By Sister Mary Scholastica, O.C.D.
Today, May 1st, we celebrate St. Joseph the Worker, and we begin the month of May which traditionally commemorates our Blessed Mother. May IS our Blessed Mother’s month!
As we start a new day in a new month…let us pause to re-calibrate, re-align, renew in our hearts our commitment to live life whole-heartedly, to become the person God is calling us to be. What better way than to place ourselves in the company of St. Joseph and our Blessed Mother.
Recently, when I was speaking with a young lady who shared she was adopted, you could hear in her voice, a longing to know that her birth mother knew her, had cared for her. In listening, what struck me so deeply was the sense that our Blessed Mother was there by her side, even if she did not know of her existence. Our Blessed Mother was there. And she is here now. God, in His loving providence gave us His mother as our own. And it’s been this way for our entire lives, whether we realized it in our past and even if we are oblivious of it now. She is with us.
And St. Joseph. You can imagine what kind of foster father he must have been to Jesus. Steady. Strong. Humble. Fatherly. Patient. Courageous. Peaceful. Prayerful. Faith-filled. Quiet. A just man. Jesus must have felt secure and loved in his presence. Can’t you just see St. Joseph lifting the Child Jesus and cradling him in his strong arms. Jesus resting his head on Joseph’s shoulder. St. Joseph. A refuge. A place of safety. A sturdy, protective shelter. A loving heart. A hard and industrious worker, skilled in his craft. Working hard to provide for the Holy Family.
Today, with Joseph and Mary by our side, as we begin the month of May with eyes wide open and hearts full of faith, let us not falter in our footsteps and let us never feel alone because we are not. Every moment of every day, our Blessed Mother is by our side teaching us how to love Jesus, teaching us to stand beneath the cross, united with Him. St. Joseph teaches us to walk in the way of living our ordinary lives extraordinarily well, knowing that it’s with Jesus and for Him. How blessed we are to know that we are not walking this life journey alone. Our Lord gives us two people He holds most dear to His Heart: His mother and His foster father.
St. Joseph, foster father of our Lord, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of our Savior, pray for us.
