Marian Solidarity

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Understanding

Luke 2:41-50

“Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to the 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 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 searching for you in sorrow.” 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; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor with God and men.”

Meditation:

How often in life do we search for our loved ones in sorrow and yet, do not understand the meaning of our separation, suffering in endless searching? And how many times have we suffered this loss in sorrow without understanding God’s purpose or the redemptive value of this searching for a lost soul? And do we not feel at times that even God has abandoned us in our search and in our sorrow?

Mary and Joseph experienced this as they lost Jesus for three days, only to find Him in the Temple, attending to His Father’s affairs. This is an event in the life of the Holy Family that is especially poignant with both human and divine dimensions.

Twelve years is the age when Jewish boys are initiated into adulthood with a temple rite. Instead of this rite, the Scriptures recount the initiation of Jesus in the temple as an awakening of His destined role and His duties in His Father’s house. It is also an awakening for His loving parents.

On His twelfth year, His parents lose Jesus as they return from the annual pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. After searching for Him in sorrow for three days, they find Him in the temple with the doctors of the Jewish law, about His Father’s business. “All those who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and his answers”, the evangelist recounts.

His parents, seeing him in lively discussion of the teachings of the patriarchs and the prophets, are astonished but rather than celebrating His coming of age, they express their anxiety and sadness of not being aware of His whereabouts for three days, which prompts Jesus to reply, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?”, meaning “Do you not understand that this is what I was born for, to be attending to My Father’s affairs? Where else would I be but in My Father’s house?”

Both Mother and Son were seeking understanding and compassion from each other, the mother for her and Joseph’s searching in sorrow for three days, afraid that He might have fallen into the hands of brigands or some misfortune, and the Son pleading for His parents’ understanding of the priority of His heavenly Father’s entrusted mission.

The joy of the Holy Family, since their return from exile in Egypt, living together in holy poverty, in perfect loving grace, is almost like living in Paradise on earth. This event during their Passover pilgrimage brings them back to the reality of Jesus’ mission on earth.

At twelve, Jesus comes to a fuller understanding of His mission in accordance with His Father’s will. His parents would have to wait as He goes about His Father’s business.

But Mary and Joseph were unprepared for this sudden awakening and realization of their Son’s mission. In their tender love for Him, they can only try to understand with their hearts what He means by His words. Nor does Mary realize at this time that she is being given a foretaste of the three days after His death on the cross when Jesus would be lost to her and to the world. This would happen during His last Passover on earth when He himself will be the lamb slaughtered to take away our sins and provide us with His Precious Blood that would save us from the avenging angels of God. He will be the Paschal Lamb that we will consume as the Bread of Life.

When Jesus invokes the Name of His Father to the amazement of His parents, they keep their peace in the spirit of piety, treasuring these things in their hearts. Jesus, for His part, acknowledges their authority over Him and goes obediently with them, and He “progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.”

They treasure these things in their hearts. This kind of understanding is to the heart as knowledge is to the intellect. Understanding the sorrow of others leads one’s heart to compassion. Thus, blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted by Mary and Joseph whose compassionate hearts understand what it is to search and to suffer in silence.

There is another dimension to the spiritual Gift of Understanding, explained by Jesus in the parable of the sower. He said in Matthew 13:

“The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn to me – and I would heal them.”

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. … But as for what was sown on good soil this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundred fold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Joseph and Mary listen to the living word of Jesus and understand it ‘with their hearts’, thus they bear and yield fruit a thousand fold. It is this true understanding of the word of God with the heart that prepares the faithful for Christian witnessing in the face of persecution even unto martyrdom.

In the preceding mystery of the Flight to Egypt and the slaughter of the innocents, the Scriptural passage said in Ramah there was weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted. At that moment, in her grief, Rachel could not understand how God would allow her innocent children to be sacrificed by the sword of the tyrant Herod.

Today, we know that these innocents are the same cherubim, often depicted by painters, accompanying the Blessed Mother in heaven, forming the retinue of her official escort. Rachel is now comforted in her understanding of their martyrdom, rejoicing in her infant martyrs, the first to suffer persecution and shed blood for the Savior.

Prayer:

Blessed Joseph, whose sorrows are suffered in silence, grant that I may be blessed with the Spirit of Understanding, to understand with my heart the living word of Jesus and His will for me, and to bring comfort and compassion to those sorrowing, so that I too may be comforted in my own sorrows which I join with your own and with the Sorrowful Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Amen.

Our Father. Ten Hail Marys. Glory Be.

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Fortitude

Beatitude:
Blessed are they who are persecuted for holiness’ sake, the reign of God is theirs.

Scripture Passages:

Matthew 2:13
When they had departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.

Matthew 2:18
A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentations; Rachel weeping for her children and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.

Matthew 2:19-23
When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”… “He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled. “He shall be called a Nazarene.

Meditation:

From the heavenly bliss surrounding the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem to the prophetic encounter with Simeon at the Temple in Jerusalem, the Holy Family has hardly settled in their humble home in Nazareth, when the Angel of the Lord appears again in the middle of the night to ask Joseph to flee from the domain of the tyrant Herod who, determined to kill the Messiah King, has ordered all infants before two years of age to be slaughtered.

Without waiting for the morning, with heaven providing the protective cover of a darkened sky, Joseph hurriedly gathers their few belongings, and with Mother and Child astride a donkey, he begins his own way of the Cross, trekking to Egypt in self exile with his family.

His heart is in agony as he contemplates on the cruel fate that awaits the innocent infants and their mothers, as if hearing their distant wailings, victims of Herod’s cruel sword. He prays and ponders on this mystery of human suffering caused by the sin of one despot, drunk with power and driven by evil. Why would anyone be afraid of his Messiah Son who is destined to save His people from sin, and to usher them to a reign of righteousness and holiness?

The Spirit of Fortitude descends upon Joseph to give him strength and courage. In the dark night, he comes to realize that the God-man is not exempt from human persecution. From the Old Testament, Joseph knows that from the beginning of time, evil men, cohorts of Satan in every age, would persecute the children of God to thwart the divine plan of redemption for the salvation of man.

Joseph remembers Simeon and his prophecy at the temple – that Jesus would cause the rise and fall of many and reveal the thoughts of men’s hearts – a prophecy whose fulfillment, he never thought, would come to pass so soon. Trusting in the Lord, he keeps these mysteries in his heart as he silently leads his family, the Son of God and His Mother, to seek refuge in a foreign land.

As they cross the desolate country and the dry desert, the Holy Spirit fills Joseph with His gift of Fortitude that he may have the moral courage and strength to overcome all adversity on earth, with his eyes fixed on his heavenly home.

Persecution is the fire that purifies his soul, fortifies his resolve and causes his love of God to burn all the more. God has chosen His Son’s guardian wisely. From his role as guardian of the Savior and His Mother, Joseph would be proclaimed in our day as the Protector of the Universal Church.

Joseph remembers that at the Presentation of Jesus in the temple, Simeon had turned to Mary and prophesied that her soul shall also be pierced by a sword. From the silence of Simeon in his regard, Joseph knows in his heart that his beloved spouse would have to suffer alone with their Divine Son in the redemption of mankind. She alone will be the Co-Redemptrix, the Mother’s heart pierced together with the heart of the Son at the foot of the cross in a grand alliance of hearts.

In his humility of heart and poverty of spirit, Joseph did not inquire from the prophet Simeon into his own fate. Rather, with the Spirit of Piety burning in him, he places his fate, with complete trust, in the hands of the Father. At that moment of realization, a sword pierces his own heart, to remain there until his last heartbeat on earth.

The spiritual pain that he has to endure is all the more intense, knowing that he would not be present to share in the suffering of his Foster Son and his Beloved Spouse to whose care he has totally dedicated himself.

Such is Joseph’s loving courage that he could bear every persecution for their sake, of which the extreme cruelty of Herod is only a foretaste. In sorrow, he ponders on this mystery of so many innocents who had to die in place of his Son. It was said that they numbered seven hundred.

Blessed indeed, he prays in the dark night of his soul, are these innocents and their mothers who are persecuted for God’s sake; God shall send His angels to accompany them to His Kingdom. He prays silently for them and their mothers: rejoice and be glad for your reward shall be great in heaven.

In his silent suffering, Joseph comes to know the nature of his own role, that of silent sacrifice of the obedient servant of the Father, in the loving offering of himself, his Foster Son and his beloved spouse for the redemption of man. He knows that he is the Father’s Substitute and Surrogate on earth. His own spiritual suffering truly mirrors the silent sacrifice of the Father Almighty in heaven.

As Holy Scripture is silent on the Father’s holy sacrifice, prefigured by Abraham’s willing sacrifice of Isaac, so must Joseph’s spiritual sacrifice, however intense, be also suffered in physical absence and absolute silence.

In Amsterdam, there is a painting depicting the Heavenly Father taking down the lifeless body of His Crucified Son from the Cross into the waiting arms of His Sorrowful Mother with the Holy Spirit hovering above.

This image of the Heavenly Father could very well represent the presence of St. Joseph in spirit to complete this heartrending scene: the Family of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Family of St. Joseph mourning together in this supreme sacrifice of the God-Son, “son of Joseph the carpenter.”

On the death of King Herod, the Father in heaven sends His angel once more to Joseph to instruct His faithful surrogate to return with his family to his homeland, fulfilling what He had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt, I have called my son.”

Surely, the reign of God belongs to St. Joseph, a true image of our loving Father in heaven.

Prayer:

Dear Father Joseph, enkindle in me the fire of your love, that the Spirit of Fortitude will also burn in me, to purify and strengthen me, to guard my own family from all and every evil as you guarded your family and to prepare me to bear the cross of persecution for holiness’ sake, that I may persevere to claim the Kingdom of God as my prize for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father. Ten Hail Marys. Glory Be.

These meditations invite the reader to a spiritual journey with St. Joseph, reliving nine joyous, sorrowful, and glorious events in his life with his most beloved Jesus and Mary. They are meant for prayer and presented in the framework of a Novena Rosary of the Holy Family.

With love and devotion to the Holy Family,
Howard Joseph Q. Dee

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Counsel

Luke 2:25-32

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace; according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.

Meditation:

“When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Jerusalem” for the Jewish rite of circumcision and to present Him to His heavenly Father. The prophet Simeon, prompted by the Holy Spirit, recognizes Jesus as the promised Messiah.

After receiving and blessing them, Simeon, with the Spirit of Counsel burning in him, proclaims in prophecy: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign of contradiction so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” Turning to Mary, he adds: “And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

From the beginning, Jesus was destined to be a sign of contradiction. He is born a Savior, yet so many innocents had to die from the sword of Herod in his stead. His person, his preaching and healing ministry, his whole self exudes peace. “Peace be with you” is his usual greeting. Yet He says: “I come not to bring peace, but a sword.” He pursues peace with spiritual warfare which will eventually cost Him His life.

Jesus preaches a gospel of love, righteousness, and forgiveness so radical that it causes a sword of unpeace to pierce many consciences – revealing the thoughts of many hearts – and exposing them to the light of truth and justice. “He comes to His own and His own knows Him not.” Rejecting Him as a false prophet, they accuse Him of blasphemy, scourge Him, crown Him with thorns and crucify Him. They thrust a spear into His Sacred Body piercing the Sorrowful Heart of His Mother, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Simeon.

The sword that Jesus brings is His living word given through the Spirit of Counsel, a sword that separates the sheep from the goats. Wise men and women would imitate Mary and Joseph by using this sword to pierce their own hearts, to die to themselves and become men and women for others.

These men and women who use the living word of Jesus as Counsel and wield this sword in spiritual warfare are true peacemakers in the image of the Lord. They are of one heart with His Sacred Heart and they shall be known as children of God. They are the true brothers and sisters of Jesus who is the peacemaker par excellence, the firstborn among God’s children.

Peacemaking is not about making peace between warring parties. It is listening to the Word of God and living it, bringing spiritual Counsel to those living in the dark and in need of God’s mercy. It is waging peace with the sword of the Spirit in the face of evil and injustice.

Jesus was crucified not because He was preaching peace but because He was performing deeds of merciful justice in the name of God: helping the blind and the destitute, forgiving the adulterous woman, associating with sinners and prostitutes, healing on the Sabbath, driving out the thieves from the Temple, expelling demons, exposing the hypocrisy of the rabbi, even as he gives spiritual Counsel to all who come to Him. He wages peace with spiritual warfare.

True peace is the fruit of justice and mercy, hallmarks of the new Kingdom. Peacemaking is about rendering justice, righting wrongs and giving mercy, justice to the poor and persecuted, mercy to the repentant sinner, forgiveness to the prodigal son and daughter.

Jesus says: “I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! … Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” In our unjust world, whoever preaches the truth will bring about division and, like the Lord, be a sign of contradiction that will be spoken against. This is the true essence of peacemaking, to bring about God’s reign of mercy and justice as opposed to the spirit of vengeance and injustice.

Indeed, as Simeon had prophesied, Jesus was, and still is, a sign of contradiction. There was no trace of any fault in Him, yet He died the death reserved for the most dastard criminal. Even His cross is a sign of contradiction. Crucifixion on the cross, more than the guillotine or the electric chair, is the most horrible form of execution ever devised by man. But by His crucifixion and dying on the cross, the Savior transforms this cruel death symbol to be the victorious sign of our redemption and promise of eternal life. The way of the cross is no longer the way of the criminal to his execution but the way of sinners to their redemption.

Drawing power from this glorious Cross, martyrs through the centuries endure suffering to embrace their own crosses, giving hope of salvation to many, while demons at its sight flee in fright.

This is true peacemaking, by waging peace with spiritual warfare, each one with our own cross, absorbing the evil and hatred of an unaccepting world so that, through our own sacrifice, in union with Jesus, the world might be reborn in God’s mercy and find peace.

The day that our Faith no longer divides people, pierces consciences, meets opposition and causes unpeace in the hearts of many, such a feeble faith without the sword of spiritual warfare wielded with the Spirit of Counsel, our Christian witnessing will be lifeless and our peacemaking will be futile and fruitless.

Blessed therefore are the true peacemakers, those who “put on the helmet of salvation, justice as their breastplate, the spirit as their sword. They stand fast, truth as their belt, faith as their shield and their zeal for peace as their footgear.” They, these peace warriors, with the Spirit of the Living Word as their Counsel, are true peacemakers and shall be called children of God.

St. Joseph is proclaimed to be Protector of the Universal Church, a title worthy of this great silent warrior of peace. He is also the Great Counselor of families and parents, fathers especially, who have sought counsel from him and have not been denied consolation.

“Never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help and sought your intercession was left unaided.” St. Joseph never denies anyone who seeks Counsel from this great Patriarch, Father of Divine Mercy, Protector and Patron Saint of Families.

Prayer:

St. Joseph, silent warrior of peace, protector of our Faith, Counselor of the Lord, teach me the ways of peace that my faith will be fruitful with just deeds, the mark of a true peacemaker.

Instruct me with the Spirit of Counsel that like your Son, I may wage peace with spiritual warfare in the name of truth and justice.

Present me to the Lord of Peace as your foster child so that I too can be called a child of God. Amen.

Our Father. Ten Hail Marys. Glory Be.

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Piety

Beatitude:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Gospel passage:

Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, in the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

Meditation:

The fullness of time has arrived for the fulfillment of the prophecy foretold in every generation: the coming of the Messiah. God keeps His promise; the Messiah King is born of a virgin betrothed to a descendant of King David. Yet He comes without the pomp and pageantry befitting the King of Kings.

The Lord comes in holy poverty amid great piety: Piety fills the shepherds as they praise God for fulfilling His promise of a savior, the promise given to Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden and to Abraham at the mountain of Moriah.

And the Spirit of Holy Poverty goes forth to all who hear the Good News, the poor and the lowly who are first in the new Kingdom, giving hope to all of mankind, even the lepers and the most wretched, the destitute and the prostitute, the sinners and the forsaken, all who are poor in spirit and are totally dependent on the providence of God.

This Spirit of Piety and Poverty gives birth to a new human order born not of strife and conquest but of love and forgiveness, establishing a new Kingdom founded not on wealth and power, but on mercy and justice.

To Joseph, the humble carpenter, “a just and upright man,” the Almighty gives this prophetic role to fulfill His promise of man’s redemption. For this, Joseph is gifted with all the natural and supernatural virtues.

His poverty of spirit is marked by his fidelity and total abandonment to the Divine Will and his dependency on Divine Providence and protection. In his spiritual poverty, he empties himself and allows God to flood his nothingness with all the spiritual riches befitting the Foster Father of God’s only Son.

After the long journey from Nazareth to Judea and on to Bethlehem with Mary who is heavy with child, astride a donkey, and he on foot, Joseph is saddened as “there was no room for them in the inn.” They are content to make home in a cave used as an animal stable to welcome their God child, a feeding trough for His crib. The lack of any amenity is made up with great love and piety. In His infinite wisdom, the Father has deemed it fitting that His Son be born in such lowly estate to bring hope to all who are poor and forsaken.

For ages and ages, the coming of the Messiah was foretold and awaited with great anticipation. Yet, when He arrives, the herald angels bypass the castles of kings and emperors’ palaces and hasten to the shepherds in the open fields under a starry sky to announce the Savior’s birth in a stable.

Joseph kneels adoringly before the Madonna and Child who is now his Foster Son, the Son of the Most High. He is awed by the wonder of it all, that God would choose him, a humble carpenter, to be His Foster Father.

Imagine his amazement as the shepherds come in procession into the stable to adore the God Child with choirs of angels singing their sweet anthems in the silent night. Then enter the Magi who, guided by the Christmas star, come to adore their King of Kings in His throne of straw, presenting their gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh. “They prostrated themselves and did him homage,” the evangelist wrote.

During all this Mary and Joseph are filled with sweet joy. The recognition and veneration of the Infant Jesus, lodged so poorly, whose infinite glory is a secret hidden in their humble hearts, brings them endless consolation.

The whole of heaven descends upon earth to adore their God. Love permeates everyone with the Spirit of piety and poverty in the holy presence of the Savior King. So overwhelmed is Joseph that with Mary, he keeps all these things in his heart. He is truly poor in spirit; he possesses nothing. Yet he possesses everything; he possesses God.

In all of Holy Scripture not one word is spoken by Joseph as if the evangelists, together with Peter and Paul, have a holy conspiracy of silence, as a way of honoring the silent humility of Joseph.

Joseph’s spirit of holy poverty is the fruit of his great piety and humility. Humility is the mother of virtues, as opposed to pride, the father of sin as Lucifer’s pride brought the curse of sin upon mankind. Joseph’s pious humility made him the Father’s choice to be His Surrogate, Mary’s spouse and Foster Father of His Son to begin the redemption of man.

His Foster Son, the Son of the Most High, in taking on human flesh, to suffer and die an ignominious death of a criminal for our redemption, would perform the single greatest act of humility in the history of man and his Savior God.

To believe that God the Creator would die for man the creature, is beyond human logic and comprehension. “He who was rich was born poor, so that out of His poverty, we may become rich.”

It is necessary that the Foster Father of this God-Son who would give Himself in sacrifice must himself be meek and humble of heart. He must be filled with piety for this great God, to live the godly virtues required of the guardian, to be guide and teacher of the Savior Son as He advances in age and wisdom.

After the miracle of the sun at Fatima in October 1917, several tableaux appeared in the sky that many saw in wonderment. In one scene, the Blessed Mother appears with St. Joseph carrying the child Jesus in his arms, blessing the world from the heavens where he occupies a great place of honor, retaining his revered position as Foster Father of the Savior God.

Even in heaven, Joseph is the Father of the Holy Family, to inspire all families, parents and children alike, to live the spirit of poverty and seek their riches in their eternal home in heaven.

Blessed indeed are all those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Prayer:

Dear Blessed Joseph, pious and poor, yet so rich in love and fidelity, open my heart to receive the gift of Piety, the most precious gift of intimacy with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lend me your pious heart to be one with you in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Grant that you, my Father, will transfuse into my heart your pious love, that I may be rich in piety and poor in spirit to gain the Kingdom of Heaven that knows no end. Amen.

Our Father. ten Hail Marys. Glory be.

These meditations invite the reader to a spiritual journey with St. Joseph, reliving nine joyous, sorrowful, and glorious events in his life with his most beloved Jesus and Mary. They are meant for prayer and presented in the framework of a Novena Rosary of the Holy Family.

With love and devotion to the Holy Family,
Howard Joseph Q. Dee

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Fear of the Lord

Beatitude:
Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy.

Gospel Passage:

Luke1:26-34

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin (whose) name was Mary. … the angel said to her: “Rejoice, O highly favored daughter. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what they meant. The angel went on to say to her: “Do not fear, Mary. You have found favor with God. You shall conceive and bear a son and give him the name Jesus. Great will be his dignity and he shall be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will be without end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I do not know man?” The angel answered her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

Meditation:

Soon after the betrothal of Mary to Joseph, in the time designated by the Father since the fall of our first parents, God sent His Archangel Gabriel to Mary to announce that she is to be-come the mother of the Messiah who is to be the Son of God Himself.

The Virgin Mary was in an ecstasy of prayer when the Archangel Gabriel came to her room in a shaft of brilliant light to announce to her the good news that she was to conceive the Son of God the Most High by the power of the Holy Spirit. With her fiat, the Blessed Virgin was wrapped in ecstasy. The room was filled with light. At that moment, the Holy Trinity was present as the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, filling her with radiant light, with God the Son conceived in her immaculate womb.

After the fall of Adam and Eve, when God announced to Lucifer at the Garden of Eden that He would send a Redeemer to crush his head, He did not reveal that the Messiah would be His only begotten Son. He introduced Him as the offspring of a woman. Mary, in her gentleness and humility of heart, could not find the courage to tell Joseph that the Archangel Gabriel, in majestic splendor, had come to visit her in such extraordinary circumstance, to announce to her that the long awaited Messiah is to be conceived in her and that He is the Son of God Himself and that the Almighty Most High has sent His Archangel as His envoy to solicit her consent and she has given her “Fiat”, freely and joyfully.

With her Fiat, God’s promised Word is now made flesh in her womb and the Savior God has become her Son.

As Mary conceives Jesus not by human seed but by the power of the Holy Spirit, she becomes the Handmaid and Daughter of the Father, Bride and Spouse of the Holy Spirit and Mother of the Son of God the Most High.

From the beginning of the world until the end to come, no human person would ever attain such a high stature and honor in the natural order and in the supernatural order: Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, the angels at her command, clothed with the sun, a crown of stars on her head and the moon under her feet, destined to crush Satan and end our legacy of sin and begin a new lineage of the faithful and true.

With her loving Fiat, at long last, redemption is at hand and salvation be-comes ours to claim for all eternity.

Joseph, unknowing of the marvelous events that are taking place, truly personifies this Beatitude of gentleness: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, his humility a fruit of Fear of the Lord.

These words from the Old Testament apply perfectly to St. Joseph: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God and walk in his ways and love him and keep his commandments with your whole heart and your whole soul, so that it may be well for you?”

Soon after, Joseph’s great joy turns into greater sorrow when he finds his betrothed pregnant with child. His heart broken, he could no longer proceed with the marriage but being “a just and upright man”, with fear of the Lord engraved in his wounded heart, he does not want to subject his beloved Mary to stoning, a punishment inflicted on unfaithful wives under the Jewish law.

Meek and gentle of heart, he perfects his just love for Mary with loving mercy and kindness towards her. After prayerful and tearful reflection, he decides to divorce Mary quietly and entrust her to the Lord so as not to expose her to public disgrace.

The Archangel Gabriel did not give Mary permission to make known the joyful Annunciation of her conception of the Savior, and in her complete submission to the Divine Will, she leaves the matter to the Holy Spirit to find a way to inform Joseph of this supernatural happening and relieve him of his spiritual suffering.

The Father in heaven is testing Joseph as He had tested Abraham before anointing him to be the father of His chosen people Israel. Like Abraham, Joseph, in meekness and humility, submits himself completely to the loving mercy of the Lord. He acts justly, with merciful love and fear of transgressing God’s commands. In this trial, he proves himself to be a worthy son of Abraham, fit to be the surrogate of the Father on earth.

As the Father had sent an angel to prevent Abraham from sacrificing his beloved Isaac, so does He now send His angel to appear to Joseph in a dream to prevent him from sacrificing his beloved wife Mary by divorcing her.

In this second joyful annunciation, the angel announces to Joseph the coming of the Savior Son, saying to him:

Matt.1:20-21
“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.”

Imagine the joy of Joseph as he awakes from his dream. Imagine the joy of Mary when Joseph comes to her parents’ house to bring her to their own home. Imagine the joy of the Babe Jesus in the womb of His Mother; He leaps with joy as His parents are reunited with Him, the three holiest persons on earth composing the Holy Family of God, united in His loving presence.

Joseph, in his high dignity as husband of Mary and head of the Holy Family, becomes the Father’s Surrogate on earth. He shares with the Holy Spirit the title of Spouse of Mary, he being the human spouse while the Holy Spirit is her Divine Spouse. His love for Mary mirrors the love of the Holy Spirit, pure, chaste and holy, preserving her virginity for all ages, as perpetual proof of the Virgin Birth.

Joseph, the humble carpenter, is exalted by God to inherit the eternal land, the new heaven and the new earth, promised to his forefathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

Joseph’s strength lies in the surrender of his whole heart and soul, imbued with humility and meekness, loving with a gentle love that is kind and merciful. With this merciful love, he becomes the human father of Divine Mercy.

Joseph is chosen to be the last Patriarch of the House of David, to close the Book of the Old Testament and open the Book of the New Testament and to inherit the Promised Land for all generations to come.

Prayer:

Merciful father, just and upright, imbue me with a sense of justice and righteousness in all that I do, all with whom I relate in life, my family, my friends, my colleagues and co-workers, those whom I love and those who love me, and those who do not love me and those whom I failed to love.

Gentle Father, teach me merciful love, that I may await God’s loving mercy, now and at the end of my days. Amen.

Our Father. Ten Hail Marys. Glory Be.

These meditations invite the reader to a spiritual journey with St. Joseph, reliving nine joyous, sorrowful, and glorious events in his life with his most beloved Jesus and Mary. They are meant for prayer and presented in the framework of a Novena Rosary of the Holy Family.

The matching of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit with the Beatitudes in the life of St. Joseph is not meant to be theologically precise. They are presented as meditations to demonstrate the truth that one cannot live the way of the Beatitudes without the Gifts of the Spirit.

It is to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that our prayers are addressed, and St. Joseph in the company of Blessed Mary are there to receive our petitions and intercede for us, to help and guide us as we shepherd our own families toward our Heavenly Father’s house, the true destination of our own earthly journey.

With love and devotion to the Holy Family,
Howard Joseph Q. Dee

Gift of the Holy Spirit:
Fear of the Lord

Beatitude:
Blessed are the meek, they shall inherit the land.

Gospel passage:

Luke 1:27

…A virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Sirach 2:8-9, 15-17

You who fear the Lord, trust Him, and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.

Those who fear the Lord disobey not His words; those who love Him keep His ways.
Those who fear the Lord seek to please Him, those who love Him are filled with His law.
Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts and humble themselves before Him.

Meditation:

As is the custom at the time, young maidens of pious families are raised in the temple where they serve until the age of marriage. “Their parents in dedicating them to the Temple offers them entirely to God as the devout Isrealites have for a long time a presentment that the marriage of one of these virgins would one day contribute to the coming of the promised Messiah.”

As the Virgin Mary leaves the temple to return to his parents’ home, it is her desire to remain a virgin betrothed to God in His service. In prayer, she makes her wish known but surrenders herself to His will for her. In return for her obedience, if it is God’s will that she should marry, she prays “that God would grant His handmaid a husband who would respect her vow of chastity. She asked for nothing but that her future husband be holy.”

Respecting her wish, the Father in heaven chose Joseph, a just man and humble carpenter, from the house of David, to be Mary’s spouse.

When Mary first meets Joseph, we could say it is love at first sight. “Glancing into his eyes, she could tell that he is honest, faithful, pure and just. He has the clear gaze of a child. Evil has not entered his heart, which was saturated with love of God.”

Love is the essence of the betrothal of a woman to a man for married life. The Betrothal of Mary to Joseph was promulgated in heaven as it has for its deepest wellspring, not merely human love, but the very love of God. Joseph and his betrothed Mary vow to live together in chastity for the love of God.

God, the matchmaker par excellence, accepts their love sacrifice and uses this human love to give flesh to His own Love for humanity.

The fear of the Lord is born of perfect love of the Lord. It is a holy fear born of wisdom, justice, and obedience of the meek, for those who truly love the Lord fear to disobey His commands. “If you love me, follow my commands.” Mary and Joseph, in their great love of the Lord, are endowed with this gift of Fear of the Lord.

The first cause of this gift is love. Its first fruit is the blessedness of meek humility and loving mercy, a love, as St. Paul teaches, that is gentle, kind and merciful. Those who love in this way are doubly blessed; they are not envious or boastful, but meek and humble of heart.

This Beatitude of gentleness is the first attribute of Jesus’ own Heart which God bestows on Joseph as a Gift of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, in turn, together with Mary, raise and form Jesus to be “meek and humble of heart.”

As Mary was chosen by the Father in heaven to be the Mother of His Son, Joseph was likewise chosen from the House of David to be the Father of Jesus, acting as the Father’s surrogate on earth. Jesus takes His human form from His Mother Mary and His noble lineage from His foster father Joseph.

This divine plan of their role in man’s redemption was not revealed beforehand to Joseph and Mary who were inspired by the Holy Spirit of love to take each other in Holy Matrimony while remaining celibate. Consider their great joy at the betrothal ceremony when Mary and Joseph, attired in traditional Jewish wedding garments, make their solemn vows in the presence of St. Joaquin and St. Anne, parents of Mary, and their friends and relatives who came for the festivities.

It was a wedding celebrated in the whole of heaven in anticipation of the glory that God would reveal through the Son of Mary.

Prayer:

Blessed Joseph, greatest of all Saints, Jesus chose you to be His father, be also a father to me.

Gentle father, teach me to be meek and humble of heart as you taught Jesus
who was known as the Son of Joseph the carpenter.

Holy father, teach me true devotion to Mary the way you were devoted to her.

Loving father, teach me Fear of the Lord for fear of losing Him, that I may keep His laws, follow His commands, and love Him with all my heart.

Our Father. Ten Hail Marys. Glory Be.
Father Joseph, we entrust our souls to you.