Feast of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, who in humility "took the child with him." Anniversary of the inauguration of the pastoral ministry of pope Francis. Read more
Feast of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, who in humility "took the child with him." Anniversary of the inauguration of the pastoral ministry of pope Francis.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 1,16.18-21.24
and Jacob fathered 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 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.' When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home;
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband. A descendent of the house of David, Joseph had the task to link Jesus to David's inheritance. He also summarized the figures of the patriarchs who often had received God's revelation in a dream and made the baby Jesus retrace the path of the exodus from Egypt to the promised land, and thus fully inserting him into the history of Israel to make him heir of the promises. A man of silence, Joseph learned about God's will every day and obeyed it. An ancient legend has it that his death took place in a great peace given by Jesus. That is why in the Western tradition people soon began to invoke him to receive a good death as a gift. The Eastern Churches commemorate him together with David and James the Lord's brother in the days after Christmas. Tied to the infancy of Jesus, Joseph reminds us of the indispensable attitude of listening to the Lord that each believer should have especially in those moments of life when difficulty seems to prevail. The Gospel passage of Matthew tells us how Joseph was involved in the mystery of Jesus' birth. The evangelist seems to want to emphasize the irregularity of how Jesus was conceived. He speaks about Joseph and the double serious drama he was living. As a "betrayed" husband he should have officially divorced Mary (in this way Mary would be identified as adulteress and therefore rejected and marginalized by her relatives and all inhabitants of the village). Obviously even Mary had thought of these consequences when she welcomed the annunciation of the angel. And yet, she obeyed. Joseph, on his side, had decided to repudiate his young spouse in secret. But there is a beyond of God 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 is why he is the image of the believer who is able to listen to and to take Jesus with his or her. If we listen to the Gospel, we will be able too to take Jesus 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
