Monday of the Fifth Week

Feast of Saint Joseph

Reflection

“I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”  (2 Samuel 7:14)  This quote, abstracted from today’s first reading, represents God's words to the prophet Nathan as he counsels David about his “retirement” and his legacy as the ruler of a nation whose byword is its devotion to the faith of Abraham.  We seem to interrupt our normal Lenten programming in order to honor St. Joseph, “spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” to cite the Church’s official designation of his feast day.  In retrospect, the Samuel passage might be decoded as a prophecy of Jesus as the “son,” and God as the “father.”  But, for us honoring St. Joseph, it is useful also to acknowledge his own role as father. 

The word “righteousness” appears in the letter to the Romans and is echoed in the Matthew reading as an attribute of Joseph’s.  Romans describes righteousness as something that “depends on faith.”  Righteous faith may be contrasted with “self-righteousness” which is the exact opposite of a total Spirit-filled reliance on God’s mercy and a soul-filled (“prayer-full”) dependence on His love – the marks of who Joseph is.  Joseph is the humble father.  In Matthew, he is the “husband of Mary.”  In the alternative Luke reading, he plays “second fiddle” to Mary, often simply alluded to as a “parent.”  Mary is the one who speaks (in the alternative reading), expressing her (and “your father’s”) great anxiety, concerning Jesus’ being “lost” in the temple.  If she is sometimes the spokesperson, and ultimately the “deliverer” of God’s Word, Joseph is the enabler.  In so doing, he represents the true, human father, according to the ways of God.

Prayer

Gracious God, may we be sisters and brothers of St. Joseph, and witnesses to Christ who is in us, and with all God's people.  May the Light of Jesus’ Love increase in us in our celebration the Mystery of Holy Week and Easter.  We make this prayer in the name of same Jesus, Your Son, our Lord, in the unity of Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Fr. Marcel Rainville, S.S.E. ’67, Edmundite Campus Ministry

PS: On this day, in 1998, Diane Foster, then a member of Edmundite Campus Ministry, died as a consequence of a brain hemorrhage.  For years, Diane had served St. Michael’s College much like Joseph would have.

Scripture

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29

Second Reading: Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22

Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Luke 2:41-51a

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website