Pope Francis Daily

Saint Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him!

In the Sacrament of Marriage, the wedding vow- “I do” is not a mere word for spouses only to utter during wedding day. Rather, it is a lasting commitment to a lifelong partnership till they die. “I do” is a public proclamation and deliberate choice made in full freedom to take responsibility for each other’s life pleasing to Jesus as He is the center of marriage in which His love that married couple receives in and through each other. This is why Saint Joseph gives us an important lesson to choose a spouse with open eyes knowing and understanding the God’s plan and purpose of Christian marriage with all its meaning, risks and difficulties of good and bad times. Even Saint Joseph being a righteous man, unwilling to expose Mary to shame as She was found with child, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention but when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Then Joseph awoke and he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than “the family of God.” The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity. The Church teaches that since God created man out of love, and calls on him to love, it is proper that the union of man and woman should be a Sacrament. The love of man and woman mirrors the love of God and their children are part of God’s creation. Adam and Eve were the source of evil which was unleashed on the world, but Joseph and Mary are the summit from which holiness spreads all over the earth as both become the true example of all Christian families to imitate. Thus, “I do” means accepting what God has joined together with a plan, keeping the dignity of married love and the value of chastity, its role and its exercise. That is why Jesus is considered as the foundation of the sacrament of marriage that brings a man and a woman together in God’s love and salvific plan even if they are having two separate backgrounds, personalities and identities. “I do” binds the spouses to each other and finds its fulfillment in the two, as Christ loves the Church and hands himself over for her to sanctify her, likewise “I do.” And the presence of the People of God in the Church community supports the couple throughout their married life to be committed to their wedding vow- “I do.” All those present are acknowledged to be saying to the couple “We do” as we witness and support your marriage.

As we celebrate the feast of Saint Joseph, we pray for all the husbands of Christian families that they may bear the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church in their matrimonial life.  

+ In Christ, 

Father Henry Peter MSFS,

Sacred Heart Church,

Bhusawal, Maharashtra, India.