From The Bishop

St. Joseph is the focus of the Gospel passage for the 4th Sunday of Advent. Not a great deal is known about this important saint  The Gospel tells us that he was a righteous man. To be righteous is to love justice which should motivate us to act with compassion and love. We see this in Joseph’s reaction to Mary. The Gospel passage tells us that he was unwilling to expose her to public disgrace so he planned to dismiss her quietly. Silence also plays a significant role in the life of St. Joseph. It is in the silence of the night that an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, “for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” St. Joseph would never have known this truth if it had not been made known to him in silence. Pope Benedict acknowledges this fact when speaking about St. Joseph. “His is a silence permeated by contemplation of the mystery of God, in an attitude of total availability to his divine wishes. In other words, the silence of St Joseph was not the sign of an inner void, but on the contrary, of the fullness of faith he carried in his heart, and which guided each and every one of his thoughts and actions.” (Angelus Address, Dec.18, 2005). With St. Joseph as our spiritual model, let us seek to allow faith to guide all of our thoughts and actions. Good St. Joseph, pray for us.