The Feast Day of St. Joseph – Celebrate!

St. Joseph…the most selfless husband and father the world has ever known?  I think so.

Today is St. Joseph’s Feast Day….and even though today is a Friday in Lent, it is NOT a day of fast and/or abstinence …it’s a day of joy and feasting.  That means that you can eat meat today.  Really.  Why?  Because this isn’t “just” a feast day, it’s a “solemnity.”  That makes it on par with Sunday, which also is never a day of fast and/or abstinence. (see Scott’s Catholicism Blog )

Until fairly recently in my life, I didn’t realize there were such days during lent – Fridays when you could eat meat!  I also didn’t know that Sundays were not counted as a part of Lent, for much the same reason.  Sundays are feast days…days to be joyful…not days on which to do penance.   Sigh…so much to learn, so little time.

Back to St. Joseph, though.  Pray to him today.  There’s so much we divorced, Catholic moms can ask of him – so much he can do for us:

St. Joseph – selfless husband and protector of Mary and father of Jesus:

1. Please pray for my (ex)husband and guide him.

2. Please pray for, support and guide me – a single mother.

3. Please pray for, support and guide my children, whose father has left.

4. Please pray for our family, which is broken.

Here is a video about St. Joseph that is interesting:

And you can learn some more interesting things about St. Joseph over on Addlebook Rambles.

I wonder why we know so little about St. Joseph…it’s interesting to think about.  I wonder what lesson God wants us to learn from Joseph and the way his life was in the shadows.

I think that Joseph’s life was pretty difficult and must have been very frustrating at times.  The poor man found out that his wife was pregnant …and not with his child.  But he consented to be her husband to raise Jesus as his own.  Then there’s the fact that Mary remained a virgin.   None of that would be easy for Joseph by any stretch of the imagination.  There’s no doubt that this man was a saint.  But why was so little said about him in the bible?  “It’s a puzzlement.”  (that’s from a musical…do you know which one?  It has nothing to do with St. Joseph…I’m just easily distracted. )

Enjoy St. Joseph’s Feast Day!  And remember to pray to St. Joseph always, but especially while you and your children are going through this painful time in your lives…. and especially today on his feast day!

Manya