing the mission, the vocation, the path of life God invites Joseph to follow is also for us the same need to fulfill God’s plan in our life. Becoming guardians of Jesus, guardians of our faith, is the continual renewal, as every parent knows, of growing with the child in a relationship ever changing but forever grounded in the first blessing which is true sacrificial love. Is this how we practice our faith? St. Joseph, from the moment he learned of the conception to the hour when Jesus and Mary stood by him on his death bed, his faith grew ever deeper as he held the infant, taught the boy and watched the young man become the craftsman.
This is the choice God our Father offers us daily, to grow and embrace the joy of the Gospel his Son Jesus announces to us. Walking with St. Joseph we here St. John Paul II words, knowing we too must follow St Joseph in becoming a true guardian of his son, “Therefore he became a unique guardian of the mystery “hidden for ages in God”, as did Mary, in that decisive moment which St. Paul calls “the fullness of time,” when “God sent forth his Son, born of woman…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”” (#5 )
St. Joseph…Pray for us.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Ever-living and faithful God,we give you thanks for walking with us,your people of this Diocese of San José.
Pour forth your Spirit on this local Church,that our works of Faith and labors of Lovemay lead others to Jesus, your Son,and that our endurance in Joy and Hopemay lift up those weary from uncertainty.
Accompanied by Saint Joseph and Saint Clare,may we continue “Journeying Together in Hope,”and day by day be drawn closer to your Son,our Light, our Hope, and our Salvation,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spiritforever and ever.
Amen.

The marriage of St. Joseph to Our Mother Mary is a source of many blessings and great hope for our own understanding of God’s desire and will in our lives. It is a sign of grace which we are all called to live in the will and providence of God’s love. Both Our Mother Mary and St. Joseph in their human dignity reflected the love of spousal unity as Pope Francis explained in the Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” where he recalled these words, “Saint Thomas Aquinas explains that “it is more proper to charity to desire to love than to desire to be loved”; indeed, “mothers, who are those who love the most, seek to love more than to be loved”. Consequently, love can transcend and overflow the demands of justice, “expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35), and the greatest of loves can lead to “laying down one’s life” for another (cf. Jn 15:13). Can such generosity, which enables us to give freely and fully, really be possible? Yes, because it is demanded by the Gospel: “You received without pay, give without pay”” (Mt 10:8). (#102)

St. Joseph, as husband of Mary, in his espousal reminds us of the desire to love. His sacrificial choice of following the will of God, discovered in a dream, to follow the path of righteousness in mercy and justice gives us an example of marital grace. Fr. Maurice Meschler, SJ in his book on St. Joseph calls to mind the basic teaching of the Catholic Church of the good of marriage in its sacramental form. The freedom to choose, as seen in the relationship of Joseph and Mary is the example of grace building upon grace. He writes, “As for us, the espousals teach us that matrimony in itself is a holy state of life ordained by God, and that marriages properly entered upon are really made in Heaven and are productive of indescribable blessings for the world and the Church. The espousals furthermore teach us that Divine Providence works from end to end mightily and wisely (Wisdom 8:1) through all sorts of apparently insoluble perplexities and, hence, that we can do nothing better than cast ourselves confidently into its arms.” (p. 24, from “The Truth About Saint Joseph: Encountering the Most Hidden of Saints” by Fr. Maurice Meschler, SJ)
In marriage, as in all life, there are so many ups and downs and unexpected sorrows and blessings that the grace of the Sacrament shows forth in positive grace. God invites us into a participation of love…he works with us to build love…he works with us to heal the hurt of sin. The Divine Providence of God’s will flows forth when we embrace the life that is given and the struggles we share rather than the dream of a utopia that never has and will never exist. The choice to love is the choice to embrace a reality gathering into a grace the fullness of human experience.
The great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen reminds us again and again about how we are created for love and a love embracing a unity of the Most Holy Trinity. The chaste marital love of Mary and Joseph is the blessing of life embracing the fullness of the human heart and experience. He writes, “All love craves unity. This is evident in marriage, where there is the unity of two in one flesh. When a person loves anything, he sees it as fulfilling a need and seeks to incorporate it to himself, whether it be wine that he loves or the science of the stars…As saints become one with our Lord throughout the identification of their will with God’s Will, so those who love unto marriage become “two in one flesh.”” (p 19-20 from “Three to Get Married” by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen)
May we pray for happy and holy marriages and for all our young people seeking their true vocation in life.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

The final section of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” is titled “A father in the shadows.” This is a beautiful image of St. Joseph and in the letter our Holy Father calls forth the best of fatherhood in the image of St. Joseph
“In his relationship to Jesus, Joseph was the earthly shadow of the heavenly Father: he watched over him and protected him, never leaving him to go his own way…In a similar way, Joseph acted as a father for his whole life.” (#7) The watching over and protecting is such a powerful image of fatherhood. It is pointed out later in this section of how this caring for and protecting at some point becomes the liberation of the child as he or she then has the strength, confidence and trust to embrace the challenges of life with the love of the father like a faint shadow always present with them.

It is in this understanding of freedom in the will of our Heavenly Father that St. Joseph, in his role as earthly father, becomes a true father. God desires us all to share in his freedom, where he is present and embraces us and desires the very best for us. It is where we can understand the truth, “Fathers are not born, but made…Whenever a man accepts responsibility for the life of another, in some way he becomes a father to that person.” (#7) Responsibility, duty and sacrifice are words we often see ridiculed and put down as old fashioned and out of touch with the present and yet we still understand how choosing to accept the gift of another in our life, whether it is spouse, child, or simply another calls forth from the heart a place of growth and strength in love. There is a constructing of the reality of love moving beyond the sentimentality of the moment into the long term commitment which grows through each act of sorrow and pain into the grace of a greater unity with family and the larger community.
In discovering the freedom of love, the father and mother, see in their children the grace of allowing them freedom in love. Pope Francis reminds us of how “chastity” goes beyond the sexual aspect and becomes a liberation of the egocentric attitude wherein we discover the finding companionship in the blessing family and all relationships. “Perhaps for this reason, Joseph is traditionally called a “most chaste” father. That title is not simply a sign of affection, but the summation of an attitude that is the opposite of possessiveness.” (#7) When in the example of St. Joseph we see the beloved of our life, and the sons and daughters not as objects of possession but as instruments of freedom. The attitude of giftedness and gratitude begin to take center stage where the other focuses of life and love draw each of us out into the possibility of eternal life and purity of love.
“Joseph found happiness not in mere self-sacrifice but in self-gift. In him, we never see frustration but only trust. His patient silence was the prelude to concrete expressions of trust. Our world today needs fathers.” (#7) This is our Christian vocation; the self gift of one to another founded in the Sacraments and brought to fruition in the coming together as a community to share in the life of Jesus Christ.
There is so much more in this Apostolic Letter and the need to continue to grow in faith, hope and love is presented to us in this Year of St. Joseph which Holy Mother Church has given to us as a gift of love. “We need only ask Saint Joseph for the grace of graces: our conversion.” (#7)

God bless
Fr. Mark

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.

The sixth section of our Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation Patris Corde carries the title “a working father.” This title is all to familiar to us, as all of our fathers and mothers work both within and outside the home.
“Saint Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” (#6) We know from the Gospels it was said,“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.””(Lk 2:52) St. Joseph was an example to Jesus of the dignity and blessing of work. Pope Francis reminds us how the dignity and the joy of work are not just ideas but part of God’s plan for all people. Work helps to fulfill our vocation and call to holiness this was made especially clear in Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical “Rerum Novarum”.

As we look at one paragraph in this section, we see how St. Joseph the Worker becomes a model for us in working in and for the Kingdom of God by doing our own work conscientiously. “Work is a means of participating in the work of salvation, an opportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom,” (#6) At times work is not fun, interesting or exciting. There are times and even jobs where drudgery and boredom seem the better descriptor of the task at hand and yet even these tasks and jobs are vital in the Kingdom and a place to share the blessing of God. Early on in my life I did three of these “boring jobs”, first was discing a field. Going round and round on a tractor pulling a disc to knock down the stubble, break up the ground…it often seemed endless with the drone of the engine and the heat and dust of the day. There were the nights standing guard in the Marine Corps: alone, no one else around yet needing to stay alert (and awake) in your duty. And then there were the hours working in a mail room, sorting mail, delivering mail, posting mail…the brain could just sleep. Yet each of these jobs were fruitful as part of the needed activity to produce food, protect the fellow Marines and keep a company running.
Pope Francis continues, where he reminds us we are challenged “to develop our talents and abilities, and to put them at the service of society and fraternal communion.” (#6) While the three things listed above drove me crazy at the time they did help me to become the man I am today. The perseverance, the fidelity to duty and the team attitude not readily seen at the time are in hindsight valuable virtues that have grown into my heart. These simple (and boring ) jobs helped to show me how to develop the greater talents God gave to me and to others and allowed me know myself better and to help others be successful in many different ways.

Work is a moment of grace and “It becomes an opportunity for the fulfillment not only of oneself, “(#6) this is the individual grace received “but also of that primary cell of society which is the family.”(#6) and the moment where the grace flows outward into the relationships and blessing of the world. The individual achievement is always built on the foundation of a desire for a greater good. Both in the individual family and in the family of God we seek to serve and help others through the work we do as an instrument of God’s grace.
“A family without work is particularly vulnerable to difficulties, tensions, estrangement and even break-up.” (#6) This time of pandemic has certainly proven this simple phrase. As a parish priest I here these stories too often in ministry and I know each person knows these stories too. It is heart breaking as we see our bothers and sisters suffering through the doubt and the loss of dignity unemployment brings to the family. I can only speak from my limited experience of being unemployed for a few short months and how the malaise and doubt hindered my understanding of my own dignity as a child of God.
“How can we speak of human dignity without working to ensure that everyone is able to earn a decent living?” (#6) We remember that from the beginning God called Adam and Eve, and each subsequent generation, to labor in the field and do the work of caring for one another and the gift of God’s creation. And this is the work of St. Joseph we are called to emulate and participate in today; the caring for each other as he did with our Blessed Mother and her son Jesus. It is using the talents and gifts given by God to work within the creative goodness of our Heavenly Father. It is the blessing of the dignity of life that we are all created to share in with the fullness of God’s divine grace.
“Let us implore Saint Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!” (#6)
God Bless Fr. Mark