We have great good news to share! Our dear Sister Mary Angelique of the Infant Jesus has been received by our community to make her Solemn Vows on June 19th of this year!
One of our Sister's many gifts is a talent for writing. In our upcoming posts we will be featuring her Stations of the Cross with meditations on St. Joseph from the writings of the Popes. Below is her introduction:
The Stations of the Cross
With Meditations on Saint
Joseph
From the Writings of the Popes
Prayer to Saint Joseph
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.
(From “Patris Corde,”
Apostolic Letter of Our Holy Father Pope Francis, no. 7)
Introduction
Saint Joseph is our companion every Lent,
since March is the month traditionally dedicated to him. This year he is especially so, since our Holy
Father Pope Francis has dedicated this year to him (Dec. 8,2020-Dec. 8, 2021). However, for many of us it might be difficult
to associate Saint Joseph
with Lent, and particularly with the Passion of Christ. After all, he was presumably not alive during
the time of Jesus’ public ministry, passion, and death. It is therefore a valuable exercise to
consider whether Saint Joseph
has any direct relationship to the Passion.
This he does, in at least three ways:
First, Saint Joseph participates in the manner of
every soul in the mystery of sin and redemption, of which the Cross is the paradigm. This is clear in that his life bore all the
vicissitudes which are our common lot in this world.
Second, there was never a
time in Jesus’ life when He was not the Redeemer—thus the mission which brought
down upon Him all the forces of darkness affected those closest to Him. As His foster-father, Joseph was foremost
among these, along with Mary. Take, for
example, the wrath of Herod, which pursued the Holy Family precisely because
Jesus was the Messiah.
Third, it was part of the
Father’s Plan that his Divine Son should be born into a context. The entire history of salvation and the
history of Israel
was part of this context. The Blessed
Virgin Mary, immaculately conceived, was part of this context. Joseph was also part of this context. He was, mysteriously, a formator of the Child
Jesus. Jesus learned from Joseph—as we
hear in the Gospel, Jesus grew in wisdom and favor before God and men (Lk.
2:52). Joseph was part of His earthly
experience. Thus we can say that Joseph,
along with Mary, were the first in whom Jesus would witness the very virtues
which He Himself would exemplify par-excellence throughout His Life and in His
Passion.
The following Meditations show
how the mysteries of Christ we reflect on in the Stations of the Cross were
mirrored in Saint Joseph. Each will begin with a brief reflection on
Christ which will hopefully draw out the association with that Station in the
meditations on Saint Joseph
that follow. These meditations are taken
from the writings of the Popes, which are duly cited.
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