Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 19, 2019
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
Today’s feast of St. Joseph comes at a time when our Church needs his intercession most. St. Joseph is often invoked both as protector of the Church and as a model of chastity and faithful obedience to God. Today’s Gospel offers a glimpse as to why.
In his Gospel, Matthew demonstrates Joseph’s faithfulness by showing Joseph’s willingness to do whatever was needed in order to protect Mary’s reputation and well-being. Joseph clearly knows Mary’s child is not his, but the Gospel does not mention Joseph’s own pain, fear or disappointment. Matthew only mentions Joseph was ready to divorce her quietly so that she might not be accused of adultery. At the request of an angel, Joseph again changed his plans to protect Mary in an unexpected way—taking her as his wife. Joseph was ready to dedicate his entire life, all of who he was, to protecting and caring for Mary, generously and courageously remaining chaste for her sake.
Just this past July, I made my first vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Due to the revelations of abuse within the Church, especially by those in authority who have vowed to live chaste, celibate lives, I have been challenged to look deeply at why I am making the very same vow. In the midst of this struggle, I’ve turned to St. Joseph as my model for living a fruitful, chaste life dedicated to the service of others.
Our Church is in a time when those entrusted with protecting and leading have failed to care for the Christ-child present in the smallest and weakest members of his body, and have violated the sacred trust placed in them. Today, we need an intercessor who will protect our Church, especially her most vulnerable members. Let us look to St. Joseph’s example of heroic faithfulness and concern for others, manifest in his generous chastity. As we do so, we can become signs for both our Church and our world of the transformative love of the cross.
St. Joseph, chaste and faithful, pray for us.
Prayer
St. Joseph, you are the model of fruitful chastity. Be with us in our Lenten journey as we continue the way of the cross. Guide our pilgrimage so that, at the journey’s end, we may find ourselves closer to Christ whose Church you protect. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Aside from Mary herself, St. Joseph is the saint most represented on Notre Dame's campus in painted images, stained glass, and statues. Joseph is one of the Catholic Church’s most popular saints, and he is also the patron saint of the brothers of Holy Cross, who built this University.
Joseph, like Mary, is one of the key figures of Salvation History, whose personality and biography are not included in Scripture. Most of our traditional stories about Joseph come from the early Christian legend, the Protoevangelium of James. From canonical Scripture, we know that Joseph was a laborer in Nazareth—a carpenter. We know he was not wealthy because when he took Mary and Jesus to the Temple after Jesus was born, he offered two doves, which was an allowance for those who could not afford to offer a lamb. Even though he was a worker, Joseph was from royal lineage—in Matthew's genealogy, which begins his Gospel, Joseph is listed as a descendant of King David.
In Scripture, Joseph provides us with the awe-inspiring example of a disciple who follows the Lord, no matter how surprising and shocking the commands received. When Joseph was engaged to Mary, she became pregnant with Jesus. Not knowing the child’s origin, Joseph planned to divorce her but intended to do so very quietly, so as to avoid scandal and causing additional pain for Mary. Joseph knew that this step could bring severe judgment—even stoning—upon the woman found pregnant by purported adultery. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream to explain the pregnancy and the identity of Jesus. In sheer obedience and faith, Joseph took Mary as his wife and provided for her and Jesus, whom he loved and cared for as his own son.
An angel appeared to him again, later, when Jesus was in danger. Joseph immediately followed the angel’s instructions, took his family to safety in Egypt, and only returned when the angel told him it was safe.
Because he is absent entirely from the story of Jesus’ public ministry, his passion and death, tradition teaches that Joseph died before these events took place. He is the patron of a happy death because tradition holds that he died of natural causes with Jesus and Mary at his side. (Joseph is pictured on his deathbed in a mural in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus, seen below.)
Above all, we know that Joseph was faithful—he followed all of the religious laws of the time, and made the expensive trip to Jerusalem every year to celebrate Passover there. He followed without question the promptings of the angels who appeared to him, even though it sent him into the unknown. The Catholic Church has taught that Joseph and Mary had a celibate marriage, certainly a difficult vocation.
Joseph has two feast days—today, and May 1, when he is venerated under the title, Joseph the Worker. He is patron saint of the universal Church, of workers and carpenters, of immigrants, of those who are dying, of those who are buying or selling a house, and of fathers, among many others who claim his intercession. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus, including pieces of his robe.
St. Joseph is depicted in a statue that stands atop the founder’s monument on campus, near Old College and the Log Chapel (shown in our featured image for today). In one hand, Joseph holds a lily—a traditional symbol of purity—and, in the other, he holds the child Jesus. St. Joseph was chosen for the monument because he is the patron of the Holy Cross brothers, who came to the American frontier in northern Indiana to establish a university. They taught and provided indispensable labor such as carpentry and farming, building Notre Dame in both the intellectual and physical sense. The names of the founding brothers are inscribed on the back of the pedestal. Joseph is an inspiring image of someone who, like the brothers of Holy Cross, seeks to conform his life to the shape of the cross. Whatever Joseph's hopes were for his own life or his relationship with Mary, he gave those up to help bring God's plan for salvation to fruition.
Among many other places on campus, Joseph is also depicted in this statue above that decorates the atrium in the Stinson-Remick Engineering Hall, where he is reading a scroll with the child Jesus.
St. Joseph, faithful spouse of the Blessed Virgin and patron saint of the Holy Cross brothers—pray for us!
To learn even more about St. Joseph, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.