The feast day of St. Joseph is March 19. St. Joseph is a good model for us in many ways. One way is to learn to work and accomplish our tasks without complaining. We don’t see St. Joseph complain despite the difficult circumstances he found himself in at times. One was to take his wife, Mary, and new born son, Jesus, in the middle of night on a perilous trip to a strange land to flee from people who wanted to harm Jesus. In Egypt, Joseph had to find work and care for his family despite not knowing the native language and having no contacts to guide him. But he serenely and optimistically carried out his task and, then, just as promptly returned to his homeland when an Angel gave him a new command. Would that we be so accepting of the circumstances we encounter.
We are in the season of Lent. Pope Francis, in his Message for Lent for 2018, encourages us to see the “soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting.” Briefly, Pope Francis notes: By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception, and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and he wants us to live life well. Almsgiving sets us free from greed and helps us to regard our neighbor as a brother or sister . . . Fasting weakens our tendency to violence; it disarms us and becomes an important opportunity for growth.
May you have a prayer-filled Lent.