May St. Joseph gives us the ability to dream great things…
According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis prayed this today, March 20, 2017, during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, while reflecting on the figure of St. Joseph.
The day’s liturgy commemorated the Solemnity of St Joseph, normally celebrated on March 19, but transferred when that date falls on a Sunday in Lent, as it did yesterday.
Pope Francis drew his inspiration from today’s Gospel which tells of how Joseph, being obedient to the angel who appeared to him in a dream, took Mary, who had conceived by the Holy Spirit, as his wife.
Silent, Obedient
Mary’s loving husband, the Holy Father highlighted, gives young people “the ability to dream, to risk, and to undertake the difficult tasks that they have seen in dreams.”
Silent and obedient–the Pontiff with a great devotion to St. Joseph stressed–Joseph is a man who carries with him the promises of “ancestry, heritage, paternity, sonship, stability.”
“And this man, this dreamer,” he said, “is able to accept this duty, this grave duty.”
Saint Joseph, the Pope said, is a man “who can tell us many things, but who does not speak,” “the hidden man,” “the man of silence,” “who has the greatest authority in that moment without letting it be seen.”
Ability to Dream
“He is the man who doesn’t speak but obeys, the man of tenderness, the man capable of carrying forward the promises so that they might become solid, certain; the man who guarantees the stability of the Kingdom of God, the paternity of God, our sonship as children of God. I like to think of Joseph as the guardian of weaknesses, of our weaknesses too: he is able to give birth to so many beautiful things from our weaknesses, even from our sins.”
While stressing that Joseph is the guardian of weaknesses so that they might become firm in faith, Francis reminded those present however, that he received this duty in a dream.
God’s dream of saving all of us, of redemption, Francis said, was entrusted to him.
“Today I want to ask, grant to all of us the ability to dream, that when we dream great things, beautiful things, we might draw near to the dream of God, the things God dreams about us. [I ask] that he might give to young people – because he was young – the capacity to dream, to risk, to undertake the difficult tasks they have seen in dreams.
“And I ask him,” Pope Francis concluded, “to give to all of us the faithfulness that tends to grow when we have a just attitude – Joseph was just – [the faithfulness that] grows in silence, with few words; that grows in tenderness that guards our own weaknesses and those of others.”
The day’s liturgy commemorated the Solemnity of St Joseph, normally celebrated on March 19, but transferred when that date falls on a Sunday in Lent, as it did yesterday.
Pope Francis drew his inspiration from today’s Gospel which tells of how Joseph, being obedient to the angel who appeared to him in a dream, took Mary, who had conceived by the Holy Spirit, as his wife.
Silent, Obedient
Mary’s loving husband, the Holy Father highlighted, gives young people “the ability to dream, to risk, and to undertake the difficult tasks that they have seen in dreams.”
Silent and obedient–the Pontiff with a great devotion to St. Joseph stressed–Joseph is a man who carries with him the promises of “ancestry, heritage, paternity, sonship, stability.”
“And this man, this dreamer,” he said, “is able to accept this duty, this grave duty.”
Saint Joseph, the Pope said, is a man “who can tell us many things, but who does not speak,” “the hidden man,” “the man of silence,” “who has the greatest authority in that moment without letting it be seen.”
Ability to Dream
“He is the man who doesn’t speak but obeys, the man of tenderness, the man capable of carrying forward the promises so that they might become solid, certain; the man who guarantees the stability of the Kingdom of God, the paternity of God, our sonship as children of God. I like to think of Joseph as the guardian of weaknesses, of our weaknesses too: he is able to give birth to so many beautiful things from our weaknesses, even from our sins.”
While stressing that Joseph is the guardian of weaknesses so that they might become firm in faith, Francis reminded those present however, that he received this duty in a dream.
God’s dream of saving all of us, of redemption, Francis said, was entrusted to him.
“Today I want to ask, grant to all of us the ability to dream, that when we dream great things, beautiful things, we might draw near to the dream of God, the things God dreams about us. [I ask] that he might give to young people – because he was young – the capacity to dream, to risk, to undertake the difficult tasks they have seen in dreams.
“And I ask him,” Pope Francis concluded, “to give to all of us the faithfulness that tends to grow when we have a just attitude – Joseph was just – [the faithfulness that] grows in silence, with few words; that grows in tenderness that guards our own weaknesses and those of others.”
