Thursday 19th of March
Solemnity of St Joseph
“How Jesus Christ came to be born.”
Matthew 1:16,18-21,24
Today we celebrate the solemnity of St Joseph, God’s chosen protector of his son and Mary. While it took the church nearly 1,500 years to establish a liturgical feast for St Joseph, perhaps it was for such a time as this. In today’s reading we see some of St Joseph’s characteristics; righteous, obedience to God, and reverence for the mystery of God taking place in his spouse, Mary.
Though he speaks no words in scripture, his message to us is wholly to lead us to Jesus. Like John the Baptist, he is someone who happily stands back, knowing that “He must increase, and I must decrease,” and we, too, can follow this example. We acknowledge St Joseph today, not because he is more important than his son Jesus, but because he can be a human father for us, just as God called him to be a father for his son.