Pastor’s Corner

From The Pastor’s Desk

– Father Joseph –
The primary Father figure in the life of Moses is Jethro, His Father in Law reminding us,
there is no more important influence in one’s life than a Father figure.

Why might that be? Jesus became Man to reveal to us
that God is first foremost and always Father, all exist-
ence, therefore; is due to this fact…God is Father.
And so today we celebrate the Man who after God the
Father, is the greatest Father and Father Figure, Saint
Joseph.
Saint Joseph is a Father in Law, but not “in law” as in
relation to one’s wife’s family. The “in law” part is the
greatest law there is, and that is the law of love which
Jesus defines as loving God with all your heart, mind,
soul and strength and no Man loved Jesus more, was
more filled with the tender loving Spirit of God the Father
than Saint Joseph: who God the Father is to Jesus in
Heaven is who Saint Joseph the Father was to Jesus on
earth.
Jethro is also a Priest. What is the function of a Priest? It
is to make offerings to God for the benefit of the people,
as often as a Priest raises a Host and Chalice after the
consecration during countless Masses. How often did
Joseph hold in his arms the child Jesus? How often of-
fering him to Mary so he could be fed, to Simeon in the
Temple so he could be blessed, to the Priest in the Tem-
ple so he could be circumcised and have his name pro-
nounced publically for the first time in a voice that would
silence the Angels with awe who sang Glory to God in
the highest?
As Gabriel announced to Mary she would be the Mother
of God. It was Joseph who announced the name of Je-
sus, whose name means in Hebrew God saves, thus
announcing to all of us…the Gospel Good News of our
Salvation.
And as often as we receive Jesus Christ into our hands
and arms in Holy Communion how often was he held
and perhaps thrown up into the air and caught by the
doting Joseph? How often did He place Jesus ever so
gently in that crib or that high chair or in the arms of
Mary as the Priest ever so gently and reverently places
Jesus in one’s crib shaped hands so He can sleep in
heavenly peace in one’s crib shaped heart?
The life of Joseph reminds us how incredibly accessible
Jesus Christ is.
When Joseph saw the infant Jesus for the first time in
the arms of Mary, using Mary’s voice, Jesus pleads with
his father Joseph, please come nearer…nearer…closer
still, until He has the infant Christ in his arms holding him
ever so gently and reverently to his chest, where Jesus
will hear the pounding of the heart that after Mary’s Im-
maculate Heart would be the greatest heart He would
ever create…expanding it…deepening it…widening it to
infinity with His love and graces.
And how similar to that invitation we receive at Holy
Communion, when Christ beckons us…come near-
er….nearer…so that when the Priest holds Jesus before
our eyes, the body of Christ. He is placed into our hands,
but even that is not close enough for Jesus….come
nearer still…consume Me…there is no greater intimacy
than that, not even when an expectant mother feels the
rush of her child in her womb, that life growing inside
her.
That love for that child growing inside her in leaps and
bounds, reminding us of that visitation moment when
hearing the voice of Mary, the infant leapt in the womb
of Saint Elizabeth for joy at the presence of Jesus,
whose risen body and spirit inside us now leaps for joy,
whose love and joy in Holy Communion is now allowed
to grow within us by infinite leaps and boundlessness.
Having received Jesus, our hearts are set on fire by His
presence and power in us, reminding us of the Gospel
of the Transfiguration two weeks ago, when the Divinity
of Christ shines forth with the fiery brilliance of the sun
through the humanity of Jesus Christ…our humanity.
Lent reminds us that sin disfigures, and extinguishes
light, it destroys, whereas Grace transfigures, illumi-
nates. As the Sun is placed in the Heavens to bathe
this world in light and life, the Eucharist is placed in the
Sacred Space of our bodies so that we can be who Je-
sus insists we be: “you are the light of the world…let
your light so shine before others so that they can see
your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
Our hearts then become like the sky and that round
host who is Jesus who is placed there the S-O-N of
God…His light now shines in and through us.
And speaking of the shining sun and the SON of God
who created it, after the miracle of the sun in Fatima,
Saint Joseph appeared with the Christ child in the
Heavens and together they blessed the people and the
world; this is the great example of Saint Joseph, this
too is our Priestly obligation…to offer Christ in and
through our bodies for the life, healing, blessing and
salvation of the world.
So that as Moses had to take off his sandals because
where he stood was holy ground, when receiving the
Holy Eucharist wherever we happen to go during the
week between Masses, wherever our feet happen to
fall, is now holy ground. Going home having received
Jesus…holy ground…going to work…holy ground…
going to school…holy ground….stuck in traffic on the
Merritt parkway…holy ground.
And with this awareness, wherever we happen to go
we offer to that place, to those people the power and
presence and ever abiding love of Jesus Christ in and
through us. What parent ever tires of holding one’s
child, please never tire receiving Jesus Christ encour-
aging others to receive Jesus Christ.
So that as with Joseph in the skies at Fatima, holding
the Eucharistic Jesus in our arms we become the mi-
raculous blessing of peace this broken world so des-
perately needs.