St. Joseph

I'm really glad that the feast of St. Joseph is a solemnity so that even when it falls on Sunday, it won't just be skipped over. Our Founder took the name "Joseph" when he made his religious vows, and for decades (until maybe 1960 or so), St. Joseph's Day was when our sisters made their vows. So there were a lot of jubilees celebrated this weekend. My favorite prayer to St. Joseph is one by our Founder, which "blesses the Lord" for Joseph's "intimate communication with Jesus during his infancy and youth."

Today I prayed a "St. Joseph Rosary" with mysteries drawn from Matthew and Luke--everything we have in the Bible about St. Joseph. In case you'd like to do that, too, the mysteries are:

1. The Angelic annunciation to Joseph (Mt. 1:18-25)

2. The Census and the Birth of Jesus (Lk. 2:1-21)

3. The Presentation in the Temple (Simeon's prayer seems so utterly suited to St. Joseph, too) (Lk. 2: 22-40)

4. The Flight into Egypt (which strikes me as being Matthew's version of Simeon's "sign of contradiction") (Mt. 2:13-23)

5. The Losing and Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Lk. 2:41-52)