03/19/2004: "Thoughts on today's Gospel reading"

Today is The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary. If you came to this site today (March 19th), you can see that the colors for the site have changed from the Lenten Violet to the Feast Day white. We celebrate this Feast every March 19th.

Who is Joseph? What do we know about him? Today's Gospel reading is the majority of what we know about him from scripture. While it doesn't seem like very much, it does give a very good picture of the kind of man he was. He was honorable. He was a man of morals. But more than that, he was a man who would follow God where ever he led. When the angel told him to marry Mary and to honor her, he did exactly that. Think of how hard that would be for all of us. You just found out your spouse is having a child that is not your own. How easy would it be to follow God's commands if they told you to be faithful to that marriage?