Natural Family Planning» St. Joseph

Presentation Day

Jess — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:43:54 +0000

Melchior Broederlam (1381-1409) Presentation in the Temple & Flight to Egypt Tempera on wood, 1393-1399

For many Christians, today is the feast of the Presentation (called the Encounter in the east), a mystery of love, life, family and vocation. Here’s my vintage 2010 post with some reflections on family, vocation and St. Joseph.

We love you, Joseph

Jess — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:36:13 +0000

March 19 is Father’s Day in Italy. Why March 19? Because it’s universally the feast of St. Joseph, patron of fathers. So, wish your beloved, your pastor ( a spiritual father) and men who are godfathers, mentor or work with youth (spiritual fathers) a happy father’s day, and send them this link to a previous entry on St. Joseph (includes a talk I’ve given).

(Note: It’s a solemnity in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, so you can ease off your Lenten fast a little March 19!)

Other links:

Remember to pray for fathers (spiritual and biological), people with Joseph as their namesake (Joseph, Josephines, & other Joseph-related names), workers, and especially for the underemployed (my husband and me!) and unemployed, seminarians, and also these, of which St. Joseph is also the patron:

Against doubt; against hesitation; Americas; Austria; Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; California; Belgium; Bohemia; bursars; cabinetmakers; Canada; Carinthia; carpenters; China; confectioners; craftsmen; Croatian people (in 1687 by decree of the Croatian parliament) dying people; emigrants; engineers; expectant mothers; families; Florence, Italy; happy death; holy death; house hunters; immigrants; interior souls; Korea; laborers; Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin; Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky; Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire; Mexico; Diocese of Nashville, Tennessee; New France; New World; Oblates of Saint Joseph; people in doubt; people who fight Communism; Peru; pioneers; protection of the Church; Diocese of San Jose, California; diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; social justice; Styria, Austria; travelers; Turin Italy; Tyrol Austria; unborn children Universal Church; Vatican II; Vietnam; Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston West Virginia; wheelwrights; workers.

The Presentation & Encountering St. Joseph

Jess — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:08:23 +0000

Melchior Broederlam (1381-1409) Presentation in the Temple & Flight to Egypt Tempera on wood, 1393-1399

I feel sorry for Simeon, Anna, the Holy Family and the turtledoves. They get overlooked for a groundhog. In their humility, they might rejoice at the humor of this, but I for one think it’s a shame.

Today is the feast of the Presentation, called The Encounter in the east. It’s an amazing feast day in the Catholic/ Orthodox Churches (both east and west tend to celebrate it on the same day), but way underrated and under celebrated. It is also the foundation feast day of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England, founded on vespers of the Presentation by Fr. John Henry Newman (later to become Cardinal, and whose Beatification will be May 2, 2010).

The mystery of the Presentation can be meditated upon without exhausting it. This drama in the temple has much to teach us about waiting for the Lord, God’s will in our life, prophecy, death, vocation, sacrifice, family, poverty, consecrated life , the Cross and much more.

For me, it is a fusion of meditation on the two main vocations of the Church: that of married life, and that of consecrated life or priesthood. Here we see the relationship between the two, the image of a holy marriage which gives rise to the earliest of vocational dedication. Not only is Christ, the Anointed, dedicated in the temple, but we see very prominently the consecrated and prophetic Simeon & Anna. (See my blog entry on holy families & holy vocations here.)

It is also one of the handful of times that we see (but never hear) St. Joseph. His actions are worth much more than a thousand words, and for this reason and many others I’ve come to love St. Joseph dearly. He found me first, and I’ve come to love my spiritual father greatly. This is why when invited to speak on NFP to a men’s group, I didn’t choose Humanae Vitae or Casti Conuubi, but rather St. Joseph.

In October 2008, I gave a talk to the Knights of Divine Mercy, a men’s fraternal group and apostolate in the Madison Diocese, called “Surge, accipe puerum: reflections on St. Joseph.” It’s not strictly about NFP, but its message is related. I used a number of sources, from books to encyclicals, but it was a friend’s apostolic motto and article on St. Joseph that sparked the Josephine theme. In the end, it became a meditation on Fatherhood (spiritual and biological), and discernment about God’s will for your family, vocation and apostolate. Where is the Lord leading you?

Fast forward to the second track for the reflection on the Presentation.