Holy Family

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We often take extra time to examine, reflect and seek paths to get closer to God during the Lenten season. Ultimately, we will find our hearts less restless and our lives more fulfilled as we approach closer union with him.

Looking to Jesus during adoration can help show, discern and determine what works and what brings peace. We can give thanks, petition for help or simply gaze at him. Becoming brothers and sisters of Christ through baptism is reason alone to give Jesus thanks. Now in relationship with God — asking, seeking and knocking on his door as his children — our restoration to be with him forever continues.

By encountering Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we are encountering the Divine, helping to make us more fulfilled and more fully human — closer to God. Encountering Jesus can truly transform us to live a life of faith that is alive with a zealous love for God and an actionable love for neighbor. We encounter Christ in many ways: through the Mass, family, friendship, evangelization, prayer, Scripture, catechesis, work, works of mercy and more. All these ways and means are gifts, if union with God is the principal goal we pursue. Lenten season or not, regular time offered for adoration can help to recollect all these encounters with Jesus, rest in them and then simply gaze upon him in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Mother of God and St. Joseph, the first adorers of Christ, can help us along as we meditate and contemplate their lives and ask for their intercession in adoration. Recollect and envision the experience of the Holy Family with Jesus — as “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). Journeying in their footsteps through the eyes of St. Joseph — zealous defender of Christ — will teach us much about the supernatural virtues at play, which we can learn and put to work ourselves. As the protector of the Holy Church, he and the Blessed Mother were the first evangelists, and the first and best adorers of Jesus.

With the “Year of St. Joseph” proclaimed both universally and within our archdiocese, we are drawn to learn of his many virtues — starting with faith and hope. St. Joseph’s living faith prompted him to act upon his belief and have complete trust in God. Much was revealed to him in his four dreams. He did not rely on his own strength but placed his trust in the grace of God and the help of his angels. St. Joseph was a righteous, just man obedient to God’s will. Though silent in the Scriptures, he was a man of deeds who provided, protected, taught and guided the Holy Family. Many of his actions took place in the hidden years of Jesus. During his public ministry, Jesus was acknowledged in the Scriptures as “the carpenter’s son” (cf. Mk 6:3), recognizing St. Joseph’s key presence in the Lord’s early life.

Mary and Joseph are our spiritual parents, and the Blessed Mother is certainly the No. 1 saint! As her guardian and foster father of Jesus, St. Joseph is next in line. We need to know more about him and follow his lead as the pillar of families. His prominent, courageous and humble role in salvation history has been recognized and honored by numerous saints who venerated his fatherhood — Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, Alphonsus Liguori, Andre Bessette and John Paul II, to name just a few. In his marking the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX proclaiming St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis told us in December that “after Mary, Mother of God, no saint is mentioned more frequently in the papal magisterium than Joseph, her spouse.”

“Ite ad Ioseph” — “go to Joseph” in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament this Lent. Our Lady Seat of Wisdom and the Protector of the Holy Church were the first to adore our Lord when he came into the world — and as Jesus “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (cf. Lk 2:52). As the spiritual father and patron saint of the Catholic Watchmen, his leadership compels us to protect marriage and the family — by consecrating our lives to him and his family. Through regular monthly CW prayer vigils, we aim to elicit the intercession of the best of adorers: Mary and Joseph.

The family has always been under attack, and spiritual warfare has been ramping up. Without prayer giving us the oxygen in our lifeblood to press on in faith, these battles for goodness, beauty and truth are futile. St. Mother Teresa in her wisdom said, “I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.”

Deacon Bird ministers at St. Joseph in Rosemount and All Saints in Lakeville, and assists the archdiocese’s Catholic Watchmen movement. Learn about the Catholic Watchmen at archspm.org/faith-communities/men.