Readings: 2 Sam 7:4-5, 12-14, 16; Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22;
Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24 or Lk 2:41-51
Joseph ... was a righteous man. Mt 1:19
It would be wonderful to see Eucharistic devotion flourish ever more widely among the people of God in these days. This would certainly please good St. Joseph, whose feast day is today. This man who helped raise Jesus wants us to know that the Son of God is really present in every sacred Host: Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
When we gaze upon our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament, we gaze upon Him who is our life and joy. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive the One who is our healing and peace. In His divinity, Jesus is one in being with the Father so that in coming to know God the Son we, at the same time, come to know God the Father. As Jesus once said: "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9).
This is where St. Joseph comes in. For, if this is true of Jesus in His divinity regarding His Eternal Father, is it not also true, in some sense, of Jesus in His humanity regarding His foster father? Even though St. Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus - since Jesus was conceived not by the power of man but by the power of the Holy Spirit - still, was he not the man whom Divine Providence selected to raise and form Jesus, humanly speaking, from His earliest days?
It is no wonder then that the Sacred Scriptures identify not only Jesus as the "Righteous One" (Acts 3:14; 1 John 2:1), and not only God the Father as the "Righteous Father" (Jn 17:25), but also St. Joseph as "a righteous man" (Mt 1:19).
Like Father, like Son! Like father, like Son! Let us thank God for St. Joseph who helped raise Jesus, the Son of God, to fulfill His mission as the "Righteous One."
Good St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, help me to always follow Jesus. Above all, help me to treasure Jesus' greatest gift to us, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. Amen.
Scripture
1 John 3:4-10
Catechism
531-34,
1846-48
Diary of St. Faustina
1203, 1819