St Joseph represents the last of the Old Testament patriarchs. For seventeen hundred years, even since God said to Abraham, the first of the patriarchs, “Go forth from the hand of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house” (Gn 12:1), God has been calling His people forward, calling them out of themselves into His way. St. Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham through David to Joseph – that is, from God’s first call to faith, through His promise to make David’s royal throne firm forever, to the man designated to be Mary’s husband and Christ’s foster-father. When we encounter Joseph in the Gospel, we encounter a man who lets God rule his life, a man who does not demand his own way, a man who let God call him forward. He took Mary into his house when an angel told him to do so; he led Mary and Jesus to Egypt when they were in danger; and when he found Jesus, at the age of twelve, in the Temple, he accepted the words, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2: 49). If we are true Christians, there is something of Joseph in each of us, something that says, God directs my life, and that’s how it ought to be. St Joseph, pray for us! –Fr. Joseph T. Lienhard
Most merciful Father, call me out of myself and direct my life that I may love and serve you like St. Joseph.
St. Joseph patron saint of workers please pray for those who are unemployed.
