Throughout the Lenten season, we will post reflections for holy days and Sundays from this year’s Lenten reflection booklet, A Fast That Matters, written by Frida Berrigan, and excerpts from past booklets, like the one posted below, written by Michael Howard in last year’s reflection book, “Witnesses on the way.” Click here to see all reflections as they are posted as well as links to other Lenten resources on our Lent 2024 webpage.
reflection for THE Solemnity of St. Joseph, MARch 19, 2024
by Michael Howard
2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 | Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 | Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
Matthew 1:20
For it is through the Holy Spirit …
Does the above scripture’s caption send chills through you? After reading the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel, are you stumped by how the author breaks the rhythm of the lineage with this one word, husband? Read the 42 generations slowly. Watch Matthew’s subtle move between fathers and brothers. Then notice how Matthew incorporated the term husband to introduce Joseph. Yes, this passage is worth highlighting in your Bible because this shift is significant, as the angel spoke to Joseph, who the Bible called a righteous man.
Maybe you don’t see it, but Matthew’s audience got it. Matthew highlights the importance of the bloodline in the Jewish tradition by painstakingly listing these generations proving that Jesus came from a Jewish tradition. What this means is that Joseph, because of his Jewish roots, when finding out that Mary was with child, had every right “to expose [Mary] to shame” (Matthew 1:19). Here, Joseph was at a crossroads, wrestling within, thinking perhaps of his character being considered a righteous man. What would his neighbors say about him and Mary, especially since he was not the baby’s daddy?
What is important to grasp here are the powerful words of the angel, Joseph’s internal spiritual director. The angel told Joseph to lay down his cultural traditions for a moment. Joseph knows the significance of the bloodline and his Jewish tradition, but following the Holy Spirit is more important. The angel that spoke to Joseph could be the same angel that spoke to Timothy through St. Paul, “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our God” (2 Timothy 1:7-8). We too must not be afraid of our testimony to God. We must follow our guardian angels’ spiritual direction like Joseph and say Yes.
Reflection:
- How will you respond to your angel’s spiritual direction today, saying Yes, or Maybe next year?
Click here to see more resources for prayer, study and action this Lenten season.
This reflection was originally published in last year’s Lenten reflection booklet, Witnesses on the way, with Sunday and holy day reflections written by Michael and Charlene Howard, and daily reflections written by Pax Christi USA Ambassadors of Peace.
Michael Howard is the founder of Eat The Scroll Ministries. He has degrees in theology and biblical studies, and is a teacher and facilitator.
I think we have not more time for weakness. Love this reflection.
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
I read that Joseph did not have much public honor in earlier centuries, but in the past two he has been named Patron of the Universal Church by Pius IX and given a feast day, May 1st, as St. Joseph the Worker by Pius XII. I have a feeling that, with all the Joes and Joses in the world, St. Joseph has been loved and honored for two millennia by ordinary Christians.
Is it only after the angel called Joseph “Husband” did have the courage to take Mary as his (lawful?) wife? I understand the times and the culture of unmarried mothers and the Holy Spirit involvement. But was there real love between Joseph and Mary or did he do it because Joseph felt obliged?
I can’t say, since I wasn’t present for that occasion. I have to excuse myself on the grounds that I don’t think the gospel is always to be understood as history, but I read it as literature meant to provoke my spiritual response. So, I imagine that if Joseph’s thinking and feeling are not made explicit in the gospel, I consider that Joseph’s attitude, aided by divine grace, would be faithful, generous, loving and loyal toward the woman that the angel described in the terms given.