Ite ad Joseph – Go to Joseph

Guardian of the Holy Family

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Scripture reveals that the Saint was a righteous man. Learning of his wife’s conceived child before they had lived together, he decided to divorce the Blessed Virgin quietly, to avoid exposing her to shame. Despite his plan, an angel appeared to him in a dream, revealing to the Saint that the child was the Savior of Mankind, and that he was willed by God to be the foster father. Upon waking, he followed the Divine Will.

Even after the Christ child’s birth, St. Joseph remained faithful to God’s Will that he be the guardian of the Holy Family, even taking the Blessed Virgin and her child into the foreign land of Egypt for three years—upon the direction of an angel— to protect the child from King Herod, who wanted to kill the Christ child.

St. Joseph, a generous and faithful man, sets the example for all fathers. For St. Joseph, following God’s Will meant abandoning his own will and trusting God, even when the Saint did not know where He was leading him. As we continue throughout these last days of Lent, let us pray to God for all the fathers of our Church, that they—like St. Joseph—may be faithful and generous to their families, biological and spiritual.  

Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Ora pro Nobis!

Brad Robey is a seminarian from the Diocese of Des Moines in southwest Iowa, striving to be a man in Christ, a man of the Church, and a man for others.