The Feast of St Joseph
Reflection
Joseph never says a word in the Gospels, but he is constantly in communication with God through dreams. For the safety of Mary and Jesus it seems to have been essential that Joseph was in touch with his dreams and happy to follow their bidding.
Do you ever get a sense that God is communicating to you; maybe through dreams, perhaps prayers or could be just a sense that a way of moving on just feels right to you?
Today’s Prayer
Preparation: Begin by stilling; then dedicating the time of prayer to God and asking God that all you think, feel and imagine are for the glory of God.
Gift: Ask for what you desire. Suggestion: To know Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.
Setting: A Scripture reading to ponder – Lectio Divina or Imaginative Contemplation
Scripture
Matthew 2:19-23 WEB
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod,
he was afraid to go there.
Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.
Conversation: Talk to Jesus in your own words as a friend
Final Prayer: End with a formal prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer/Our Father.
Today’s Music
Te Joseph Celebrent: Gregorian Chant Academy
Translation
1. May the hosts of heavenly spirits praise thee,
O Joseph; may all the choirs of Christendom
resound with thy name, thou who, renowned for merits,
was united in chaste wedlock to the glorious Virgin.
2. “When thou didst wonder at thy bride
grown great with her august Child,
sorely wert thou afflicted with doubt;
but an Angel taught thee that the Child was conceived by a breath of the Holy Spirit.”
3. “Thou dost embrace the new-born Lord, and dost follow Him,
a fugitive, to remote parts of Egypt:
lost in Jerusalem, thou dost seek and find Him,
thus mingling joys with tears.”
4. “A pious death doth make other men happy after death,
and glory awaiteth those who have merited a palm:
but thou still living, in a wonderous manner more fortunate,
dost, like the Blessed, enjoy thy God.”
5. Grant us, great Trinity, for Joseph’s holy sake, In highest bliss and love, above the stars to reign, That we in joy with him may praise our loving God, And sing our glad eternal strain. Amen.