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Chủ Nhật, 19 tháng 3, 2017

MARCH 20, 2017 : SOLEMNITY OF SAINT JOSEPH, SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lectionary: 543

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.'"

Responsorial PsalmPS 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 AND 29
R. (37) The son of David will live for ever.
The promises of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness,
For you have said, "My kindness is established forever";
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.
R. The son of David will live for ever.
"I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations."
R. The son of David will live for ever.
"He shall say of me, 'You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.'
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm."
R. The son of David will live for ever.

Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.

Verse Before The GospelPS 84:5
Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord;
they never cease to praise you.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
"Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety."
And he said to them,
"Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them.


Meditation: Joseph did as the angel commanded him
Are you prepared to obey the Lord in everything? Faith in God's word and obedience to his commands go hand in hand. Joseph, like Mary, is a model of faith and justice. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a "just man". John Chrysostom (347-407 AD), a gifted preacher and bishop of Constantinople, comments on the great virtue we see in Joseph which qualified him to be a worthy guardian and foster father for the child Jesus:
"The concept of 'just' here signifies the man who possesses all the virtues. By 'justice' one at times understands only one virtue in particular, as in the phrase: the one who is not avaricious (greedy) is just. But 'justice' also refers to virtue in general. And it is in this sense, above all, that scripture uses the word 'justice'. For example, it refers to: a just man and true (cf. Job 1:1), or the two were just (cf. Luke 1:6). Joseph, then, being just, that is to say good and charitable..."
Joseph believed and obeyed God's instruction
Joseph's faith was put to the test when he discovered that his espoused wife Mary was pregnant. Joseph, being a just and God-fearing man, did not wish to embarrass, punish, or expose Mary to harm. To all outward appearances it looked as if she had broken their solemn pledge to be chaste and faithful to one another. Joseph, no doubt took this troubling matter to God in prayer. He was not hasty to judge or to react with hurt or anger. 

God rewarded him not only with guidance and consolation, but with the divine assurance that he had indeed called Joseph to be the husband of Mary and to assume a mission that would require the utmost faith, confidence, and trust in Almighty God. Joseph believed in the divine message to take Mary as his wife and to accept the child in her womb as the promised Messiah, who is both the only begotten Son of God and son of Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Joseph is a man of faith and fatherly care
Joseph was a worthy successor to the great patriarchs of the old covenant - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph followed the call of God through the mysterious circumstances that surrounded the coming of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah who fulfilled all the promises made to Abraham and his offspring. God entrusted this silent, humble man with the unique privilege of raising, protecting, teaching, and training Jesus as a growing child. Joseph accepted his role of fatherly care with faith, trust, and obedience to the will of God. He is a model for all who are entrusted with the care, instruction, and protection of the young. Joseph is a faithful witness and servant of God's unfolding plan of redemption.
The Lord guides and strengthens all who trust in him
Are you ready to put your trust in the Lord to give you his help and guidance in fulfilling your responsibilities? God gives strength and guidance to those who seek his help, especially when we face trials, doubts, fears, perplexing circumstances, and what seems like insurmountable problems and challenges in our personal lives. God our heavenly Father has not left us alone, but has given us his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be our savior, teacher, lord, and healer. Where do you need God's help, strength, and guidance? Ask the Lord to increase your faith and trust in his promises and in his guiding hand in your life.
"Lord Jesus, you came to free us from the power of sin, fear, and death, and to heal and restore us to wholeness of life. May I always trust in your saving help, guidance, wisdom, and plan for my life."

SOLEMNITY OF SAINT JOSEPH, SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
MONDAY, MARCH 20, MATTHEW 1:16, 18-21 (or LUKE 2:41-51a)

(2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Psalm 89; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22)

KEY VERSE: "When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the power of the Holy Spirit" (v 18).
TO KNOW: Luke's gospel narrated the nativity from Mary's perspective; however, Matthew recounted the infancy story from Joseph's point of view. When Joseph discovered that Mary was with child, he decided to divorce her (betrothed couples were considered spouses). Joseph was a "righteous man" (one who followed the Mosaic Law), but he was unwilling to subject Mary to the charge of adultery as she would be put to death (Dt 22:23-24). An Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and told him he should not fear to take Mary as his wife as she had conceived the child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph accepted guardianship for the child who was to be named Jesus (Hebrew, Yeshua) meaning "Yahweh saves." Jesus is also "Emmanuel," meaning "God is with us" (Mt 1:23). Joseph responded with faithful obedience and took Mary as his wife.
TO LOVE: Do I seek the Lord's guidance when I have a difficult decision to make?
TO SERVE: St. Joseph, help me to follow your example this Lent of humble obedience to God's Word.

SAINT JOSEPH’S FEAST DAY

Joseph was the earthly spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the foster and adoptive father of Jesus Christ He was visited by angels, and noted for his willingness to immediately do what God required of him. The facts concerning him in the two birth narratives (Matt 1-2, Lk 1-2) are: (a) that he was a descendant of David, (b) that Mary was already betrothed to him when she was found with child of the Holy Spirit, and (c) that he lived at Nazareth after the birth of Christ At Nazareth Joseph followed the trade of a carpenter (tecton, a craftsman, Matt 13:55). It is probable that he had died before the public ministry of Christ, for no mention is made of him in passages relating to this period. And from John 19:26 it is clear that he was not alive at the time of the Crucifixion. Joseph is also patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers and expectant mothers, travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general. We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker, which wasn't celebrated until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the feast. May 1 is also May Day (International Workers' Day) and believed to reflect Joseph's status as the patron of workers.

Memorare to Saint Joseph: Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who implored your help and sought your intercession was left unassisted. Full of confidence in your power I fly unto you and beg your protection. Despise not O Guardian of the Redeemer my humble supplication, but in your bounty, hear and answer me. Amen. 

SPRINGTIME

Spring is the season between winter and summer, when most plants begin to grow, and usually thought of in the Northern hemisphere as consisting of the months from March to May inclusive, and in the Southern hemisphere as September to November. The liturgical season of Lent coincides with spring. The word "Lent" means springtime, calling to mind the new life and growth, the hope and change that should characterize this time of prayer, penance and conversion. This is the season of initiation into the grace-life of the Church. For 40 days, the Church invites us to start afresh. Just as Nature renews herself every spring, so during the Church’s springtime we are encouraged to begin anew.


Monday 20 March 2017

Mon 20th. St Joseph. 2S 7:4-5,12-14,16; Rm 4:13,16- 18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24 or Lk 2:41-51.
In this special Lenten series – Darkness to light: An intimate journey with Jesus – our guest writer looks to the Gospel stories for answers to the questions that many of us ask when faced with difficult times.
‘Why were you looking for me?… Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’Luke 2:49
St Joseph is another model for the journey through Lent. We know that Joseph was a spiritual man, sensitive to the movements of angels, like Jesus in his temptations in the desert. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child that Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately took Mary as his wife. Three times the Scripture says of Joseph: ‘He rose up’. He let Jesus go about his ministry. Lord, help me to hear the good angels. Lord, help me to rise up on the strength of your promise. Lord, help me to accept your divine love, quietly and without any fuss, with the all devotion and care of Joseph.

ST. HERBERT

Not much is known about the life of St. Herbert, other than he was a Hermit of England and a good friend of St. Cuthbert. Herbert was a priest, and lived as a recluse on an island in Lake Derwentwater, England which later became St. Herbert’s in his honor. Herbert had asked to die on the same day as his dear friend St. Cuthbert, and God granted Him the fulfillment of that desire.

LECTIO DIVINA: SAINT JOSEPH
Lectio Divina: 
 Monday, March 20, 2017

Matthew 1,16.18-21.24a
Joseph, the Spouse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus 
1. LECTIO
A) OPENING PRAYER:
Spirit who moves over the water,
calm in us all discordance,
the agitated waves, the noise of the words,
the whirlwind of vanity,
and make the Word which recreates,
arise in silence.
Spirit who in a sigh you Whisper
to our spirit the Name of the Father,
come and gather together all our desires,
make them grow in a beam of light
which will be a response to your light,
the Word of the new Day.
Spirit of God, the sap of love
of the immense tree on which you graft us,
so that all our brothers
will seem to us as a gift
in the great Body in which
the Word of communion matures.
(Frère Pierre-Yves of Taizé)
B) READING OF THE GOSPEL: MATTHEW 1, 16-24
Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ. The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ. 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 an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home; he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.
C) A MOMENT OF SILENCE:
so that the Word of God may enter into our hearts and enlighten our lives.
2. MEDITATIO
A) A KEY TO THE READING:
The passage of today’s Gospel is taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew which forms part of the section concerning the conception, birth and infancy of Jesus. The center of all this account is the Person of Jesus around which are all the events and the persons mentioned. One must keep in mind that the Gospel reveals a Theology of the history of Jesus, and so getting close to the Word of God we should get the message which is hidden under the veils of the account without losing ourselves, as Paul so wisely advises us “in foolish speculations”, avoiding “those genealogies and the quibbles and disputes about the Law, they are useless and futile” (Tt 3,9).
In fact, this text is connected to the genealogy of Jesus, which Matthew arranges with the intention of stressing the dynastic succession of Jesus, the Saviour of his people (Mt 1, 21). To Jesus are conferred all the rights inherited from the lineage of David, of “Joseph, son of David” (Mt 1:20; Lk 2:4-5) his legal father. For the Biblical and Hebrew world legal paternity was sufficient to confer all the rights of the lineage in question (cf.: the law of the levirate and of adoption (Dt 25:5ff). That is why from the beginning of the genealog, Jesus is designed as “Christ the Son of David” (Mt 1:1) that is, the anointed one of the Lord Son of David, with whom all the promises of God to David his servant, are fulfilled (2 Sam 7:1-16; 2 Cr 7:18; 2 Cr 21:7; Ps 89:30). This is why Matthew adds to the account of the genealogy and of the conception of Jesus the prophecy of Isaiah: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet.: The young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel, which means God with us” (Mt 1, 21-23 and Is 7:14).
Let us stop to say something, on the spiritual reality of adoption, we can refer to the fact that the elected people possess “the glory, the covenants, the legislation, the cult, the promises”, because “they are Israelites and possess the adoption of sons” (Rm 9:4). But we also, the new people of God in Christ receive the adoption of sons because “when the completion of the time came God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). This is the salvation which Jesus has brought to us. Christ “will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21) because he is the “God with us!” (Mt 1: 23) who makes adopted sons of God.
Jesus is born from “Mary who was betrothed to Joseph” (Mt 1:18a)) who “was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1: 18b). Matthew does not give the account of the annunciation as Luke does (Lk 1, 26-38), but structures the account from the point of view of the experience of Joseph the just man. The Bible reveals to us that God loves the just and many times chooses them for an important mission, protects them and does not join them to the impious (Gen 18:23ff). In the Old Testament we find many persons who are considered just. We think of Noah “a good man, an upright man among his contemporaries” (Gen 6:9). Or also Johoash who “did what Yahweh regards as right” (2 K 12:3).
A constant idea in the Bible is the “dream” as a privileged place where God makes his projects and designs known, and sometimes reveals the future. The dreams of Jacob and Betel are well known (Gen 28: 10ff) and Joseph his son, as also those of the cup-bearer and the chief baker imprisoned in Egypt with him (Gen 37:5ff; Gen 40: 5ff) and the dreams of Pharaoh which revealed the future years of plenty and of famine and want (Gen 41:1ff).
“An Angel of the Lord“ appeared to Joseph (Mt 1:20) to reveal to him God’s design. In the Gospels of the infancy frequently the Angel of the Lord is mentioned as the heavenly messenger (Mt 1:20.24; 2:13.19; Lk 1:11; 2:9) and also on other occasions the angel appears to calm down, to reveal the project of God, to heal, to liberate from slavery (cf. Mt 28:2; Jn 5:4; Acts 5:19; 8:26; 12:7.23). Many are the references to the Angel of the Lord also in the Old Testament where originally the angel represented the Lord himself who guided and protected his people being close to them (cf. Gen 16:7-16; 22:12; 24:7; Ex 3:3; 23:20; Tb 5:4).
B) QUESTIONS TO ORIENTATE THE MEDITATION AND MAKE IT RELEVANT:
● What has struck you in this passage? Why?
● In the key to the reading, have we given enough consideration to some terms (adoption, angel, dream, just)? What sentiments or thoughts did these arise in your heart? What relevance can they have for your journey of spiritual maturation?
● Which do you think is the central message in this Gospel passage?
3. ORATIO
A) PSALM 92
It is good to give thanks to Yahweh,
to make music for your name, Most High,
to proclaim your faithful love at daybreak,
and your constancy all through the night,
on the lyre, the ten-stringed lyre,
to the murmur of the harp.
You have brought me joy, Yahweh,
by your deeds, at the work of your hands I cry out,
'How great are your works, Yahweh,
immensely deep your thoughts!'
Stupid people cannot realise this,
fools do not grasp it.
The wicked may sprout like weeds,
and every evil-doer flourish,
but only to be eternally destroyed;
whereas you are supreme for ever, Yahweh.
Look how your enemies perish,
how all evil-doers are scattered!
You give me the strength of the wild ox,
you anoint me with fresh oil;
I caught sight of the ambush against me,
overheard the plans of the wicked.
The upright will flourish like the palm tree,
will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
Planted in the house of Yahweh,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they will still bear fruit,
will remain fresh and green,
to proclaim Yahweh's integrity;
my rock, in whom no fault can be found.
B) MOMENTS FOR A PRAYERFUL SILENCE
4. CONTEMPLATIO
The Christian contemplation of God’s dream, of the project which God cherishes for the history of humanity does not produce alienation but keeps the consciences vigilant and active and stimulates us to face with courage and altruism the responsibilities which life gives us.


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