20190319
ST
JOSEPH, A TRULY FAITH-FULL PERSON
19 MARCH, 2019,
Tuesday, St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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2 Samuel
7:4-5,12-14,16 ©
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The Lord will give him the throne of his
ancestor David
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The word of the Lord came to Nathan:
‘Go
and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: “When your days are ended and
you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your
body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house
for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a
father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the
rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not
withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House
and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be
established for ever.”’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 88(89):2-5,27,29 ©
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His dynasty shall last
for ever.
I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will
proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts
for ever,
that your truth is firmly
established as the heavens.
His dynasty shall last
for ever.
‘I have made a covenant with my chosen
one;
I have sworn to David my
servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through
all ages.
His dynasty shall last
for ever.
‘He will say to me: “You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves
me.”
I will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall
last.’
His dynasty shall last
for ever.
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Second reading
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Romans 4:13,16-18,22 ©
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Abraham hoped, and he believed
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The promise of inheriting the world was
not made to Abraham and his descendants on account of any law but on account of
the righteousness which consists in faith. That is why what fulfils the promise
depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of
Abraham’s descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who
belong to the faith of Abraham who is the father of all of us. As scripture
says: I have made you the ancestor of many nations – Abraham
is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the
dead to life and calls into being what does not exist.
Though
it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and
through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly
as he had been promised: Your descendants will be as many as the stars. This
is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps83:5
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Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
They are happy who dwell in your house, O
Lord,
for ever singing your praise.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
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Gospel
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Matthew 1:16,18-21,24 ©
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How Jesus Christ came to be born
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Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband
of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This
is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph;
but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through
the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare
her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do
this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has
conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and
you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from
their sins.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him
to do.
ST JOSEPH, A
TRULY FAITH-FULL PERSON
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 2 SM 7:4-5, 12-14, 16; ROM 4:13, 16-18, 22; MT 1:16-21, 24 ]
We celebrate the Solemnity of St Joseph
today. This is an important feast for the Church, so important that she
allows this feast to break the spirit of the Lenten retreat. That this
feast is given the celebration of solemnity speaks of the importance of
St Joseph in the life of the Church.
The question which we want to ask is: what
is it that makes St Joseph such an important figure in the Church? This
is a difficult question to answer because we have scant information about
Joseph. Only a few lines are mentioned about him in the
scriptures. Furthermore, Joseph never spoke at all. He is portrayed
as someone who is totally silent in scriptures. And the rest of the
information about Joseph is purely from legendary and apocryphal sources.
Hence, on what basis should we then bestow such honour on Joseph?
Did St Joseph get this
honour simply because he happened to have the right connections? That is to say, since the Messiah,
Jesus, had to come from the House of David in order to fulfill the prophecy of
Nathan in the first reading, Joseph was blessed to be that link between Jesus
and the House of David. This seems to imply that Joseph was just
fortunate and therefore had nothing really to contribute. In one sense,
it is true because God had providentially chosen him to be the foster father of
His Son. However, without faith, he would not have come to realize his
calling. He might have taken the other extreme by reacting to his
“misfortune” in marrying Mary who was impregnated by someone else. He might
have joined the rest in condemning Mary as an adulteress and had her stoned to
death.
Then again, could it be because
Joseph was such a chaste man, a man who sacrificed his rights to a coitus
relationship with his wife that he was honoured? But this would imply
that there is something evil in sex and that all our married couples cannot be
pure if they express their love physically. We know that sexual love is
blessed by God. It is right that in marriage, love of the spouse is
expressed physically; not just spiritually. That Joseph chose the path of
celibacy together with Mary therefore also requires a deep love and faith in
God to give up what is so vital in a marital relationship. Celibacy
is very difficult to live unless one lives for the kingdom of God.
Celibacy presupposes that God’s love is experienced in a deeper manner than
human love.
Finally, could it simply be
because Joseph was needed in case Jesus was ridiculed as an illegitimate child,
since He was without an earthly father? But to have to carry someone
else’s baby would have been a grave injustice to Joseph, unless he knew that
this baby truly came from God and that it was a miraculous conception. Once
again, it was because of his faith in God and his docility to the prompting of
the Holy Spirit that he could accept in faith that the role he had been called
to play was part of the providential plan of God, as was in the case of Mary.
In the light of what we have just said, if
St Joseph is such a great saint, it boils down to the fact that Joseph was a
just and righteous man because of his faith in God. This faith in God
is seen both in his contemplative life and in the way he lived out this faith
of his.
What is clear from the scriptures is that
firstly, St Joseph was surely a contemplative. He must have
been a very quiet person. He hardly talked, but we know that he dreamt a
lot. Perhaps because he talked so little, he was able to listen clearly
to God. His dreams were his visions; it was the way in which he listened
to God. Indeed, this is one area we can learn from Joseph.
Like him, we need to be contemplative. We need to talk less and listen
more, not simply to what is going in the world around us, but also deep inside
us. And of course, dreams are a symbolic way of stressing the need to
reflect deeper within ourselves.
Secondly, although Joseph was a
contemplative, it would not be fair to say that he was a dreamer. He
was an activist as well. He was a doer of the Word.
Whenever Joseph recognized something as coming from God or that God wanted him
to do something, he acted decisively. Once he was convinced of something,
he acted promptly. This can be seen clearly in the way he decided to put
Mary away when he found her to be pregnant; and to keep her when the angel
revealed to him the plan of God; or when he was told to flee to Egypt because
of the persecution. Indeed, Joseph is considered as one who truly hears
the word of God in the fullest biblical sense. For the biblical meaning
of hearing implies obedience as well. Obedience is
always the consequence of having heard the Word of God. Without
obedience, it shows that we have never heard the Word of God in our
hearts. Joseph was a righteous man because he heard and carried out what
the Lord commanded of him.
In the final analysis, the whole
life of St Joseph can be summarized in his faith. For this reason,
the Church has inserted the letter of Paul to the Romans in today’s readings,
which speaks about the faith of Abraham and how Abraham’s faith resulted in his
being conferred the position of father of our faith. Similarly, Joseph,
by his faith in God, has indirectly enabled us to find faith in Jesus. It
was through Joseph’s faith that the salvific plan of God could be realized in a
most perfect manner. Without faith, he would not have submitted so humbly
and cooperated with God and Mary so that Jesus could fulfill the promise that
the Messiah would come from the Davidic Dynasty.
But what is so special
about his faith?
In other words, what kind of faith did St Joseph have? His faith is
simply a total surrender to the mystery of God in his life. We can be
certain that many things must have puzzled Joseph. For instance, how
could Joseph in his right frame of mind believe that Mary had conceived by the
power of the Holy Spirit; or how could the supposed Saviour of the world be
born in a manger; or having the need to flee to Egypt under persecution.
Yes, undoubtedly, these matters could have puzzled Joseph.
But yet, Joseph never became
bitter with all these apparently unfavourable events in his
life. Instead, he accepted all these events as part of the mystery of
God’s plan. He embraced them as mysteries; indeed too lofty for man’s
comprehension. He did not feel the need to resolve all these
mysteries. In humble acceptance, he lived the mystery and found meaning
in them. Of course, it was his faith in God’s love and providence that
gave him the strength to adopt such a stance towards life, God and others.
As we journey in life, we too can
learn from Joseph his attitude towards life. Like him, we need to be
more faith-full so that we can be faithful to God and His plan for
us. With the faith of Joseph, we will be able to accept life in our
stride, living in confidence and with trust in God, responding to Him in a way
that is appropriate. Like him, we will simply continue to do our work quietly
without seeking attention and recognition. Such a life indeed is a peaceful and
anxiety-free lifestyle. And truly, we will become great by being unimportant,
modest and unknown. Most of all, we need first to acquire the habit of
listening attentively to the Lord in silence at prayer, especially when we read
the Word of God.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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