19 March 2026 – Feast of Saint Joseph
2Sam 7, 4...16; Rom. 4, 13...22; Mat 1, 16-24
Homily
One of the consequences of the development of psychology in our time is that we have become very attentive to all our inner states, scrutinising and analysing them sometimes to the extreme. Several great modern writers, especially poets and novelists, devote a great deal of time to describing their own inner states or those of the characters in their work. However, the Bible as a whole, both the Old and New Testaments, hardly dwells on describing the inner states of the great characters in the History of Salvation. On the contrary, Holy Scripture essentially describes events of salvation.
This is undoubtedly why, whenever Holy Scripture seeks to describe someone's perception of one's personal mission, or a decision relating to this mission, or an inner struggle prior to the acceptance of this mission, it always describes it as an event, an action, an intervention.
Mary's perception of her mission at the moment she reached physical and spiritual maturity, and her total acceptance of it, are described with the image of an angel appearing to her. The realisation of their personal mission by several prophets at a specific moment in their lives is often described with the image of a vision (which is quite different from a simple dream). This is how the Gospel we have just read describes Joseph's realisation of his mission with regard to Mary and the child she is carrying.
The realisation by the women and men of the Bible of their mission in God's plan is almost always experienced as the reception not only of a mission, but of a promise. In fact, the three readings we have just heard present us with a long chain of witnesses linked together by the same promise that is passed on from generation to generation. The Epistle to the Romans refers us to the promise made to Abraham of numerous descendants. Abraham and Joseph have this in common: they were given fatherhood when they least expected it: to Abraham, fatherhood according to the flesh, when he and his wife were advanced in years; to Joseph, fatherhood according to the spirit, when he had not yet taken his betrothed, Mary, to wife. For both, it came as a surprise. Both accept in faith the message given to them. Both, each in his own way, are our fathers in the faith.
The link between Abraham and Joseph is David, who is promised not simply a numerous offspring, as to Abraham, but a descendant who will succeed him on his throne. When Jesus was born, he was, in the deepest sense, the ‘son of the promise’, since He fulfilled the promises made to Abraham, David and Joseph. All three are our fathers in the faith, because each of us is also a son or daughter of the promise, insofar as Christ is begotten in us and we are begotten in Christ.
I was saying at the beginning that the Bible never lingers over a description of the inner states of the great witnesses of the History of Salvation. Nor does it describe the mystical experiences they may have had. When it describes their prayer, including when the Gospels describe Jesus‘ prayer, it is always a question of words expressing the acceptance of their mission. Mary's word is very simple: ’Fiat‘. Jesus’ word is just as simple: ‘May your will be done’. Joseph's is even simpler, in a way. It is quite simply action. Joseph says nothing to the angel, but, as the Gospel says in this sentence of incredible beauty and simplicity: ‘When Joseph awoke, he did what the Angel of the Lord had commanded him.’
The quality of our spiritual life and our prayer lies in what we do in life.
Armand VEILLEUX