Focus on St. Joseph

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

This Sunday the Church of St. Paul hosts the annual St. Patrick’s Ham Dinner at the Zumbrota VFW. I encourage all of our parishioners to support this wonderful event! Along with a fabulous meal, you can check out several great items on our silent auction and our cash raffle. Come and enjoy the hospitality of the Church of St. Paul!

This weekend I would like to focus once more on St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Virgin Mary and Foster Father of the Jesus. Specifically, I encourage all who are able to attend HolyMass this

coming Thursday, March 19, as we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Virgin Mary.

I also want to share with you a reflection from Fr. John Hardon, S.J. that I found to be both inspiring and educational: “There are many good reasons why St. Joseph should be the special heavenly patron of dedicated souls - in the religious life, in the priesthood, and among the laity. But as the Church teaches, he is especially to be venerated and his patronage invoked because he was the guardian of the Virgin Mary and the fosterfather of Jesus.

The dignity of the Mother of God is so sublime that nothing created can rank above it. But as Joseph was united to the Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, we may believe that he approached nearer than anyone else to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses all human persons in holiness. Marriage is the most intimate of all unions, which from its essence confers a sharing of gifts between those joined together in wedlock.

Thus, in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as his spouse, God appointed him to be not only the witness of her virginity, the protector of her honor, but also, because they were truly married, a sharer in her exalted sanctity. Joseph shines above all mankind by the august privilege of his vocation as the foster-father of the Son of God and, therefore, the diligent protector of Christ.

From this two-fold dignity flows the obligation which nature lays on the heads of families, so that Joseph became the administrator and legal defender of the Holy Family. He set himself to defend with a mighty love and a daily concern his spouse and the Divine Infant. Regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing. He guarded

the Child from death when threatened by Herod’s jealousy, and found for him a refuge in Egypt. In the miseries of the journey and in the bitterness of exile, he was ever the companion, the helper, and the upholder of Jesus and His Virgin Mother.

We may confidently say that the Holy Family which Joseph ruled with the authority of a father contained within itself the first beginnings of the Church. So that, even as Mary is the Mother of

the Church because she is the Mother of Christ, so Joseph is the Protector of Holy Church because he was the guardian of Jesus and Mary.”

Through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, St. Joseph, the Spouse of the Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. Paul and all the angels and saints, may we all come to know and experience the

great love and mercy of our Heavenly Father!

In Christ through Mary, Fr. Kasel