19 March 2016 - faith of our fathers

[ Today's Readings ]

fos·ter

verb

1. 1.

   encourage or promote the development of (something, typically something regarded as good).

Jesus, you say of God the Father, "You are my father". He is your Father and you are his eternal and only-begotten Son with whom he is well pleased. You are united with him in the unshakable bond of love so real and try that it is itself the person of the Holy Spirit.

This love is the basis of the covenant that endures forever. This is the solidity of all of your promises. It is what underlies the faith which makes Abraham the Father of many nations. His fatherhood according to the flesh makes him the father of one nation. But by faith he is granted a share in the fatherhood that is ultimately from God the Father. This faith and fatherhood is able to transcend the boundaries of nations. This bond of love is even stronger than natural fatherhood because it is stronger than death by virtue of the faith in which it is based.

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.

Abraham's faith makes way for the you, Jesus, the true Son of the Father, to be born in the days of time. As great as the share which the Father gives Abraham in his own Fatherhood even greater is the share given to Joseph. He is a righteous man. He has a faith that is willing to accept what you tell him rather than the way things seem to be. He shows the obedience that comes from faith.

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.

O Saint Joseph, you are not the father of Jesus in the natural sense. But because God gives you such great gifts of faith and righteousness you are fit to be his foster father. He allows the world to regard you as his father and you honor him as such. Even though you have work to do in the house of your heavenly Father you nevertheless go down to Nazareth with Mary and Joseph "and was obedient to them."

Jesus, if you are willing to entrust yourself and the beginnings of your kingdom to the care and protection of Saint Joseph help us be willing to trust him and to pray to him as well. You want us to be able share in the same Holy Spirit that empowers the faith of Abraham and the faith of Saint Joseph. It is only through that faith that they are able to be fitting for the fatherhood that is their task. And only that same Spirit, your Spirit, LORD Jesus,, can make us fitting sons.

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.