Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta được mời gọi để hiểu biết thêm về thánh Giuse. Thánh Giuse thực sự chỉ là một người đàn ông bình thường "và một người chồng mẫu mực. Điều này có một ý nghĩa rất quan trọng trong số rất nhiều cuộc hôn nhân tan vỡ trong thời buổi xã hội hôm nay của chúng ta. Người chồng hoặc người cha thường được coi là người đứng đầu của một gia đình. Là người thường đưa ra các quyết định quan trọng cho gia đình: Trong bức thư của Thánh Phao-lô gởi cho dân thành Ê-phê-sô, ông kêu gọi các bà vợ "vâng lời và phục tùng chồng mình, như Thiên Chúa" (Eph 5:22)
Thánh Phao-lô cũng kêu gọi người chồng " hãy yêu người vợ của mình như Chúa Kitô đã yêu mến Giáo Hội và phó thác chính mình cho Giáo hội. " (Ê-phê-sô 5: 25). Khi biết Đức Maria đã có thai trước khi chung sống cùng nhau, Thánh Gisue đã nghĩ đến việc ly hôn để bảo vệ Đức Maria. Nhưng thiên thần của Chúa đã báo mộng và bảo đảm với Thánh Giuse rằng Đức Maria đã ở Thai Chúa Giêsu là bởi quyền năng của Chúa Thánh Thần. Thánh Gisu đã cho thấy tình yêu đích thực của ngài đối với Đức Maria, ông sẵn sàng từ bỏ ước muốn riêng của mình, để vâng lời và tuân theo những sứ điệp của thiên sứ và đồng ý làm chồng của Đức Maria, là cha và nuôi của Chúa Giêsu và là người đứng đầu Thánh Gia.
Sự đầu hàng những sư khó khăn này để thể hiện tình yêu đích thực thường thiếu thấy trong xã hội của chúng ta và chính thế mà đã gây ra những sự tan rã của nhiều gia đình. Qua gương sáng và sự cầu bầu của Thánh Giuse, chúng ta xin Thánh Giuse giúp cho những người chồng có thể học được tình yêu chân thật dành cho người vợ của mình và tình yêu chân thật mà người vợ dành cho người chồng của mình. Và xin cho chúng ta cũng có thể học hỏi tình yêu đích thực đối với Thiên Chúa và với người chung quanh của chúng ta
REFLECTION 3/19/ 2017
Our Gospel reading invites us to understand how Joseph was indeed "an upright man" and a model husband. In our times this bears great significance in the midst of so many marriage-breakups. The husband or father is usually considered the head of the family. As head of the family, he makes major decisions for the family: In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he urges wives "to submit to their husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22) Paul also urges husbands "to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her." (Eph 5: 25)
Finding Mary with child before they lived together, Joseph considered divorcing her secretly to protect her. An angel of the Lord assured Joseph that Mary was with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph showed his true love for Mary, giving up his own will, and followed the angel's message and agreed to be husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus and head of the Holy Family. This difficult act of surrender to show true love is often lacking and causes the break-up of many families. Through the example and intercession of St. Joseph, may husbands learn true love for their wives and wives for their husbands? And may we also learn true love for God and our neighbor.
March 19 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. Matthew 1:24
What is it that made Saint Joseph so great? He wasn’t immaculately conceived as our Blessed Mother was. He was not divine like Jesus. But he was the head of the Holy Family, its guardian and its provider. He became the legal father of the Savior of the World and the spouse of the Mother of God. But Joseph is not great only because he was given such incredible privileges. First and foremost, he was great because of the choices he made in life. Today’s Gospel refers to him as a “righteous man” and as a man who “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” Thus, his greatness is primarily on account of his moral righteousness and obedience to the will of God.
Joseph’s obedience is especially seen in the fact that he obeyed the voice of God given to him in the four dreams recorded in Scripture. In his first dream, Joseph is told “do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20–21). In his second dream, Joseph is told, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him” (Matthew 2:13). In his third dream, Joseph is told, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead” (Matthew 2:20). And in his fourth dream, Joseph is warned to go instead to Galilee rather than Judea (Matthew 2:22).
When these dreams are read in succession, it is clear that Saint Joseph was attentive to the voice of God. We all have dreams, but Joseph’s dreams were different. They were clear communications from God, and they required a willing recipient. Joseph was open to the voice of God and listened in faith as that willing recipient.
Joseph also responded with complete submission and full determination. The commands Joseph received were not insignificant. His obedience required that he and his family travel great distances, take up residence in strange lands and do so all in faith.
It’s also clear that Joseph took his vocation seriously. Pope Saint John Paul II gave him the title “Guardian of the Redeemer.” Over and over, he showed his unwavering commitment to his role as the guardian of his legal Son, Jesus, and of his wife, Mary. His life was spent providing for them, protecting them and offering them a father’s heart.
Reflect, today, upon the unique vocation of Saint Joseph. Ponder, especially, the early years of his marriage and the raising of Jesus. Consider his fatherly commitment to care for, provide for and protect his Son. We all must seek to imitate Saint Joseph’s virtues by protecting the presence of Christ within our own hearts, the hearts of our family and friends and in the world as a whole. Pray to Saint Joseph, asking him to help you follow his example so that the hidden presence of our Lord in our lives will grow and come to full maturation.
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen. (Prayer from Patris Corde)
March 19- Saint Joshep 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you invite me to believe in you and trust in you as my loving Father. When I sin, I reject you, your plan, and your love. When I sin, I mistakenly trust in myself. Never let me doubt your love and be separated from you through sin.
Encountering the Word of God
Joseph’s Role in the History of Salvation: Joseph has an important role in the history of salvation. He is part of the fulfillment of the covenant promises made to Abraham (Second Reading) and David (First Reading). Paul’s Letter to the Romans presents Abraham as the father “of many nations.” Abraham’s universal fatherhood is obtained not through the rite of circumcision or the Law of Moses, but through the righteousness that comes from faith. All who follow the “faith of Abraham” are considered his spiritual descendants. And these, in turn, will share in the covenant promises made to Abraham. Abraham is our father, not according to the flesh, but according to according to faith.
2. Abraham’s Faith: Paul highlights two aspects of the “faith of Abraham.” First, there Abraham’s belief in God as the Creator of all. God “calls into being what does not exist.” We profess this faith every Sunday: “I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” Believing that God is our creator means that we believe that all things depend on him and that he guides all things to himself through his providential plan. Second, Paul writes that the faith of Abraham includes the belief that God “gives life to the dead.” In his letter, Paul will bring out an analogy between the faith of Abraham and Christian faith: just as Abraham believed God could bring new life (Isaac) from Sarah’s dying body, Christians believe that God brought new life to the crucified body of Jesus by raising him from the dead (see Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, p. 263). Above all, Abraham trusted in God and his promises; he “hoped against hope” and glorified God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised (Romans 4:21). Paul writes that God promised Abraham and he and his descendants would “inherit the world.” This calls to mind the passage in Genesis when God promised Abraham a worldwide family through his offspring (Genesis 22:16-22). It also brings to mind Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches that the meek “will inherit the land,” that the poor in spirit and the persecuted will inherit “the kingdom of heaven,” and that the pure of heart will “see God.” What this tells us is that our inheritance, received through Baptism and faith in Jesus Christ, is divine sonship and eternal life with God.
3. Joseph’s Faith: The First Reading begins to shed light on what all this has to do with Joseph. David, we learn, is promised an heir who will build a house for God’s name. Through this heir, the house and the kingdom of David would endure and the throne of David would stand firm. God will ask David, like Abraham, to place his trust in him and his promise of an everlasting kingdom, for David will not live to see the day when Jesus, his heir, inaugurates the Kingdom of God. Today’s Gospel follows after Matthew's long genealogy (Matthew 1:1-16) that guides us from Abraham and David, through the fall of the kingdom and exile, to “the royal child to whom all of Israel’s history was directed: Jesus” (E. Sri and C. Mitch, The Gospel of Matthew, 41). Jesus is called the Messiah and is the King who will deliver Israel from their sin and suffering and fulfill the royal covenant made with David. Joseph is not introduced as the biological father of Jesus but as the husband of Mary. By calling Joseph “son of David,” the angel “calls attention to Joseph’s own royal heritage and his crucial role of passing on Davidic descent to Jesus.” Joseph fulfills this role by naming Jesus and claiming the child as his own. In this obedient act of naming the child, Joseph makes Jesus a legal heir to David (E. Sri and C. Mitch, The Gospel of Matthew, 42). Joseph is a just and upright man, who, in a way superior to Abraham and David, trusts God fully and totally. Joseph’s faith and trust are fully manifested in his filial obedience to God’s commandment: he does just as the angel of the Lord commanded him, taking Mary into his home and naming the child Jesus.
3. Joseph’s Faith: The First Reading begins to shed light on what all this has to do with Joseph. David, we learn, is promised an heir who will build a house for God’s name. Through this heir, the house and the kingdom of David would endure and the throne of David would stand firm. God will ask David, like Abraham, to place his trust in him and his promise of an everlasting kingdom, for David will not live to see the day when Jesus, his heir, inaugurates the Kingdom of God. Today’s Gospel follows after Matthew's long genealogy (Matthew 1:1-16) that guides us from Abraham and David, through the fall of the kingdom and exile, to “the royal child to whom all of Israel’s history was directed: Jesus” (E. Sri and C. Mitch, The Gospel of Matthew, 41). Jesus is called the Messiah and is the King who will deliver Israel from their sin and suffering and fulfill the royal covenant made with David. Joseph is not introduced as the biological father of Jesus but as the husband of Mary. By calling Joseph “son of David,” the angel “calls attention to Joseph’s own royal heritage and his crucial role of passing on Davidic descent to Jesus.” Joseph fulfills this role by naming Jesus and claiming the child as his own. In this obedient act of naming the child, Joseph makes Jesus a legal heir to David (E. Sri and C. Mitch, The Gospel of Matthew, 42). Joseph is a just and upright man, who, in a way superior to Abraham and David, trusts God fully and totally. Joseph’s faith and trust are fully manifested in his filial obedience to God’s commandment: he does just as the angel of the Lord commanded him, taking Mary into his home and naming the child Jesus.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, Son of David, I trust in you as my Savior. Help me imitate Saint Joseph, who welcomed you, cared for you, and embraced his role in the divine plan of salvation. Help me to welcome you in the stranger, care for you in the poor, and embrace the Father’s will for me.
Opening Prayer: Lord, you had a loving earthly father who taught and cared for you. Open my heart to learn from him as I reflect on this episode of Joseph’s life.
Encountering Christ:
Joseph’s Discernment: How did Joseph discern that the dream he had was from God? Most of us awakening from a dream would not think, “Now I know what God is asking of me.” Yet, Joseph discerned, then acted upon, his dream, promptly and obediently. Pope Francis has declared a “Year of St. Joseph,” from December 8, 2020, through December 8, 2021, In his declaration, he noted that in all of the dreams through which God spoke to Joseph, “Joseph declared his own ‘fiat,’ like those of Mary at the Annunciation and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.” (Patris Corde # 3) So often we reflect upon the “yes” of Mary, but Joseph also offered his “yes” to God. We didn’t hear his audible “yes.” His affirmation of what God was asking of him came through prompt, obedient action.
Joseph’s Reward: Joseph was rewarded for his virtue with the gift of naming the Messiah. Naming gives authority over the one being named. Joseph must have been awestruck by the gift of earthly authority over the Savior of the world. This delegated authority was a moment of humility for Joseph, and he found the strength to carry out his role knowing that God had called him to this. God always gives us the grace to do his will.
Joseph’s Courage: Joseph took Mary and eventually Jesus into his home and into his heart. He had no idea what his future held—Herod wanting to kill Jesus, the flight into Egypt, the Holy Family’s return from Egypt, daily life in the carpentry shop, and teaching Jesus to pray. Pope Francis invites us to meditate on the creative courage of Joseph in every circumstance: “This emerges especially in the way we deal with difficulties. In the face of difficulty, we can either give up and walk away, or somehow engage with it. At times, difficulties bring out resources we did not even think we had” (Patris Corde # 5).
Conversing with Christ: Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen (Pope Francis, Patris Corde).
March 19, Solemnity of Saint Joseph,
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you invite me to believe in you and trust in you as my loving Father. When I sin, I reject you, your plan, and your love. When I sin, I mistakenly trust in myself. Never let me doubt your love and be separated from you through sin.
Encountering the Word of God
1. A Humble and Hidden Son of David in Nazareth: Matthew’s Gospel opens with the genealogy of Jesus and traces the royal line from King David to Joseph. Luke’s Gospel complements this genealogy and emphasizes that Joseph isn’t just a descendant of David, but is of the royal house of David (Luke 2:4). From what we can piece together, it appears that members of the house of David moved north and established themselves in the town of Nazareth sometime before or during the second century B.C. It is interesting to note that when the Hasmoneans, also known as the Maccabees, defeated the Seleucids in 164 B.C., they did not put someone from the Davidic line on the throne. The Hasmoneans were from the tribe of Levi and not from the tribe of Judah or the line of David. What the Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us is that the true royal son of David was Joseph, who lived as a humble carpenter and hidden king in Nazareth. Matthew especially draws out a marked contrast between the evil King Herod and the humble king, Joseph. How am I imitating the example of Joseph as a humble worker and king?
2. Son of David and Adopted Son of God: The First Reading is taken from 2 Samuel 7 and records God’s covenant promises made to David. Among the promises was that the sons of David would be “sons of God.” God uses the covenant formula: “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (2 Samuel 7:14). In the Davidic covenant, the sonship rejected by the people of Israel in the book of Exodus is now being given to King David and his royal sons. Joseph is a royal son of David and enjoys the adoptive sonship given to the royal sons of David. The genealogy of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was the son of David by biological descent through Mary, while the genealogy of Matthew establishes that Jesus is the king of Israel by legal right through Joseph. Joseph received adoptive divine sonship through the Davidic covenant, but we have received adoptive divine sonship through the New Covenant and the Sacrament of Baptism, and so we can ask ourselves: How am I living my divine sonship? Where can I be more docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? How can I live out more perfectly the loving and filial obedience of faith?
3. The Son of David who Built a House for the Lord: In the Davidic covenant, God promises that one day, in the future, David’s son will build him a house. The initial fulfillment of this promise happened through King Solomon, who built the Temple in Jerusalem for God. Another fulfillment of this promise happens through Joseph, who provided a home for God the Son first in Bethlehem, then in exile in Egypt, and finally in Nazareth. The ultimate fulfillment of this promise, however, happens through Jesus, who established the Church, his Body, and its members as the new Temple of God. We can ask
Hai người con của ông Dêbêđê đã theo và sống với Chúa Giêsu khá lâu nhưng họ vẫn không hiểu giáo lý của Ngài. Họ chỉ có thể nghĩ về tới trong quyền năng và vinh quang riêng cho mình, vì vậy họ đã tỏ lòng xin với Chúa quyền lực. "Họ xin cho hai chỗ quan trọng trong Nước Trời, một ở bên phải và một ở bên trái của Ngài”. Chúng ta có thể tưởng tượng nỗi thất vọng và sự bực bội Chúa Giêsu thấy như thế nào khi nghe lời yêu cầu của họ!. Ngài giải thích rằng họ ràng họ sẽ được chia sẽ những đau khổ, việc tử đạo với ngài, nhưng "không có việc làm lớn trong nước Trời."
Chúa Giêsu một lần nữa nhấn mạnh với họ rằng sự vĩ đại thật sự và là người môn đệ thật sự là những người biết sống trong sự khiêm tốn với lòng biết phục vụ và yêu thương. Chúa Giêsu cảnh báo họ là không bao giờ bắt chước những ví dụ về quản trị và các mối quan hệ của con người trong những nền văn hóa hiện tại và xung quanh họ, Bởi vì họ là những người chỉ biết dựa trên sự thống trị và làm chúa người khác hơn là muốn phục vũ những người khác. Và Chúa đã chỉ vào chính mình, và Ngài tuyên bố là: Ngài đã đến không phải để được phục vụ nhưng Ngài đến để phục vụ. Vá chúng ta cũng phải học và làm như Chúa.
Lạy Chúa, Xin cho cuộc sống của chúng con là một cuộc sống biết phục vụ những người khác theo khả năm riêng mà Chúa đã ban cho chúng con với tấm lòng Khiêm Tốn..
Speaking the truth to power is never easy, and Jeremiah knew that well. He was ordered by God to deliver the bad news to those in authority: the nation was corrupt and spiritually sick. They had to return to the ways of God. But people preferred the false prophets who told authorities what they wanted to hear: everything is just fine! A plot was hatched against Jeremiah to silence him, but he was protected by God. We should never be intimidated for speaking the truth or standing up for what is right.
The sons of Zebedee had walked with Jesus so long but they still didn't understand his teachings. They could only think of basking in his power and glory, so they made a ‘power move.’ They asked for the two choice seats in his kingdom, one at his right and the other at his left. Just imagine how disappointed and frustrated Jesus must have felt when he heard their request. He explained that they would have to share his suffering and martyrdom, and they agreed, implying that it was ‘no big deal.’ Rash words! Jesus again insisted that true greatness and true discipleship was all about humility and loving service. He warned them not to copy the examples of governance and human relationships in the culture around them. They were all based on domination and lording it over others. He pointed to himself, declaring that he had come not to be served but to serve. It can be no less for all of us. Lord, may my life be one of humble service.
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