Message from Fr. Con

REFLECTION FOR 4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER ( YEAR A)

WEEK BEGINNING 30 APRIL 2023

St. Joseph must surely be the greatest of all the saints. (Our Blessed Lady, of course, is higher than all the saints, and is so as their Queen). St. Joseph had day-to-day contact with Jesus in His childhood and presumably in much of His adolescence. (At some stage, he would have died. On that sad day for the Holy Family of Nazareth, we do not have evidence of the age reached by Jesus).
Whereas Mary was the young Jesus’ tutor in the Jewish Scriptures, Joseph taught Him the skills of carpentry. (There is a tradition that this might well have included how to work with stone). The month of May, each year, opens with the commemoration of St. Joseph the Worker. His major Feast is March 19th.
St. Joseph is Patron of the Universal Church. Additionally, he is patron saint of those who are moving house. By no means least, he is patron saint of a “happy death”. These “titles” for St. Joseph are surely quite logical. The Church is the Body of Christ. St. Joseph was instrumental in rearing the Child Jesus, and nurturing Him into His teenage years and perhaps even a little beyond these. As so conversant with the intricacies of wood (and stone), St. Joseph is well suited to being patron saint of houses.
Finally, he would surely have been graced by God with the gift of a “happy death” himself. (“Happy death” meaning a clear conscience and a record of a humble, faith-filled life). It is very fitting that the Marian month of May should open with the commemoration of St. Joseph. As he is the greatest of the saints, he is the ideal “go-to” saint in praying for success in examinations, as their season looms again.
Additionally, let us commend to St. Joseph’s intercession King Charles 111, whose formal coronation occurs within a week.