St. Joseph Day (2021-03-19)

 [__ver-03__]  SOLEMNITY 19 March 2021, Feast of St.Joseph

  

[__00-a__]    On some ordinary everyday level, I admire St. Joseph and Jesus our Savior, because of their skills as carpenters and builders.

I admire those who can build, repair, or make, for example, a new door and floor out of raw materials or who can repair a house, room, or a structure.

My grandfather on my mother’s side was JOSEPH – and he had a toolshed in the Bronx that could have been its own home improvement show on HGTV. My mother told me how impressed she was with my grandfather and that others were also with his ability to respond and repair.

This led to a famous “ultimatum” or prediction by my grandmother who said to my mother: “You’ll never marry – or find – a man like your father.”

My grandmother’s words kind of fell on deaf ears because my mother – who adored my grandfather – knew she would not marry a man like my grandfather and has been very happily married to a man different from my grandfather for 50+ years.

“There will never be another man like him”, a statement made of “Joseph” my grandfather is also made of others in our own families – other patriarchs or matriarchs or loved ones.

My grandfather – Joseph – was known for his independent spirit, his loyalty, dedication and work which he passed on to my mother, to my aunt, and to my uncle (also Joseph).

So, I continue to admire those who can build, repair and those who – in material ways – can make the best out of a less than ideal situation or condition. Those who can manufacture– as the saying goes - LEMONADE out of LEMONS.

Those who can solve, fix, repair, and can use a powerdrill, router and chain saw. I can do some of these things, but my skills are limited.

[__00-b__]    Often, what we are praying for, petitioning God for is some kind of improvement or step up or step out of the trouble or difficulty we are currently in.

          And, it’s good to turn to God:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in times of trouble“ (Psalm 46)

          “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Psalm 34)

          “If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor” (Psalm 127)

          We are called to remember not only to pray for what we do not have, but also to pray for the grace, the peace, the spirit to recognize who we truly and what we are capable of right now.

          And, thus to accept the will of God.

[__00-c__]     Certainly, “conditions” or  circumstances could be better. Right now, we pray for our young girls and boys, young people who suffer because they cannot go to school, cannot be with their friends, teachers, coaches in a normal way.

          We pray for children around the world in such situations.  Our children bear a heavy burden.

          What I know so many mothers and fathers have been striving to give them is love, assurance, structure and to let them know that they are not alone, that they are loved, that they have a community – albeit a smaller community within the family and within the home  and that they have the love of God and that God watches over them and that through this connection to God and the church – whether virtually or in person – their prayers and voices and actions have meaning.

          And, because other children are going through the same things – what they experience now – apart from others – does have a big effect on everyone. They are not abandoned.

[__00-d__]         Joseph – husband of Mary – would have been someone who could easily have felt abandoned, alone and NOT part of a larger community.

          But, Joseph was able to hear God speaking to him in private. Thus, Joseph – father 1^st / carpenter 2^nd – did not have to fix or hammer out or sand down anything that was broken. He was already part of a beautiful structure, the whole and Holy Family for whom he was caring.

          He had what he needed. It is my prayer for you and for me  - that we will recognize the gifts we already possess and put them to good use.

 

[__01__]    What’s a novena?

          Officially speaking, a novena is a time of prayer over 9 days which are has become traditionally significant it in the church.  …. Over time, we as Roman Catholics have associated the  novena with Christian themes such as the 9 months Jesus spent in the womb, the giving up of His spirit at the 9^th hour of Good Friday, and the 9 days spent in Upper Room with 12 Apostles between the Ascension and Pentecost. That’s what a Novena is.

          Here is another possible explanation, but I am sure this does not apply to any of you.  I am sure this was someone else who came to rectory front door, ringing the bell.

          One day, years ago, a young person came to door of the rectory [drove up to the rectory in an beat-up car ?] when Father Jim Chern was a parish priest here and asked: “Father, I really need to upgrade and I need a Range Rover Sport.  What type of Novena should I say to get a Range Rover Sport.” And Father Jim responded; “What’s a Range Rover Sport?”

          Then, a few years later the same person stops in again. [drove up to the rectory in the same beat-up car ?]  He did not get the Range Rover and he asks Father Bob Suszko: “Father, I need to upgrade and I need an Infiniti QX 56. What type of Novena should I say to get one?” And Father Bob says: “What’s an Infiniti QX 56 ?”

          Now this person obtained neither the Range Rover Sport nor the Infiniti QX 56, but he still desired an upgrade and rang the rectory doorbell one more time. This time, I answered.

          He said to me, “Father, I need to upgrade – I cannot get around like this. What type of Novena should I say to get a Tesla Model S?“     

          And, I said: “what’s a novena?”

 

[__02__]    When I was first introduced to the idea of prayer and praying not only for the needs of others … but also for my own needs, a spiritual director said this to me …

          At the time, I was not sure what it meant to pray – with the right attitude – for something.

          Ask God not only for what you want, but also ask God to help you to know what your greatest desire is.

          It also is helpful and necessary that we recognize the desires that are in us also may be of the good spirit (of God) or of the evil spirit (not of God).

          St. Paul says this about the assistance God gives to know what we really need and hope for:

          “Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness (Romans 8:___)

[__03__]    Each us has desires, hopes that we would like to see fulfilled, even miracles we are praying for. But we also need God’s help and guidance to discern and know our own selves.

          I am sure that many of you are praying for needs, petitions much more significant than a new luxury automobile, than a Range Rover or Tesla. In fact, I am sure that many of you are “sacrificing” or giving up on luxuries in your own prayer, fasting and almsgiving this Lenten season, because of your prayer intentions.

          But, we are called to remember that we are not doing this alone.

          The miracle of the Incarnation – made possible by both Mary Mother of God and Joseph as foster-father shows God’s plan coming to life, not our plan.  The miracle of the Resurrection shows God’s plan coming to life after Jesus willingly lays down his life for us, his friends.

          But, this would not have been my plan?

          Praying, we come to appreciate not only our own conclusions but to know God’s commitment to and belief in us, he wants to hear our prayers. Also, I am called to pray to God and to Jesus not just that I will be able to fix and repair everything…

          But, that I will participate in their architecture, their structure, their plan for my life, for our lives. That’s what a Novena is.

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