Rector’s Corner Growing in Nazareth with St. Joseph
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ur Holy Father Pope Francis has proclaimed this a year of devotion to St. Joseph. As there are no recordings of anything St. Joseph said, the believer is left pondering and reflecting upon the very hidden life of Christ’s childhood and adolescence in Nazareth. To Joseph was entrusted an amazing responsibility, and what a tremendous amount of influence St. Joseph would have had on our Lord. Our heavenly Father chose him to be the example of manhood to the Son of Man! How to teach the child and teenager Jesus? For while the sinless Jesus was not prone to sin, our understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation leads us to believe that Jesus not only learned directly from his Divine Person, but also from the ordinary process of human life and experiences: interactions and lessons, mistakes and victories, sadness and loss and joy. St. Luke assures us that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. It was Joseph who taught Jesus how to work, how to be fair, how to treat others, how to pray. Remember, Jesus was enough like Joseph in his mannerisms and personality that everybody assumed him to be Joseph’s son by
nature: “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” No doubt Jesus spoke like Joseph, used his turns of phrase, and shared the mannerisms he would have mimicked from Joseph. That is how a boy learns. For good or ill, we become our parents! And the image Christ taught us to use for speaking to our heavenly Father, “Abba,” was first understood by him to describe the tender love Joseph showed him when he was a child. It is only appropriate that the Christian ask for the intercession and seek the example of Joseph—how much more for our community of men who seek to be spiritual fathers! Perhaps you might like to offer the prayer we offer each week in this year. Remember us to St. Joseph! Thanks for your support!
Very Reverend Peter C. Harman, STD ’99 Rector
Dear St. Joseph, as you were entrusted with the care of the Holy Family, we beseech your intercession and ask for the grace to follow your example of devoted, chaste, and joyful love for the families to which we belong. Fill the Church with men as husbands and fathers who seek to live faithfully, lead families humbly, and form children lovingly. Grant our families, especially our fathers and brothers, these same graces. Bless our presbyterates and our brothers in this family of the North American College with the desire to be spiritual fathers after your own heart. Grant to all of us a devoted love of Jesus and Mary each day. Intercede for us to our one Father in heaven, that we be worthy of the trust given to us who seek to be conformed ever more deeply to the person of Jesus Christ, who is Savior and Lord forever and ever. AMEN.
ROMAN ECHOES 2021 • VOLUME 25: ISSUE 3
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