Lenten Meditations 2017

Monday of the third week of Lent

Reading 1 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16

The LORD spoke to Nathan and said: "Go, tell my servant David, 'When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'"

Meditation:

Today the church celebrates the solemnity of St Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Not much is said of him in the gospels other than in accounts of Jesus birth and infancy.

I remember my primary (elementary) school of St. Joseph's Boys R.C. next to the catholic church where this day would mean a special treat for us (after Mass of course). That was so many, many years ago. Distant memory.

I wonder if God's words to Nathan concerning David centuries before, as recorded in the Hebrew scriptures, were fresh in Joseph's mind at the time of Jesus's birth or were they, too, distant memory. After all, Joseph was of the house of David but he certainly had no pretensions to the throne, or wealth or prestige as a carpenter. Israel was far removed from its 'glory days' of powerful kings and now under the heel of Roman oppressors. Distant memory.

But God did not forget, he never does:
"Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'"

The promise was fulfilled in Jesus, this little child that brought Joseph pain, doubt, and no little confusion and anxiety while yet fostering hope and trust in God's fidelity.
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Lent calls us to 'go beyond' like Joseph, to take Christ into our heart and home without fear or doubt but rather in complete trust in God's fidelity.
St. Joseph pray for us. Peace.