Memorial of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, who in humility “took the child with him.” Anniversary of the pastoral ministry of pope Francis. Read more
Memorial of Saint Joseph, Mary?s husband, who in humility “took the child with him.” Anniversary of the pastoral ministry of pope Francis.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 1, 18-25
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 an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally.
He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly 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.'
Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'.
When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home;
he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Joseph, Mary?s husband. As a descendent of the house of David, Joseph?s role was to tie Jesus to the Davidic line, refiguring the patriarchs, who often received revelations from God in dreams. This would make the child Jesus retrace the path of the exodus from Egypt to the promised land, thus placing him in the heart of the history of Israel and establishing him as an heir of the promises. A man of silence, Joseph learned about God?s will every day and obeyed it. An ancient legend says that he died in a state of profound peace, given to him by Jesus. This is why early in the western tradition people began to invoke Joseph for the gift of a good death. The Churches of the East remember him together with David and James, the brother of the Lord, during the days following Christmas. Tied to the infancy of Jesus, Joseph reminds all believers of the importance of listening to the Lord, especially in those moments of life when difficulty seems to prevail. This Gospel passage from Matthew recounts how Joseph became involved in the mystery of Jesus? birth. The evangelist seems to want to emphasize the oddity of Jesus? birth. He speaks about Joseph and the doubly serious drama he is living. As a betrayed husband, he should have sought an official divorce, which would have made Mary appear to be an adulteress and cause her to be ostracized by her relatives and all the inhabitants of the village. Obviously, Mary also thought of this when she heard the angel?s announcement. But she obeyed nonetheless. For his part, Joseph decided to repudiate his wife, but in secret. It was a considerate ? even merciful ? act of justice. But if that just man, who was much more considerate than the law, had carried out his decision, he would have been acting against the deeper justice of God. There is, in fact, a greater divine purpose that the angel reveals to Joseph. Joseph listens to the angel and understands what is happening around and inside him. Thus he becomes a disciple of the Gospel. And the angel continues, “You are to name him Jesus.” Joseph must recognize and announce who the child is. This was Joseph?s true justice: to listen to the Word of God, spoken to him through an angel, a messenger of God, and not to follow his fears and considerations. If we listen to the Gospel we too will be able to take Jesus with us as the friend of our days and of our entire lives.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
