[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Espa�ol

All Issues > Volume 34, Issue 2

<< Monday, March 19, 2018 >>

St. Joseph

2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
View Readings

Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24
or Luke 2:41-51
Similar Reflections

JOSEPH: AN UPWARDLY MOBILE MAN

"[Joseph] did as the angel of the Lord had directed him." �Matthew 1:24

St. Joseph often found himself enmeshed in a series of unexpected circumstances. First, God became Lord of His marriage in a way no man could ever have imagined. Then, like a common refugee, Joseph was turned away from decent accommodations when he and Mary most needed them, at the moment of Jesus' birth (Lk 2:7). Then, during a dark night, he had to flee from a government-led assassination plot against his infant Foster-Son (Mt 2:13). At least three times he had to pack up and move his family on short notice. He and Mary had to search in sorrow for three days for Jesus (Lk 2:48). Upon finding Jesus, Joseph then heard Jesus say: "Did you not know I had to be in My Father's house?" (Lk 2:49) Even after learning such amazing humility and childlike trust in God, it must have been difficult for Joseph to hear that he was playing second-fiddle as a father.

For the task of safeguarding the Child Jesus, God chose a man who excelled in hearing and obeying: St. Joseph, the man of faith. Joseph must have spent a lot of time on his knees in fervent prayer for help. The circumstances of his life repeatedly taught him instant obedience, which sprang from his instantly hearing God's commands, which flowed from his constant prayer.

With St. Joseph, let us be upwardly mobile. Let us cultivate the ability to instantly turn to God in prayer, hear His voice, and obey Him in faith. St. Joseph, pray for us.

Prayer: Father, I will trust in You with all my heart and rely not on my own intelligence (Prv 3:5).

Promise: "All depends on faith, everything is grace. Thus the promise holds true for all Abraham's descendants." �Rm 4:16

Praise: St. Joseph was one of the very first to accept the Incarnation, and the first to take Jesus to the Gentiles (Mt 2:14).

[Salvation]

Each “+” (cross) represents 10,000 deaths (or fraction thereof)

Revolutionary War 6,188
+

War of 1812 4,505
+

Mexican War 4,152
+

U. S. Civil War (both sides) 498,332
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Spanish-American War 2,446
+

World War I 116,516
+ + + + + + + + + + + +

World War II 405,399
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ + +

Korea 54,246
+ + + + + +

Vietnam 58,167
+ + + + + +

Desert Storm 293
+

Afghanistan/Iraq Liberation 3,500
+

Grand Total all U.S. Wars 1,150,744
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Abortions in the U.S. (Since Roe v. Wade in 1973) 54,559,615
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