"> Pastor’s Corner – Prince of Peace

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Dear Friends,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

This week we celebrate the great Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Joseph is honored as the patron saint of the Universal Church. He is also honored as the patron saint of workers and the patron saint of a happy death. We will honor this great saint at Mass on Tuesday, March 19th at our 7am morning Mass and will have a relic of St. Joseph’s cloak available for veneration. Dr. Pius Parsch in volume 2 of his work “The Church’s Year of Grace,” reflects on this feast day.

“Joseph was an ordinary manual laborer although descended from the royal house of David. In the designs of Providence, he was destined to become the spouse of the Mother of God. High privilege is expressed in a single phrase, ‘Foster-father of Jesus.’ About him, Sacred Scripture has little more to say than that he was a just man – an expression which indicates how faithfully he fulfilled his high trust of protecting and guarding God’s greatest treasures upon earth, Jesus and Mary.

“The darkest hours of his life may well have been those when he first learned of Mary’s pregnancy, but precisely in this time of trial, Joseph showed himself great. His suffering, which likewise formed a part of the work of the redemption, was not without great providential import: Joseph was to be, for all times, the trustworthy witness of the Messiah’s virgin birth. After this, he modestly retires into the background of holy Scripture.

“Of St. Joseph’s death, the Bible tell us nothing. There are indications, however that he died before the beginning of Christ’s public life. His was the most beautiful death that one could have, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Humbly and unknown, he passed his years at Nazareth, silent and almost forgotten, he remained in the background through centuries of Church history. Only in more recent times has he been accorded greater honor. Liturgical veneration of St. Joseph began in the fifteenth century, fostered by Sts. Brigid of Sweden and Bernadine of Siena. St. Teresa, too, did much to further his cult.

“At present there are two major feasts. On March 19 our veneration is directed to him personally and to his part in the work of redemption, while in May we honor him as the patron saint of workmen throughout the world and as our guide in difficult matters of establishing equitable norms regarding obligations and rights in the social order. St Joseph is also the patron of a holy death.”

Let us never fail to invoke the powerful intercession of so great a man.

Please know of my prayers for you and kindly remember me in yours.

Fr. Arena

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