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lity which understands that all i have is a gift of god and the gift grows only by sharing it with others the consequence of this gift is a greatness of the spirit that we know as nobility of heart it is a depth of generosity at the very centre of who we are that we willingly share wight those most in need i am what i share and i share what i have received for a loving god it is holiness alone that renews and changes the world the church and the order and in our founder we hear why he was called the humblest man in the east the servant of the poor and kind to strangers his appearance was not impressive but it was a noble heart that made him conspicuous on this his feast day let us renew our vows and promises made at our profession and when we joined the order much is to be done as in our time as we commit ourselves once again to be instruments of grace to overcome the evil and suffering of our world inspired by gerard s humility and nobility of heart may we walk in his footsteps as witnesses of hope as great men and women who have committed themselves to the great works of our beloved order for where sin abounds grace abounds all the more blessed gerard pray for us grand priory of england ad multos annos posted on monday october 23 2023 category click to see all related catholic life grand prior reports saint joseph a meditation this wonderful meditation upon saint joseph was preached at the august day of recollection by fr paul keane chaplain of the university of cambridge priest of brentwood diocese and recently a magistral chaplain of our order we are very grateful to him for these spiritual insights from the holy family and st catherine by bordoni devotion to st joseph amdg i was not meant to be here nor were the professed knights this weekend we were to be on retreat at farnborough abbey but the abbey became unavailable and instead we shall make the retreat in october but with every loss there is a gain we can be here however let me bring something of farnborough to golden square not its beautiful chapel or the tomb of emperor napoleon iii but st joseph even if we know farnborough we may not immediately associate it with the spouse of our lady but the national shrine of st joseph is at the abbey if any of us did not know there was a national shrine of st joseph you have not failed your english catholic proficiency test its existence has been a well kept secret since it was originally established at mill hill in 1866 by fr herbert vaughan the future cardinal archbishop of westminster he sought and received from blessed pope pius ix permission for a canonical coronation of a statue of st joseph receiving the pope s specific blessing for the crowning of images of our lady began in the early seventeenth century such coronations were extended to only one other saint st joseph in the late eighteen century it began with the crowing of his image at kalisz in central poland in 1796 sadly mill hill was closed and sold in 2006 but thankfully it was arranged that the crowned statue of st joseph and its surrounding shrine should go to farnborough this was apt because the foundress of the abbey empress eugene the wife of napoleon iii gave a donation to help found the st joseph s society for foreign missions for which mill hill was built in brief we have had a national shrine to st joseph since 1866 its crowned statue is now at farnborough we may not be at the abbey but for this first talk in golden square let us spend time with st joseph to go to joseph is something st teresa of avila would heartily support in her autobiography she wrote of him i am quite amazed when i consider the great favours our lord has shown me through the intercession of st joseph and the many dangers both of body and soul from which he has delivered me it seems that to other saints our lord has given power to succour us in only one kind of necessity but this glorious saint i know by my experience assists us in all kinds of necessities hence our lord it appears wishes us to understand that as he was obedient to him when on earth so now in heaven he grants him whatever he asks chapter 5 as catholics we have customs and expressions that others may find odd for example if you feel crowded in a restaurant just say grace before you eat and make the sign of the cross you will find that your neighbouring diners will promptly edge away and whilst on that experience teaches that however sure you are that the waiter or waitress has brought everything to the table the moment you begin grace they will bring over a forgotten condiment or begin pouring your wine either way they freeze in shock or are blithely unaware of your muttered prayer while we end up feeling embarrassed as if caught out but say grace we should because we should never eat the fruits of the earth and sea causally and ungratefully a catholic phrase that we use is i have a devotion to followed by some saint s name or prayer such as the rosary no one else uses the word devotion so casually and devotion is a strong word it implies a wholehearted adherence to a person or thing it makes me think of helena s passion for demetrius in a midsummer s night dream helena says to him i am your spaniel and demetrius the more you beat me i will fawn on you use me but as your spaniel spurn me strike me neglect me lose me only give me leave unworthy as i am to follow you act ii sc i now such sentiments we could judge as a little over the top and the thing about devotion within catholic theology is that it is not first a matter of our emotions but a choice of our will to be exact devotion is a virtue of religion when we choose to give god what is his by right such as giving thanks before we eat devotion is an act of the will a choice to serve our creator in fact any real act of prayer or service comes from devotion now at the same time devotions has become the word we use for pious practices or certain prayers which can be ways of focusing our hearts our minds our wills that they bring us closer to god some devotions will work for some others for others i love the stations of the cross i know clergy who do not some cling to the rosary others are left cold st teresa however would have us all become devoted to st joseph she says in her autobiography i have never known anyone who was truly devoted to st joseph who performed particular devotions in his honour that did not advance more in virtue for he assists in a special manner those souls who recommend themselves to him st teresa was ahead of the field popular devotion to st joseph had been slow to develop it was only from 1479 that a feast day was kept for him in rome perhaps certain apocryphal texts were to blame for this in the first centuries of the church there was a desire to know more about jesus childhood years than the gospels recalled what was his life like as he grew up as he grew up in nazareth so fictional accounts appeared which though the church taught were untrue became popular perhaps the most famous is the gospel of thomas where for example the child jesus struck dead a fellow child who accidentally hit him in this apocryphal gospel st joseph is depicted as a bad carpenter after all who was st joseph to teach the son of god and jesus must intervene for example when joseph cuts a plank too short for furniture our lord stretches it to the right length in many ways for a long time joseph was reduced in the popular imagination to a pretend husband and even more pretend father yes many who have gone before us thought he was not a real man because his marriage was not consummated and he was not the biological father of jesus yet st augustine in one of his sermons says of st joseph he was so much more truly the father as he was virginally the father 51 26 how is this so augustine thinks of joseph as having adopted jesus and when we adopt we are saying yes to a child who in some way we have come to know unlike most other parents who when they become parents that is create a new life have not chosen a particular child who they have come to know they must wait nine months and more to see what sort of child they have conceived therefore augustine says the father who adopts has chosen the child with his heart not simply created him from his loins it is perhaps easy for us to see our lady as a two dimensional figure a character in salvation history whose lines were written for her we forget that she did not have to say thy will be done she was free to say no however much that would have violated her devotion to god if we reduce mary how much more so can we do it to the one to whom she was espoused if we do that however we lose st joseph s own example of devotion he chose jesus having discovered his espoused was pregnant and knowing that he was not the father joseph planned to divorce mary quietly but in a dream an angel appears to him and says joseph son of david do not be afraid to take mary your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy spirit she will bear a son and you shall call his name jesus for he will save his people from their sins matthew 1 20b 21 what is most important here is that joseph will be the one who names him not think of the name a name that means the one who saves us from our sins was beyond the expectations of any jew they knew god as one who saved israel by removing sinners now however sinners themselves will be saved no coming up with the name would be beyond any jew however faithful but joseph s role is to declare what the name is this is the action of a father and in law one who adopts is no less of a father than one who creates the immediate significance of this is that through joseph by adoption jesus is of the house of david being irish i tend to say a person s name quite often in conversation a celtic way of connection but any of us when we love someone delight in saying the person s name frequently as god says in isaiah i have called you by your name you are mine 43 1 my parents knew who my best friend of the time was because their name would appear frequently in my conversation and when we fall in love but have not shared that love we can find ourselves pausing after we have said the beloved s name fearful that we have given ourselves away timothy radcliffe recalls that a child of four once said you can tell someone loves you by the way they say your name because if they love you your name is safe in their mouth however too frequently we are a child in love with the sound of our own name but joseph taught us a name we can rely on only because of joseph can i call out to my saviour only because of him can i say jesus it is why the thief could even ask on the cross jesus remember me luke 23 42 when we know someone s name we can draw them to us make a claim on them and joseph can rightly claim that he helped to save us this is why st bernadine of siena the fifteen century franciscan wrote it is beyond doubt that christ did not deny to joseph in heaven that intimacy respect and high honour which he showed him as to a father during his own human life but rather completed and perfected it no wonder we can crown st joseph when the english martyr st ralph sherwin was executed at tyburn his final words were jesu jesu jesu esto mihi jesus that is jesus jesus jesus be for me jesus in the porch of the church of my home parish there is a framed document from about a hundred years ago promising every parishioner a plenary indulgence should they in their final hours have the name of the lord on their dying lips every year on 3 january we celebrate the feast of the most holy name of jesus as the collect or opening prayer for the mass of that day says give your people the mercy they implore so that all may know that there is no other name to be invoked but the name of your only begotten son there is no other name to be invoked because as the angel said to joseph you must name him jesus because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins we do not want to say the lord s name casually which is why we often refer to him as the lord and we certainly do not want to say his name as an expletive but i quite purposefully say the lord s name in my preaching and when talking about him because saying the name of jesus makes him present among us for where two or three are gathered in my name there am i in the midst of them matthew 18 20 you and i will transform moments and spaces should we allow ourselves to bring the name of jesus into conversation his name is not one to be kept hidden the name of jesus saves in the earliest days of the church when a lame man asked st peter for some money the apostle replied i have no silver and gold but i give you what i have in the name of jesus christ of nazareth walk acts 3 6 we need that freshness that excitement at the name of jesus perhaps the most moving words concerning joseph as the father of jesus are said by mary in luke s gospel on finding the missing twelve year old in the temple his mother says son why have you treated us so behold your father and i have been looking for you anxiously 2 48b at one level jesus distances himself from joseph mary has placed joseph at the head of her statement but her son responds how is it that you sought me did you not know that i must be in my father s house 2 49 this is understandable jesus mission is to do god the father his father in heaven s will at the same time however mary reveals the significance of joseph in jesus life and as luke recounts after this incident jesus returns to nazareth and is obedient to both joseph is fathering jesus helping to raise the child into the man for each one of us in joseph s devotion to god we have a model for ourselves men and women however for us men whatever our state of life joseph can be a particular example i have just returned from ireland after a two week holiday on the west coast i was there during the feast of our lady of knock that silent apparition which included the appearance of st joseph on the day i concelebrated mass in the parish church of lisdoonvarna in co clare the priest considered each aspect of the apparition and told us men that in a time where the qualities of masculinity were questioned st joseph was an example to us and that we should man up i am not sure if that language would work in cambridge but of course he was right in this way jesus needed joseph as a father not first because he lived in a socially conservative time christ was happy to eschew social conventions but because he needed a man in his life as he grew up joseph reminds us that fatherhood is something essential which each man can exercise as a father a professed knight or a priest we should look to joseph and seek his prayers may men may be able to flourish as men in room 30 of the national gallery is a marvellous counter reformation picture by the seventeenth century spaniard murillo he painted it at the very end of his life while working for the capuchins in cadiz where it is said a fall from 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