Saturday, March 19, 2016 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Jeremiah, Chapter 26, Verse 21
When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and princes heard
his words, the king sought to have him killed. But Uriah heard of it and fled
in fear to Egypt.
Both Jeremiah and Uriah
spoke of the destruction of Israel. Jeremiah stood his ground and said kill me
my blood is in your hands. Uriah fled was captured and killed; Jeremiah lived. Face
your fears! This is what Christ
meant when he said we must become like little children again to enter the
Kingdom of God. That is we approach the pressures of life with all its
troubles, fears and problems as an
opportunity for belief. “Having moved through our fears we can begin to reach our hand into the gift of the fountain
of God’s grace.[1]
Today might be a good day
to plan to take your children or grandchildren fishing. According to Maude
Farris-Luse, the oldest recorded living human being, fishing and mustard
plasters were the secret to her longevity. Treat every day as a gift from God;
each one is unique and unlike any other as it unfolds realize what happens
today will only happen once in the entire history of the universe.
Incense[2]
Catholic tradition engages
the whole person; all the senses and has been called at times the religion of “bells
and smells.” God created us as a unity of body and soul, and we return
ourselves entirely to him in worship. We worship him is spirit and truth and in
our worship we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Thus, the Churches
worship engages all that we are both body and senses. We contemplate during
worship the mysteries of God using our total selves; our hearing, sight, taste,
touch, and smells. We ring bells to herald the Lord’s appearance and we burn
incense before his altar. Our worship is good and true but it is also beautiful.
The Mass is a reenactment of the death
of our Lord. It is thought-provoking to contemplate that Pilates notice above
Christ’s head, was printed in three languages Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These
three cultures in a sense represented the characteristics of God. The Hebrew’s
were Gods people and represented the good
of man and brought the idea that the person was created by God and is more
valuable than the universe. Latin the language of the Romans brought the idea
that truth is the highest value and
the Greeks culture brought the idea of beauty
being the greatest value. In Christ’s death is represented all three values.
That a good God died for man; true to the end; and His shame was turned by love
to beauty.
Via the Masses worldwide
we live out the words of the prophet Malachi 1:11, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the
nations; Incense offerings are made to my name everywhere, and a pure offering;
for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.”
The offering of incense
was an essential duty of the priests of the Old Covenant, and the ancient law
took special care to prescribe its fragrances, vessels, and rites. Jesus’
kinsman Zechariah was performing his priestly duty, burning incense in the
Temple, when the angel Gabriel appeared to him. This was the hour of incense. Incense
was the most emblematic form of worship; it was an outward sign of the inner
mystery that is true prayer. Incense is so closely associated with worship
that, it became the very image of infidelity to burn incense to idols. To burn
incense was and still is a richly symbolic act of worship.
Saint Joseph[3]
ST. JOSEPH was descended from
the kingly line of David, and was a kinsman of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Matt. i.
1-16). The Gospel gives him the praise of being just (Matt. i. 19), that is, a man
distinguished for all virtues. And surely, as he was chosen from all other men by
God to be the foster-father of His Son, he undoubtedly excelled, in virtues and
sanctity, all saints then living. Of his youth nothing certain is known to us, and
of his later life we know only what the Gospel relates. He was a carpenter (Matt.
xiii. 55), and lived at Nazareth, in Galilee (Luke ii. 4). Being espoused to Mary,
he was inclined, upon learning that she was with child, to put her away privately,
not wishing to expose her to public reproach but being instructed by an angel, he
took her to himself, in obedience to the command of God, went with her to Bethlehem,
and afterwards, with Mary and the new-born child, fled, without timidity, to Egypt
(Matt. ii. 13). At the command of the angel he returned thence, and again dwelt
in Nazareth (Matt. ii. 23). From this place they went every year to the feast
at Jerusalem, where it happened that Jesus, then twelve years old, remained behind
them in the temple, and was anxiously sought for by them. More than this is not
told us. At the time of the marriage at Cana it would seem that he was no longer
living, since there is no mention made of him. Though little is said of him, that
little is rich in profitable instruction. How worthy to be admired and imitated
is his example his chastity, his tenderness towards Mary, his forbearing to pronounce
a judgment in regard to her condition when he could not explain it, his quick and
unreserved obedience towards God and the commands of authority, his love for
Jesus, and his care for both the mother and the child. On account of his sanctity
God has specially distinguished him by miracles, and the Church honors him in a
particular manner. In the Litany of the Saints he is named among the patriarchs,
and the feast of his patronage is celebrated on the third Sunday after Easter. Venerate,
therefore, St. Joseph choose him for your protector in life and in death, and make
yourself worthy of his protection by following his example.
Instruction
To encourage us to veneration
for St. Joseph St. Teresa wrote “I do not remember to have asked St. Joseph for
anything which he did not grant me. The great favors which God has granted me through
him, and the many dangers of soul and body from which he has freed me, truly deserve
admiration. It seems that God has granted to other saints the grace of assisting,
in particular needs, those who invoke their intercession; but this glorious saint
assists in all needs. The Lord seems thereby to indicate that, as He was subject
to Joseph on earth, so now He grants him whatever he asks for. The same thing
has been experienced by persons whom I have advised to recommend themselves to him.”
“I would gladly advise every one,” says St. Alphonsus, to have a great devotion
towards this saint, since I have experienced what graces he can obtain from God.
For several years I have asked him, on his feast, for some particular grace, and
every time my petition has been granted. As we all have to die, we should have a
particular devotion towards St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death
for all Catholic Christians consider him to be an intercessor for the dying, and
that he assists, at the hour of death, those who venerate him; and this for three
reasons 1. Because Jesus loves him, not only as a friend, but as a father, on
which account his intercession is more powerful than that of any other saint.
2. Because St. Joseph obtained special power against the evil spirits who tempt
us at the hour of death. 3. The assistance which Jesus and Mary gave to Joseph at
the hour of his own death procured for him the right to obtain a holy and easy death
for his dependents. If in their dying hour they invoke his aid, not only will he
assist them, but he will obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary. “Ought
not these words of a great saint encourage you to venerate St. Joseph every day?
Should not the hope of dying one day under the protection of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
move you to devotion to the foster-father of Jesus?”
Prayer to St. Joseph.
O most chaste Joseph, who,
by thy purity and other exalted virtues, wast worthy to be chosen for the
spouse of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus, I beseech thee, by the great
graces of which thou wast made partaker, that thou wouldst, by thy
intercession, obtain for all parents grace to rear their children piously; for
all married persons who are distressed and afflicted through poverty and
tribulations consolation and encouragement; for all unmarried persons who have
devoted their chastity to God the grace of perseverance; and, finally, for all
the dying the grace to come, after a happy death, to thy fosterchild, Jesus
Christ, Who, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth one God,
world without end. Amen.
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