Preparing for Christmas (yes, already)

When I learned about this brand new Advent reflection on Joe written by Fr. Mark Toups, I knew I had to share it with all of you.

I already bought mine and I encourage you to do the same. As Fr Mark said in a short introductory video, if we prepare for a day, then  nothing will change, but if we prepare for a Person, then we will change. Through this Advent reflection we will be able to prepare for Jesus as Joe did.

You can purchase the book (you can also purchase along with it a DVD of accompanying videos) at Ascension Press. Perhaps, you might buy it for someone you think needs to encounter Joe.

Jesus, Joe, and JP II

Yesterday, we celebrated the memory of Pope St. John Paul II. I cannot help but recall his encyclical about Joe, Redemptoris Custos. Here is a little paragraph from it (27), but I cannot recommend highly enough the whole encyclical if you have not already.

Why should the "fatherly" love of Joseph not have had an influence upon the "filial" love of Jesus? And vice versa why should the "filial" love of Jesus not have had an influence upon the "fatherly" love of Joseph, thus leading to a further deepening of their unique relationship? Those souls most sensitive to the impulses of divine love have rightly seen in Joseph a brilliant example of the interior life.

Joe, Teresa and Avila

Yesterday, we celebrated the memory of St Teresa of Avila. It is well known that she had a great devotion to Joe, but did you know that she placed her first reformed Carmel under his patronage? This statue of Joe is still at this Carmel.

200 Men Consecrate Themselves to Joe

A couple days ago I came across this article about 200 college men who consecrated themselves to Joe. How awesome would it be if we could get another 200 young men to do the same!

The Visitation of Mary, with Joe?

Among the various depictions of Joe at St Jude’s in Elyria, this particular stained glass of the Visitation caught my attention. What strikes me is that Joe is depicted in the scene of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth but he is never mentioned in this part of the story (Luke 1:39-56).

I was wondering if there is a tradition of Joe accompanying Mary to visit Elizabeth, and so I did what everyone else does, I googled it. I came across this article by Fr Edward Looney that shortly asks the question from three sources: Scripture, private revelations, and art. His conclusion... there’s no way of knowing for sure.

One of the benefits of the holding the view that Joe accompanied Mary is it offers an answer to how Joseph found Mary “with child through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). In fact, we could understand this passage in a new way: Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, before others were able to know, through the Holy Spirit, Who spoke through Elizabeth that Mary was pregnant (Luke 1:41-45).

Joe in Elyria

A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to stop in the church of St. Jude’s in Elyria, Ohio. I was really struck by the number of images of Joe in the church. I was particularly struck by this statue of the Holy Family:

What strikes me about it is the level of love and comfort that Jesus must have shown to Joe throughout His Childhood. It also shows the intense love that Mary and Joe must have had for each other.

I wondered what was was happening in this scene. Jesus is the only one smiling. I wonder if He said something profound to Joe and Mary that struck them differently.

• Perhaps, Jesus told Joe that he was going to die soon in order to tell all the holy ones waiting for the Savior that He had finally come (Joseph in Hades).
• Perhaps, Jesus went out on a really long walk and just came home after spending a night in prayer with His Heavenly Father, and Mary and Joe were super concerned and Jesus thought it wasn’t a big deal (cf. Luke 6:13).
• Perhaps, this is the scene when Joe informs Jesus and Mary that they are returning back to Israel after being in Egypt, but Joe and Mary are concerned because Herod’s son was ruler in Judea and Jesus is not at all concerned (Matthew 2:19-33).

Whatever the particular scene is that is rendered here, I think what it fundamentally demonstrates is that this truly was a family - a Holy Family.

Redeemer of the Redeemer?

I recently took notice again of a footnote on Luke 2:22 from the NAB-RE:

They took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord: as the firstborn son (Lk 2:7) Jesus was consecrated to the Lord as the law required (Ex 13:2, 12), but there was no requirement that this be done at the temple. The concept of a presentation at the temple is probably derived from 1 Sm 1:24–28, where Hannah offers the child Samuel for sanctuary services. The law further stipulated (Nm 3:47–48) that the firstborn son should be redeemed by the parents through their payment of five shekels to a member of a priestly family. About this legal requirement Luke is silent.

I particularly took notice of the final two sentences that seemed strange to me.

The ritual of redeeming a firstborn son as mentioned in Numbers 3:47-48 is called Pidyon Haben. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the Pidyon Haben replaced the requirement of the consecration of the firstborn son to the Lord if both parents were non-Levites. If either parent was of the tribe of Levi, the son could not be redeemed.

So, I came to basically three possible scenarios. All three of which I think are possible, but I think the first is most probable:

• Joe did not redeem Jesus because Mary was of the tribe of Levi, and therefore Jesus could not be redeemed. 
• I spoke of Mary being of the tribe of Levi in One Mother, Two Roots.
• Joe did not redeem Jesus because he realized the significance of Jesus' mission of being the sacrificial Lamb of God and High Priest (Hebrews 9:11-14).
• This position allows for the possibility that Mary was not of the tribe of Levi, but it does not require it.
• Joe did redeem Jesus by paying the five shekels and Luke just made no mention of it. 
• I think that this is the least probable scenario, 
• but if this is in fact the case, we could rightly call Joe "The Redeemer of the Redeemer".

Joe Causes Conversion and Religious Vocation

Yesterday marked the 200th Anniversary of the death of Sister Frances Margaret Allen. Now, it was not that long ago when I was asking the question that you probably are asking right now... Who in the world was Sr. Frances Margaret Allen?

A couple weeks ago, I came across this article that shared the story of Sr. Frances Margaret. Long story short, she was a convert to Catholicism because Joe appeared to her, and as a result entered the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, who are still doing ministry today (although I'm sure it looks a bit different from the times of Sr. Frances Margaret).  If you want more of the story, you can check out pages 487-490 of The History of the Catholic Church in the New England States published in 1899.

A little trivia... According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, she was "the first woman of New England birth to become a nun." How cool is that! The first woman of New England birth to become a nun is attributable to Joe's influence. Something to keep in mind as we should pray to Joe for an increase of converts and religious vocations.

Some more trivia... Less than one hundred years after her death, St. André Bessette would begin the process of starting the Oratory of St. Joseph just on the other side of Mount Royal in Montreal where Sr. Frances Margaret was a nun.

Joe the Roofer

A couple weeks ago, I came across a podcast that I've really begun to enjoy listening to called "The Catholic Man Show", and I recommend it for anyone (dads in particular) to listen to some real-important topics but in a light-hearted way. One episode in particular that has stood out to me was The Virtue of Hope with Fr. Philip Bochanski. 

Do you remember the story of Jesus healing the paralytic who was lowered down through the roof in front of Him because there were too many people there (Mt 9:1-8, Mk. 2:1-12, and  Lk 5:17-26)? Well, Fr. Bochanski mentioned a detail of the story in St. Mark's account that I had never noticed before. St. Mark tells us that this happened when Jesus "was at home" (Mark 2:1). 

Well, that means that the guys, who let the paralytic through the roof, had disassembled a part of the roof of Jesus' house, which means that he had to fix it after the incident. Put another way, Jesus was not only a carpenter, He also was a roofer, and who do you think taught him everything he knew about roofing? Joe, of course.

As a side note and pure speculation, perhaps the paralytic had encouraged his friends to take apart the roof and let him down through it. Since he encouraged the destruction of another's property, he would have been culpable for the other mens actions. So, perhaps these were the sins that Jesus forgave (Mark 2:5). After all, I would have been upset if someone had torn apart my roof too.

True Husband and Father

Today, we celebrate the great St. Augustine, the great preacher of the Western Church. In addition to being a great teacher, he also had a great devotion to Joe. Take, for example, Paragraph 26 from one of his homilies on the New Testament:

Among [the Jewish] people then, because it was necessary that there should be an abundant increase until Christ came, by the multiplication of that people in whom were to be prefigured all that was to be prefigured as instruction for the Church, it was a duty to marry wives, by means of whom that people in whom the Church should be foreshown might increase. But when the King of all nations Himself was born, then began the honor of virginity with the Mother of the Lord, who had the privilege of bearing a Son without any loss of her virgin purity. Since it was a true marriage, and a marriage free from all corruption, why should not the husband chastely receive what his wife had chastely brought forth? For as she was a wife in chastity, so was he in chastity a husband; and as she was in chastity a mother, so was he in chastity a father. Whoever then says that he ought not to be called father, because he did not beget his Son in the usual way, looks rather to the satisfaction of passion in the procreation of children, and not the natural feeling of affection. What others desire to fulfill in the flesh, he in a more excellent way fulfilled in the spirit. For thus they who adopt children, beget them by the heart in greater chastity, whom they cannot by the flesh beget. Consider, brethren, the laws of adoption; how a man comes to be the son of another, of whom he was not born, so that the choice of the person who adopts has more right in him than the nature of him who begets him has. Not only then must Joseph be a father, but in a most excellent manner a father...

I also just came across this painting that has Joe and Augustine together. You read a little about it here. St. Augustine is at the bottom left, and Joe is standing right next to Mary. Notice that Jesus and Joe are the only figures looking at each other.