At 7:00am local time this morning (1:00am EST), the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass inside the chapel at the Casa Santa Marta.
Let us pray today for our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned. They are suffering greatly as they reflect on the situations that have caused them to be put in prison. And also, as we think about their families: how they are doing, perhaps someone among them is sick, maybe they need something. We are close to those who are in prison today: they are suffering greatly in this time of incertitude and suffering.
The gospel says that Joseph was just, which means that he was a man of faith, who lived by faith, a man who can be linked to a list of other people of faith who we remembered today in the Office of Readings. With people who have lived their faith as the foundation of everything they hope in, as a guarantee of that which we cannot see. There is no visible proof. Joseph is a man of faith. This is the reason why he was just: not only because he believed but because he lived his faith. He was a just man.
He was chosen to educate a man who was truly man but who was also God. God needed another god in order to educate him, but that wasn't possible, so he chose a just man, a man of faith, a man who was capable of being a man and also capable of talking with God, capable of entering into the mystery of God. This was Joseph's life. Capable of living his profession, his life as a man, and capable of entering into the mystery. A man who was able to speak with the mystery, to converse with the mystery of God. He was not a teacher, he entered into the mystery with the same natural ability with which he helped to advance his craft: with this precision of his craft. He was able to adjust the angles, one millimetre or more if necessary on a wooden board. He knew how to do that. He was capable of reversing things, making adjustments of the smallest of millimetres on the wood in order to perfect it. He was a just man, he was precise, but he was also able to enter into a mystery that he himself could not control. This is Joseph's holiness. He was able to live his life, to perfect his trade with precision and with professionalism, even of entering into the mystery. When the gospels speak of Joseph's dreams, they help us to understand this truth: how he would enter into the mystery.
I think about the Church today on this Solemnity of Saint Joseph: our faithful, our bishops, the priests, the consecrated men and women, the popes. We have the capability of entering into the mystery. We need to adjust according to prescriptions, some of which we can establish and others of which we cannot control. When the Church loses the ability to enter into the mystery, we lose our ability to adore. Only the prayer of adoration can help us to enter into the mystery.
Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace we need so that the Church can live in the concreteness of daily life and also in the concreteness of the mystery. If we are unable to do this, we will become a half-church, we will be a worse-off society, driven forward by a series of prescriptions but without the sense of adoration.
Entering into the mystery is not a matter of dreaming. Entering into the mystery is precisely this: a matter of adoration. Entering into the mystery is a matter of doing today what we will do in the future, when we arrive before the face of God: adore. May the Lord grant this grace to the Church.
Following the rite of Communion, the Holy Father offered these words today:
I invite all those who are watching this transmission to make a spiritual communion. At your feet, O my Jesus, I prostrate myself; and I offer you the penitence of my contrite heart, that it might be abstract and as nothing in your holy presence. May I adore you in the sacrament of your love, decide to receive you in worldly poverty but in my heart. In anticipation of receiving sacramental communion, I seek to be be able to be spiritually united with you. Come to me, O my Jesus, so that I may come to you. May your love enflame my entire being for life and for death. I believe in you. I hope in you. I love you. Amen.
There followed a period of silent prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which concluded with the recitation of the concluding prayer. The Holy Father then blessed all those who were in attendance. Then the Blessed Sacrament was reposed.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the celebration of the Mass
Let us pray today for our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned. They are suffering greatly as they reflect on the situations that have caused them to be put in prison. And also, as we think about their families: how they are doing, perhaps someone among them is sick, maybe they need something. We are close to those who are in prison today: they are suffering greatly in this time of incertitude and suffering.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the Mass celebrated on 19 March 2020
The gospel says that Joseph was just, which means that he was a man of faith, who lived by faith, a man who can be linked to a list of other people of faith who we remembered today in the Office of Readings. With people who have lived their faith as the foundation of everything they hope in, as a guarantee of that which we cannot see. There is no visible proof. Joseph is a man of faith. This is the reason why he was just: not only because he believed but because he lived his faith. He was a just man.
He was chosen to educate a man who was truly man but who was also God. God needed another god in order to educate him, but that wasn't possible, so he chose a just man, a man of faith, a man who was capable of being a man and also capable of talking with God, capable of entering into the mystery of God. This was Joseph's life. Capable of living his profession, his life as a man, and capable of entering into the mystery. A man who was able to speak with the mystery, to converse with the mystery of God. He was not a teacher, he entered into the mystery with the same natural ability with which he helped to advance his craft: with this precision of his craft. He was able to adjust the angles, one millimetre or more if necessary on a wooden board. He knew how to do that. He was capable of reversing things, making adjustments of the smallest of millimetres on the wood in order to perfect it. He was a just man, he was precise, but he was also able to enter into a mystery that he himself could not control. This is Joseph's holiness. He was able to live his life, to perfect his trade with precision and with professionalism, even of entering into the mystery. When the gospels speak of Joseph's dreams, they help us to understand this truth: how he would enter into the mystery.
I think about the Church today on this Solemnity of Saint Joseph: our faithful, our bishops, the priests, the consecrated men and women, the popes. We have the capability of entering into the mystery. We need to adjust according to prescriptions, some of which we can establish and others of which we cannot control. When the Church loses the ability to enter into the mystery, we lose our ability to adore. Only the prayer of adoration can help us to enter into the mystery.
Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace we need so that the Church can live in the concreteness of daily life and also in the concreteness of the mystery. If we are unable to do this, we will become a half-church, we will be a worse-off society, driven forward by a series of prescriptions but without the sense of adoration.
Entering into the mystery is not a matter of dreaming. Entering into the mystery is precisely this: a matter of adoration. Entering into the mystery is a matter of doing today what we will do in the future, when we arrive before the face of God: adore. May the Lord grant this grace to the Church.
Following the rite of Communion, the Holy Father offered these words today:
I invite all those who are watching this transmission to make a spiritual communion. At your feet, O my Jesus, I prostrate myself; and I offer you the penitence of my contrite heart, that it might be abstract and as nothing in your holy presence. May I adore you in the sacrament of your love, decide to receive you in worldly poverty but in my heart. In anticipation of receiving sacramental communion, I seek to be be able to be spiritually united with you. Come to me, O my Jesus, so that I may come to you. May your love enflame my entire being for life and for death. I believe in you. I hope in you. I love you. Amen.
There followed a period of silent prayer and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament which concluded with the recitation of the concluding prayer. The Holy Father then blessed all those who were in attendance. Then the Blessed Sacrament was reposed.
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