Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary

Saints Peter and Paul Church, Honolulu

Happy Feast Day of our most loving, dearest and most silent of saints!  The following is a meditation on the death of St. Joseph which is fitting for this day.

The Death of St. Joseph

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Death of St. Joseph -

True Sense of Values

Tradition

1. Joseph, his face bathed in sweat, smiling feebly at Jesus and Mary.

2.  The grace, my Jesus, to live by the sens of values I will have on my deathbed.

"As Jesus grew near to His thirtieth year, St. Joseph become very sick.  Mary did everything she could to make him feel comfortable.  She prepared a soft mat on which he could lie.  She cooked the light brothers that he could keep in his stomach.  And for hours she sat down beside him, whether he was awake or asleep.  She smiled and talked when he wanted to talk; and when he was weary, she was silent.  Jesus, too, took time out from His work to keep him company.  He helped Joseph recite some of the Psalms he love so much.  And when the end came, Jesus and Mary were both at his side, comforting, praying.  In the Heart of Joseph there was nothing but peace.  His work was ended now.  He smiled his appreciation to Jesus and Mary.  With a willing heart he closed his eyes and surrendered his soul to God.

Dear St. Joseph, no wonder Our Holy Mother Church has named you the patron of a  happy death!  You died in the arms of Jesus and Mary, surrounded by their loving care and affection.  And you died with your work accomplished!  Doing His Will had been hard at times, the reasons for it so often difficult to see. But you did His Will.  And what peace it gave you at death!

Dear St. Joseph, how clearly we see life when we are about to leave it!  At that time all riches and honors seem empty.  Sin and neglect loom up as the horrible things they really are.  And faithfulness to duty, struggle against temptations, the effort to do God's Will - what shining jewels, what true values are they!  If only I could live my life in the light of the vision at the time of you death!  This was how you lived, St. Joseph!  Pray for me.  Help me to picture my deathbed each day, and then live by that sense of values all day long - a man of good will.

Source:  My Meditation on the Gospel by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood.

Saint Joseph, Patron of the universal Church

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