(The Voice of Christ) “My child, allow me to do what I will with you. I know what is best for you. You think as a man; you feel in many things as human affections persuades”
(The Disciple) “ Lord, what you say is true. Your care for me is greater than all the care I can take of myself…If You wish me to be in darkness, I shall bless You. And if You wish me be in light, again I bless You. If You stop down to comfort me, I shall bless You, and if You wish me to be afflicted, I shall bless You forever.” (p. 75)

The above quote from Thomas à Kempis’ work “The Imitation of Christ”, I think, speaks boldly of how St. Joseph lived his life as husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus on earth. It is also how we should seek to begin and continue to live our lives seeking to be disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“I want to know! And I want to know immediately!” are two statements encompassing many things in the world. We type in a few words to do an internet search and impatiently wait the few seconds it takes to bring the answers to our eyes with thousands of options to choose from. We drop our frozen food into a microwave and wait impatiently the few minutes it takes to make our meal hot and edible. We lift our petitions to God and desire he answer right now or conclude God is not listening and so seek other avenues of redress to the problem and suffering we are going through at the moment. And we could all of us list many many other things.
We also know this isn’t the true measure of desire and happiness, nor does it lead us to holiness and stability of life. In reflection on “St. Joseph, Cooperator in the Secret Designs of God” we see how patience and love bring about a fuller understanding of our true and deepest desires.
The word cooperation gives us a glimpse into the blessing of relationships where the demand immediacy for the individual is replaced by patience and seeking the understanding of the other. “St. Joseph understood perfectly well the necessity of this cooperation. Steeped with gratitude for the favors he had received, he strove only to correspond faithfully with them. We must likewise concur in the great design for our sanctification.” (p 99 from The Month of St. Joseph) How many times do I lift my voice, my heart, my soul in gratitude each day? When we do this the irritation of immediacy begins to slip into the graciousness of love and blessing.

It is not the absence of “we need to get this done” urgency in our lives but rather we begin to see how the blessings make what is not urgent or necessary less stressful in the calendar of our lives, both today and tomorrow.
This “need to know” is often centered on a control we desire over life and the hurt, anger and frustration that comes from discovering so much is not in our hands to control. This is clearly seen in the want of so many to control life and death. But when we are united first and foremost in the blessing of God then we see how like St. Joseph in his life he experienced this abundant grace in and through “the mysteries of grace and love attached to the persons of Jesus and Mary. This successive and gradual knowledge gave place to transports of admiration and delight. What must have been the happiness of St. Joseph in being so closely united to Him whom the angels and saints revere, and before whom they bow in lowly adoration!” (p 100)
Like St. Joseph we are called to live with the presence of Jesus in our homes, in the daily joys and sorrows of life. In doing this we do gain the wisdom and knowledge of living within the Divine Providence of God our Father. It is in this we do lift our souls in gratitude in honoring God and recognizing how we, following God’s plan, find true peace, joy and happiness in trust and hope.
St. Paul says it best when he writes, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” (1 Cor 15:10) Trusting and knowing God’s love for us and living and working in this same trust, as St. Joseph did, brings us with God’s grace the peace and steadiness of a life filled with gratitude and blessing.
God bless

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)

If we look at St. Joseph as a “Model of Obedience for Those in Authority” we take the quote from St. Paul above as a reminder that obedience is always founded first and foremost in our understanding of obedience as a gift and virtue from God in trusting in goodness and holiness of life. In seeing St. Joseph as this model we hear from Archbishop M. de Langalerie in reflecting on St. Joseph where he writes, “Superiors and parents, when commanding, should seek only the greater glory of God. with this disposition of mind and this intention in view, they will find that in commanding others they are invariably obeying God.” (p 95 from “The Month of St. Joseph”)

We are reminded that all we do, whether as leaders or as disciples should always bring others closer to God. If we do this then following St. Paul’s words we do all for the glory of God in acting towards others seeking to grow and nurture holiness not just in our own soul but in the souls of others.
In all relationships this is a truth and especially in marriage, the Sacrament of unity of man and woman united around God, the seeking of holiness, to act for the glory of God should become the focus of the marital promise and vow. It is a reality where the husband and wife seek to draw the very best out of each other in obedience to love. It would be silly to say, “We are getting married to make each other a worse human being.” In both the practical but also in the deeper sense of a unitive love, this would be so counter to what we know and believe, we would dismiss and push back against this idea with great vigor.
“Again, contemplate St. Joseph in the cottage at Nazareth, dwelling with Jesus and Mary. Order and regularity attend his every action. He has a specified time for rising, for prayer, for meals, work, relaxation, and even for repose.” (p 96) If in using our imaginations and our lived experience, we can see Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph and the child Jesus living this truth…the small acts of love and obedience lived out daily and with consistency.
We may ask the simple question, “Did Joseph share and speak of his love to Mary daily?” I am not talking about the over-the-top grand gestures, but rather the simple gestures of love that too often get lost in the thoughtless routines of life. Obedience to the greater, to the glory of God, is the discipline of acting towards another with the consistency of love, joy and graciousness drawing out of them, and ourselves, the best of who we are called to be by God.
Seeking to know the other, know the heart of the other, know the greatest desire of the other is living the discipline of obedience in love. This is true in knowing a spouse, a friend, and family member but it is also true in knowing God through the word made flesh in Jesus Christ. “For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God?” (Thomas á Kempis)
We are all sinners, so the example of St. Joseph is one where we continually seek and turn away from sin that divides us. Seeking in the obedience of faith, hope and love, we seek to embrace the cross that leads us to forgiveness and mercy in our relationships with each other. Obedience isn’t blind but rather the search for a greater truth by a deep desire for love of another.
I will give the last word to St. Ignatius of Loyola and our Jesuit brothers, “A.M.D.G. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam—“For the greater glory of God.”” (Society of Jesus Motto)
God Bless
Fr. Mark

The Year of St. Joseph continues as we are between the great solemnity of Joseph, Husband of Mary and move towards my favorite Joseph celebration…St. Joseph the Worker on the first day of May. We also begin the with Palm Sunday the holiest week of the year as we enter into the passion, death and resurrection; the saving mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. And while St. Joseph was not present at the passion we can still reflect on his place in the journey and how he presents to us a model for our understanding and living the paschal mystery as Christian disciples.
In Archbishop M. de Langalerie’s book “The Month of St. Joseph” he reminds us of the different virtues St. Joseph lived and how we are called to share in his example of loving Jesus and our Blessed Mother Mary. As St. Joseph lived the virtue of Prudence he continually sought the better and looked for the good in each action and job he was called to perform in his vocation as husband and father. “Prudence is a virtue that causes us to use the most appropriate means in which to arrive at a proposed end.” (p 102)
And what is this proposed end? “Christian prudence, unlike worldly prudence, proposes for its aim the eternal salvation of the soul, the glory of God, and the accomplishment of His adorable will. Christian prudence always looks beyond the terrestrial aim. This is the first law of Christian prudence.” (p 104) in other words it is very long way of saying our goal is Heaven.
During the upcoming Holy Week, we are called to act in prudence in choosing how best to celebrate and live our faith as St. Joseph did each day of his life. What are we doing to seek the eternal goal of heaven and how are we helping others to live their eternal goal? Giving glory to God is recognizing how many blessings we have received and continue to receive in love and hope. It may be looking at our Lenten promises and reflecting how we can carry them into the Easter season renewed in the light of Christ.
For me, it is the challenge of looking outward again. It can be a busy time and the pandemic has not made it easier but trusting in God’s love and grace we are able to look beyond and enter into a renewal of life that is only discovered in the cross leading us to resurrection.

God Bless
Fr. Mark

Who do we pray for on a daily basis? Who do we ask to pray for us? What is our first response when we are asked to pray for someone in need?
And how would St. Joseph have responded as a model of charity towards others?
Archbishop M. de Langalerie writes, St. Joseph did not deny his love to anyone. “Wherever Providence placed him, all displayed indifferent towards him on account of his poverty; but he in return regarded them with affection, and desired their salvation.” (p 80 from “The Month of St. Joseph) In other words he was a man of prayer setting his heart in prayer to all people, both friend and enemy alike.

I have been thinking about prayer and who we pray for as I am finishing a different book of meditations during my Holy Hour earlier this week. In it Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida where in one of her conversations with Jesus, she was a mystic, she began to list all the people she wished to bring to Jesus in prayer. What struck me wasn’t that she was doing this but that many of the prayers were very minor, simple requests, not earth shattering or grandiose, rather the prayers I often bring to God for family, friend, Church and yes enemy.
In the year of St. Joseph I placed this prayer in front of Joseph and thought about how he, our Blessed Mother and the child Jesus prayed daily. What did that look like?
I doubt that much has changed around the family table and at times of family prayer. Certainly the Holy Family was a family of prayer. They would have prayed the Jewish ritual prayers and other devotions honoring God. I am also fairly positive they would also have brought prayers of family, friends (and yes enemies) to the there daily prayers and conversations with each other and with God.
The point is, that nothing is too small nor too large to pray for and seek to reconcile in our hearts allowing the world to find the healing within the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We are reminded once more of how St. Joseph lived the Gospel message of Jesus before it was preached in word because he physically embraced the Living Word each day of his married life. “The Gospel, moreover, commands us not only to forgive our enemies and pray for them, but also to love them. This precept is violated by a great number of Christians. We demonstrate a cold reserve and resentment towards those who have offended or injured us; yet each day we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”” (p 80) Our prayers should not only be towards those we love but more importantly towards those who disagree with us and even persecute us in our Christian life.
Why would we do this? Jesus commands us to do this. It is for the salvation of the souls of those who seek to harm the Body of Christ but also for us who are the Body of Christ. Did Jesus, Mary and Joseph spend daily time in prayer praying for the Roman oppressors, Herod and his murderous regime and the religious leaders who seemed to bend their faith to “get along” with those who held power in the world of ancient Israel?
Each day, dozens of people ask me to pray for them or an intention they hold dear to them and yes many times these prayers include those of injury or for political and religious leaders. Following “St. Joseph as a Model of Charity towards Our Neighbor” (p 79) we are asked to step beyond and place ourselves within the prayer life of the Holy Family joining our prayers with them for the salvation of our souls and the salvation of the world.
Please pray for me…I am praying for you.
God Bless
Fr. Mark