May our resolve to be holy be strengthened

In this month of March, the Church celebrates two most beautiful feasts which are related directly to each other and to the very life of the Church itself.

The Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on March 19 and six days later, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord on March 25. Our Holy Father Francis last December 8 declared a Year of Saint Joseph which will end on December 8, 2021. It is a special year for all Catholics throughout the world to focus their prayers and meditation on the person of St. Joseph, the divinely chosen foster-father of Jesus and the chaste and upright spouse of Mary, Mother of God.

While there is not a single word recorded in the New Testament spoken by St. Joseph, his silent presence is a most powerful statement on that virtue which we know as the “obedience of faith.” God Himself revealed to St. Joseph His plan for the redemption of the world, the place of his betrothed, Mary, in this plan and St. Joseph’s place in the same plan. Because Joseph is that good and just man, he believed what God revealed to him, trusted that it would be just as he had heard, and then did with humble obedience what God asked of him. St. Joseph is the chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the chosen Guardian of the Lord’s Holy Family and so it is no wonder that Blessed Pope Pius IX declared him the Patron of the Universal Church.

While this Solemnity is not a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States, and since it falls within the season of Lent, the Church urges us to celebrate it with joy and greater solemnity because to honor St. Joseph is to give glory to the Lord Jesus Who said that anyone who hears the word of God and keeps it is His relative. 

The Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord on March 25 is very familiar to us. It is the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary and the Church, from the earliest days, always understood that when Our Blessed Lady fully submitted her will to God’s will with her unconditional fiat God became man and our definitive redemption from the sin of Adam and Eve had begun and would be perfected by the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus from the dead on that first Easter. Both of these celebrations demand our own response of that “obedience of faith” so beautifully expressed by St. Joseph and Our Blessed Mother and, in the same way, not just our words but our actions, not just once in a lifetime but every day.

Both of these days allow us to understand better why we observe the discipline of Lent in that Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph give us the example of how to prepare for the coming of Christ into the world, but also how to live with Him in the world and to be ready to be reunited with Him in heaven. Our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph give us excellent examples of that fidelity to God in everyday life that will make us saints if we believe in Him and His will for us and then daily trust in Him by that “obedience of faith” that simply says: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

By celebrating these two great Lenten feasts, may our resolve to be holy be strengthened. May we be faithful to Him.