ST. JOSEPH, THE STEWARD OF THE NEW COVENANT

Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Blessed Virgin Mary.
Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Theme: St. Joseph, the Steward in the New Covenant

We celebrate the solemnity of St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From the readings before us, the Church prompts us to reflect on the faith of St. Joseph. Though the scriptures have little on him, the all-important role he played in the redemptive mission of our Lord says much about him. The central virtue of St. Joseph is his faith in God. If God found David faithful to be entrusted with the kingship of Israel while he was busy with his father’s flock in the bush, we judge Joseph’s faith similar or equal to none, for God to have found him worthy of being entrusted with his most treasured people. One can even say that he received the fulfilment of what God promised David as a reward for his faithfulness. “When your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure forever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me.” The son of David would build an eternal House for God, a people who would belong to God by their faith in God, was entrusted to the care of St. Joseph, the foster father of our Lord. We are not wrong, therefore, to say that while David acted as a steward over the people of God—Israel that foreshadowed the Church of God—Joseph acted as a faithful steward of the real people of God by looking after the Holy Family of Nazareth. Because the House of God is an eternal reality, the stewardship of Joseph could be said to endure forever. 

The second reading prompts us to compare him to Abraham.  St. Paul presentation in his letter to the Romans brings out the faithfulness of Joseph. If Abraham inherited the world because of his faith in God and not because of any work he did, then how can we deny that the one who inherited heaven and the family of God here on earth was unique in his faith? “The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham and his descendants on account of any law but on account of the righteousness which consists in faith.” St. Joseph must have excelled in this righteousness by faith for him to receive the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham. “Though it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly as he had been promised.” This righteousness from faith is what the scripture attested to concerning St. Jospeh in the gospel. “This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally.” The angel God sent to reveal to him what God has done in Mary addressed him: ‘Joseph son of David.’ His role was truly Davidic in a real sense, for he was worthy to look after the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son Jesus Christ our Lord. We know of no other office more elevated than the office of the Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Foster father of Jesus Christ on earth.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, that the prayer of St. Joseph may win for us the grace of faithfulness in our service to God, that we may be worthy to share his eternal happiness in heaven.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE ANALOGY OF CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH

Image
SUNDAY, TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Gen 2:18-24; Ps 128; Heb 2:9-11; Mk 10:2-16 The two shall become One, mystery of Christ and his Church The readings and theme for this week propel us toward understanding the gift God promised to man, which is beyond his knowledge and experience. Because of this, he gave us the analogy to understand the mystery, which is the divine gift. The analogy given in the reading from Genesis is a man’s union with his spouse. This analogy is profound because it has various levels of meaning. The good thing with analogies is that they work with what is easily given to our experience to transport us to the realm beyond our senses. God made man to be a temple where his Word would dwell. The indwelling of the Word in man would not be realised suddenly, for it must follow the free will and acceptance of men who are made in the image of God. The divine project is to make man like God to facilitate mutual communion. Hence, the statement: “It is not goo
Read more

GROWING IN COVENANT AWARENESS

Image
Friday, Fifth Week of Lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Theme: Growing in Covenant Awareness What is necessary for us to grow in the awareness of our Covenant with God is having the word of God as the foundation of our life. In yesterday’s reflection, we distinguished between the physical Promised Land and the spiritual Promised Land. The former is for the physical descendants of Abraham, and the latter is for the spiritual descendants of Abraham, which include Jews and Gentiles alike. The latter is a spiritual reality and, therefore, accessible only through spiritual awareness and growth in the Covenant given by the word of God. We have come to understand that the word of is the foundation and essence of the Covenant. Hence, growth in attending to the word of God makes for growth in awareness of the Covenant. Since the word of God is the principle of spiritual life, we must each day employ it in our daily living and transactions of life to grow in the life it offers.
Read more

A NEW COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD

Image
Sunday fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nick Okeke, OP Theme: A new covenant in his blood God is love and does all things in view of our salvation. At the fullness of time, he came to our rescue with his love which has no limit. The fullness of time is considered with reference to us, and not with respect to God. Time and season have meaning only with reference to us. Thus, when God decided to make a new covenant with his people, he considered an appropriate time to pour out the fullness of his love for the salvation of human race gone astray in sin. The new covenant is to have the satisfaction of the demands of the Law by his Son, so that the merit of his righteousness would be applied to us sinners. What are the merits of the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will? “This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive—it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they sh
Read more