No Less

Friday January 29, 2021 Year of St. Joseph

Good Pope John, now St. Pope John XXIII was known for being down to earth with his good humor and his quick wit.  Once, after visiting a Roman prison, a reporter asked the pontiff about his experience.  The pope replied, “it was wonderful.  It was, perhaps, the first time I have been to a prison and did not have to visit a relative!”  On another occasion, in an interview, Pope John was asked, “Your Holiness, how many people work at the Vatican?”  He paused for a moment, smiled and sheepishly said, “about half.”

His disposition made him the ‘people’s pope’ so affable and close to those he was called to shepherd.  But that was his ultimate call, to be shepherd, to be servant.  He knew he was called to be shepherd of the flock of the Lord. 

Reflecting on his own life, Pope John XXIII stated that his deepest hope was to be a servant.  His desire was that whoever saw him would say, “If this be the servant, how great must be the master.”  This is the call of all of us who take the name Christian…to reflect the master in our servanthood.

Truly, in the order of Salvation, Joseph and Mary were the first Servants of the Word of God.  Both altered the course of their lives to embrace serve the word made flesh, Jesus, the incarnate Word of the Father.  This vocation, this call to service began for Joseph and Mary, not at Bethlehem, but at Jesus’ conception; when the Word Made Flesh was knit in Mary’s womb.  Mary and Joseph assented to their vocation at Gabriel’s greeting and the nerve calming nocturnal dream message of an angel. Both accepted the call to serve the pre-born Savior. This was the incarnational moment.  And this was the seminal moment of all Christian’s vocation to serve the Word of God.  For followers of that same Savior then, CONCEPTION has CONSEQUENCES.

In stark contrast with the slaughter of the innocence under Herod, for those who follow Jesus, human life is sacred…for conception to natural death. No exceptions. No law can make wrong right. No situation, however painful or agonizing, can diminish the ultimate good and dignity of the human person.  The vocation of the Christian, as modelled by Joseph and Mary, is to serve life from conception to natural death…and all the parts and spaces in between. Because, for the Christian, if Conception has consequences, so does hunger, thirst, shelter, dignity, equity, justice, mercy, kindness, compassion, love …Human life in all its forms, stages and needs is an opportunity to serve and witness to the word made flesh.

The truth is Jesus was no less EMANNUEL in the WOMB as He was Messiah in the TOMB.  And the Risen Lord of Glory calls us to that truth.

Joseph and Mary teach us that, ALL LIFE MATTERS, and must be served and defended, in the name Jesus who took on flesh and came to redeem us all.

St. Joseph.  Pray for Us.

 READ and PRAY Psalm 139   (Here is an excerpt)

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”