Thoughts From 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

Well, the big day is here! It is hard to imagine how excited I am at this time! I am using exclamation points with joy! Today we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary!!! We also celebrate the founding of our Diocese of San Jose as we enter into the 40th Year as a Jubilee Year celebrating our Journeying Together in Hope as a people united in the love of Jesus Christ.
Looking towards the blessing of St. Joseph as husband of Mary I would like to reflect on Pope Leo XIII encyclical “Quamquam Pluries” on the devotion to St. Joseph as Patron of the Church. From this call the Church looks to St. Joseph “for singular benefit from his patronage and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of Mary and that he was reputed the Father of Jesus Christ. From these sources have sprung his dignity, his holiness, his glory.” (#3) It is clear and true that we see St. Joseph through the gift of Jesus and his wife Mary. It is not the losing of his person but rather the completion of the person God the Father called forth to go on a mission to care for the Virgin Mother and the Son of God. This is the central point of our lives, when we choose to live in service of love we don’t disappear and fade away but rather we become truly who we are created to be in the eyes of our Creator God. Joseph grew in stature and holiness the closer embraced his role as father and husband, he grew in gentleness and humility the more he chose Mary in daily acts of love and service and in the caring and protecting the Holy Family.

This is what Pope Leo reminded the Church when he wrote, “But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together.” (QP #3) St. Joseph in his calling to be husband of our Blessed Mother, the Mother of God, becomes fully into his dignity as a human in choosing to love and enter into the service of someone greater, even when the greater is a small and vulnerable child he is called to protect. Are we willing to follow the example of St. Joseph? It is a reminder that story God desires us to live is the story of a call, a vocation of love, mercy and holiness: to become the saint.
When we truly are able to embrace this vocation, accept the call to holiness, choose the blessings and give them away without cost, then we live a true and holy life. It is the most fulfilling moment when we see our story for a brief moment, a story which draws us forward in the darkness where we allow and trust Jesus to light a path just a few steps at a time. Pope Francis is his great love letter “Amoris Laetitia: The Joy of Love” reminds of the vocation of the Holy Family when he shares with the Church, “With a gaze of faith and love, grace and fidelity, we have contemplated the relationship between human families and the divine Trinity. The word of God tells us that the family is entrusted to a man, a woman and their children, so that they may become a communion of persons in the image of the union of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Begetting and raising children, for its part, mirrors God’s creative work. The family is called to join in daily prayer, to read the word of God and to share in Eucharistic Communion, and thus to grow in love and become ever more fully a temple in which the Spirit dwells.” (AL #29) St. Joseph, with Mary, lived this Eucharistic communion even before the night of the Last Supper because in their midst was the living Eucharist, Jesus Christ. Each time St. Joseph held the child Jesus, he embraced the Eucharist just as we are invited to do when we come forward, not worthy to receive but are healed in the Word of God. It is when, like St. Joseph we embrace our Mother Mary we see the truth of who Jesus is in our lives.

“Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her life’s companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her honour, but also, by virtue of the conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by divine will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as His father among men.” (QP #3) What mission has God given you? Like Joseph we are all given a mission and if we embrace the mission then we shine as holy witnesses of God’s love. This is the natural outcome of our following the will of God. Being a saint, is being, like St. Joseph, willing to do the small things with great care and love, the daily chores that may seem mundane but bless those around us and open our heart to care and peace. When seek and allow the dignity of others to grow within our soul, as husbands and wives are called to do in the Sacrament of Marriage, then our own dignity strengthens and invites others into a relationship with God in the Most Holy Trinity’s loving graces.

Pope Leo XIII ends paragraph three of his Encyclical with this simple stated reason of why St. Jospeh is called Patron of the Church, “It is, then, natural and worthy that as the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of Jesus Christ.” (QP #3)
St. Joseph, Husband of Mary….pray for us

God bless
Fr. Mark

http://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15081889_quamquam-pluries.html

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia.html

The fatherhood of St. Joseph is one of the most interesting aspects of his life I like to meditate on in prayer. Like last weeks article, the gaze of the father upon a son, shows a deep devotion and love that expands the heart of both parent and child. As part of Worldwide Marriage Encounter I remember one presentation that struck me deeply. The couple presenting talked about their relationship with their children and how we often talk mostly about what we want them to do in life and not who we want them to be. This came back to me once more in a reflection by Archbishop M. de Langalerie, a 19th century French bishop from his book “The Month of St. Joseph” which I am praying with during the month of March. He writes, “Christian parents, such should be your spirit, “Here we have no lasting city” (Hebrews 13:14). Your children are given you more for the purpose of fitting them for heaven than of qualifying them for earthly positions.” (p 32)
This is a reminder of what we desire for children and what the “duty” of the parents are both father and mother. If we believe that each child is created in the image and likeness of God, then we desire each child to be a saint, to strive for holiness and to be at peace with God and our fellow sisters and brothers in our life. This is not only what St. Joseph strove for but also what he lived as he worked, supported and cared for the child Jesus within the Holy Family.

What do we hope for our children? And more broadly: what do we hope for all people?
Pope St. John Paul II shares with us from “Redemptoris Custos” this thought, “What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification which each person must acquire according to his or her own state, and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: “St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies;…he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things-it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic.”(#24)
The Catholic Church understands and honors the labor we do and calls it necessary and important in the life of each person. Yet in the same way, our daily work does not define us nor limit us in the service of God’s blessing and grace. As St. Joseph labored and showed the child Jesus the dignity of work, he “at the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption.” (#22)

St. Joseph not only shows the dignity and honor in work as a father, husband and man but unites it with the Divine in doing the work not for his satisfaction but for the glory and blessing of God in caring for the family. As parents preparing children for the eternal, each family is called to be a domestic church fostering holiness and leading children to a path of recognizing not just the dignity of work but also in an important and vital way how our work brings blessings to others when we see God in our daily tasks. Each parent wants their children to be successful, but so also each parent would desire their child live a life of holiness in the blessing of others.
This desire for holiness should be marked but our lives too in the example of the call to holiness over and over again.
It begins with recognizing how God loves us and draws forth blessings from both the exciting and mundane of life when we choose to seek Him rather than the quick bite of pleasure or the momentary tickle of delight. Deep and abiding happiness and holiness comes from the call to be of service to another…a spouse, a child, a parent, a friend and an enemy. (St. Joseph) “was inspired by his love for his family, for Jesus and Mary, and frequently by love for his fellow men and by his noble desire to be to service to them and assist them.” (p 112 Fr. Maurice Meschler from “The Truth About St. Joseph)
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Gracias a su banco de trabajo sobre el que ejercía su profesión con Jesús, José acercó el trabajo humano al misterio de la redención. (#22)

«San José es el modelo de los humildes, que el cristianismo eleva a grandes destinos; san José es la prueba de que para ser buenos y auténticos seguidores de Cristo no se necesitan “grandes cosas”, sino que se requieren solamente las virtudes comunes, humanas, sencillas, pero verdaderas y auténticas» (#24).

“If the Father had looked at you with His ineffable gaze just once, it would suffice for you to be eternally grateful. Yet this gaze is constant and everlasting.” (p 143 from “Under the Gaze of the Father”)
As we continue to reflect on the life of St. Joseph, I read these words in my Holy Hour and I thought; what must have been the blessing of Joseph, during his life, to be under the constant gaze of the Father and the Son of the Most Holy Trinity? It is not a gaze of condemnation or of seeking the weakness and brokenness of our human condition, rather it is the gaze of love, joy and the searching gaze of hope and peace. “To live under the gaze of the Father is to receive His gift constantly; it is to possess Jesus, the end and precious fruit of this gaze…Thus your soul lives under the gaze of the Father, enveloped in His light, bathed in His fruitfulness, intimately and sweetly joined to Jesus.” (p 143-44) Archbishop Luis Martinez in writing these reflections for a retreat given to Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida shows us a deep and beautiful understanding of living in obedient love to God’s will in our life.

We know from Sacred Scripture how St. Joseph on following the command of the Angel turned towards the obedient love written upon his heart, taking the law and turning it into an act of trust as he accepted our Blessed Mother and the Child growing in her womb into his life. Under the gaze of the Father, this action of love turned his heart into a heart that could only expand in love. And this is our St. Joseph challenge…to expand our heart under the gaze of God.
We can often find this difficult as we struggle to see the person of Jesus in those around us (and in ourselves at times) with our doubts and fears blinding us to the greater possibility of life in gracious love. I can imagine Joseph, seeing Mary pregnant and choosing to see Jesus within her. Choosing to erase the doubts and fears, the humiliation and scandal of the moment and embracing the grace in front of him. I often think and place myself in this moment, the embrace followed by such joy and grace as the blessing of God’s gentle and fruitful gaze blazed a fire of love in the hearts of the Holy Family united and blessed.
Pope St. John Paul II reminds us in “Redemptoris Custos,” “From the beginning, Joseph accepted with the “obedience of faith” his human fatherhood over Jesus. And thus, following the light of the Holy Spirit who gives himself to human beings through faith, he certainly came to discover ever more fully the indescribable gift that was his human fatherhood.” (# 21)
As husband and earthly father we can imagine the gaze of St. Joseph becoming more and more the gaze of God the Father as he saw in Mary’s eyes the window into the Divine life growing in her womb. We can only imagine how his gaze stretched and re-stretched his heart each time the child Jesus looked into his eyes and Joseph encountered pure and joyful love. We are asked, like St. Joseph, to gaze into the windows of Mother Mary’s eyes and into the Divine eyes of love found in the Eucharistic gaze of our adoration of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity placed upon the altar of worship.
In being obedient to God’s will, to God’s call to love, to God’s abundant blessings we are invited into caring for others as St. Joseph cared for his wife and the child Jesus. Fr. Meschler in his book, “The Truth About St. Joseph” reminds us of the humility accepting to care for another. “So, too, when St. Joseph’s authority was exercised, it was done in all humility. It has already been remarked that authority makes people humble. Who had a better heart than Joseph? His authority, moreover, extended to God and the Mother of God. Again, no one commands better than he who obeys exactly. Joseph was a man of perfect obedience and submissiveness to all properly constituted authority, but above all to God.” (p 63)
Our obedience to love humbles us into the grace of service. Jesus reminds us very clearly of the call to service and the blessings when he speaks these words to us, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45) Living our lives within the gaze of the Father is an invitation to life. The courage and humility to join in the life of grace and love is our constant challenge and the hope of unity with the Most Holy Trinity, the communion of saints and choirs of angels in heaven in our celebrations of holiness and life.
“To live under the gazed of the Father is to live a fruitful life in divine light and eternal love; it is to possess Jesus and to give Him to souls in the splendor of the divine gaze.” (p 146)
God Bless
Fr. Mark

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

“A Creatively Courageous Father” If you were on Jeopardy the question would be: Who was St. Joseph? As we continue with Pope Frances’ Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” this is the title he gives to the fifth section. One of the things I enjoy about writing these short reflections is it gives me a chance to think a little deeper on the meaning of what it written and then how it applies to my faith life and journey as a member of God’s family.
What does it mean to be “creatively courageous” in our life? Pope Francis writes, “for all the arrogance and violence of worldly powers, God always finds a way to carry out his saving plan. So too, our lives may at times seem to be at the mercy of the powerful, but the Gospel shows us what counts. God always finds a way to save us…who was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting always in divine providence.” (#5)

Pope Frances uses the many struggles and dangers that marked the early stories of Jesus’ life and the life of the Holy Family. Joseph did not push back with force or anger rather he discovered and found the different road where the care and protecting of Mary and Jesus became his life’s work and his life’s joy.
I think this is one aspect of Christian courage we can often forget and ignore. Each virtue, including courage, should be underpinned with the joy of serving God. Being a courageous father or mother is a joyful experience in seeing the family grow in faith, hope and charity. “Courage! God asks of us only our good will; His grace does the rest. What I am most afraid of, is let you should be discouraged. The Christian motto is Hope! Hope on! Hope ever!” (St. Theophane Vernard) With St. Joseph we are called to rely on God’s gift of grace trusting when we choose to act with courage he will supply us with the sufficient strength to live out our actions. The good will and joy we should show in not the false sense of “Don’t worry…be happy” but the reality of knowing we are part of something much greater and more beautiful than the momentary flashes of the world.
Each of us is asked to share in the caring and loving one another: to be a guardian of life. “The Son of the Almighty came into our world in a state of great vulnerability. He needed to be defended, protected, cared for and raised by Joseph. God trusted Joseph, as did Mary, who found in him someone who would not only save her life, but would always provide for her and her child. In this sense, Saint Joseph could not be other than the Guardian of the Church.” (#5) And while this is serious business, it is also filled with grace, joy and blessings. I often reflect on this as my role as priest and pastor. We can hear the words of the Church; to guard and care for the salvation of souls as something from long ago and old fashioned but when I was first assigned as pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Morgan Hill and then at St. Lucy Parish the weight of those words are a reality where I am called to care for the souls of all who live in the community. But the reality is, while it is a weighty obligation, the call is also one filled with the relationships and graces of so many wonderful and caring people who fill my soul, and guard my soul and together we act in creative courage in sharing the faith of Jesus Christ.

Growing up I didn’t think of my parents as “creatively courageous” but after reading and praying over this section of the letter I can understand how they were often creatively courageous in raising nine children. This act of courage is often facing the small problems and struggles in life and finding ways of bringing joy. They became guardians of our little souls in sharing and passing on the faith. Their creative courage often came in the form of just figuring out the daily moments of life in the laughter and tears of their children.
And while this obligation was a burden the joy and blessings were also filled with the fruitful love of hope. In the small and creatively courageous acts they lived and taught charity of caring and sharing life. As Pope Frances reminds us, “From Saint Joseph, we must learn that same care and responsibility. We must learn to love the child and his mother, to love the sacraments and charity, to love the Church and the poor. Each of these realities is always the child and his mother.”(#5)
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.

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20201208_patris-corde.html

As we continue to reflect on St. Joseph using Pope Francis Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” the fourth section is entitled “An Accepting Father” and this is perhaps my favorite section of this letter. It speaks of a lived faith with each passage and stage of life and how in faith St. Joseph gives us an example of constant and faithful love and service. I would encourage you to pick up the letter, the link is below, and read it. It is short, so don’t breeze through the letter, rather take time and meditate on the beauty and life of St. Joseph.

Pope Francis writes, “Often in life, things happen whose meaning we do not understand. Our first reaction is frequently one of disappointment and rebellion. 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 #4) Life doesn’t turn out the way we always hope. This past year of the pandemic has certainly taught us this lesson. The reality of reconciliation is so very important, not just in forgiving ourselves the past mistakes, but also the willingness to forgive others. We may not understand and should not forget the hurt and sin of the past but it should never become the anchor holding us back from sailing forth into greater love.
“The spiritual path that Joseph traces for us is not one that explains, but accepts. Only as a result of this acceptance, this reconciliation, can we begin to glimpse a broader history, a deeper meaning. We can almost hear an echo of the impassioned reply of Job to his wife, who had urged him to rebel against the evil he endured: “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10).” (Patris Corde #4) Pope Francis reminds us of how Joseph chose to listen and then act. He didn’t sit down and make a five year plan and then set up contingency plans and then go to focus groups to figure out his first step. All of these may be prudent but they can also allow the trust we should place in God to be eroded by our plans and not God’s plan for us. In my own life I have seen this play out over and over again and frustratingly realize I am a slow learner as I seek to interrupt God’s great design with my desire for little hills of victory. My story is one filled with the desire for explanations and clear roads instead of the love of the cross and the winding road of a life lived in passionate love of God.

“Joseph is certainly not passively resigned, but courageously and firmly proactive. In our own lives, acceptance and welcome can be an expression of the Holy Spirit’s gift of fortitude. Only the Lord can give us the strength needed to accept life as it is, with all its contradictions, frustrations and disappointments.” (Patris Corde #4) This is an “AMEN” moment of joy. The gifts of courage and fortitude from the Holy Spirit are part and parcel of our lives and Christians and to pray for these gifts and use them with joy and love is so very important. The way of faith is always bound by the desire to serve and the freedom to love. Service of our brothers and sisters isn’t drudgery nor is the gift of loving forgiveness a surrender to hopelessness but rather the call to conversion and transformation. We see this in St. Joseph’s life but also in the lives of so many of our brothers and sisters who choose to act in following the will of God in life and in death.
“Our lives can be miraculously reborn if we find the courage to live them in accordance with the Gospel. It does not matter if everything seems to have gone wrong or some things can no longer be fixed. God can make flowers spring up from stony ground. Even if our heart condemns us, “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (1 Jn 3:20).” (Patris Corde #4) I have witnessed this transformation and conversion so many times in my short time as a priest and can now recognize this blessings in so many steps and stories of my whole life from my childhood in Idaho, my time in the Marine Corps, my wandering in the desert searching for the path to follow until my missionary work in New Mexico, my teaching career and finally my call to serve God as a priest. I often thought everything had gone wrong and life had filled my basket with rotten fruit but God was always there. This is a lesson we must hand on to others. It is, as the quote below reminds us, a journey without shortcuts. Each and every step we take with Jesus is a moment of growth in faith, hope and love and we are each called to share them with one another in the peace and reconciliation of life.
“Nor should we ever think that believing means finding facile and comforting solutions. The faith Christ taught us is what we see in Saint Joseph. He did not look for shortcuts, but confronted reality with open eyes and accepted personal responsibility for it.” (Patris Corde #4)

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.