Happy Solemnity of St. Joseph!

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary. Mary was the Mother of God, as you probably know, and St. Joseph is truly one of the most profound saints to ever walk the face of the planet earth. Why, you might ask? Because think about it: Of all the persons in the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, only one of them has not been declared by the Church to be without sin - St. Joseph. And yet, he was entrusted with God's only begotten Son & the Mother of God. What is so cool about this is that a certain "Josephologist" [yes, it is a real branch of Sacred Theology] points out that St. Joseph fatherhood was not an adoptive fatherhood, because adoption always refers to having been brought into a family from another family. Rather, God the Father specifically chose "the Just man", St. Joseph, to be the foster-father of the Son of God. It was a real fatherhood, just not a physical fatherhood. St. Joseph alone was given such a great dignity to be entrusted with the care of the Mother of God and the Redeemer of mankind.

Early Christian tradition tells us that St. Joseph died before Jesus began his public mission. As a man and father, I can only imagine how proud Joseph must have been of us his son. Like every dad, I am sure he had great hopes for his son.

I love that the Church proposes this day, deep in the heart of Lent to think about the foster-father of Jesus. Then in the glory of the Resurrection on May 1st, we are also asked to think about St. Joseph the Worker. On that second Feast of St. Joseph, we consider the work of St. Joseph in providing for his family. So too must we think about our providing for God's family and the body of Christ in the Church. Whether it be materially, monetarily, or with our talents, we should not think that we are not connected to the Church, rather we are intimitely bound to her. Analgous to St. Joseph, we are to care for our Holy Mother Church and for the baptized, the children of Christ Jesus. There is nothing as beautiful, nor as masculine, nor as human as the Mystery of Christ entrusted to St. Joseph!

Who among us can't receive some healing from the hurts of our own family in the recognition and healing of the Holy Family to which we now belong by our Baptism. We are baptized into Christ, and thus we now have Mary as Mother and St. Joseph as our Foster-father, as well. May you and I both turn to heaven and recognize our new family and live more fully for it. For by doing this we live the life of Christ we have been given in our baptism.