Fourth Sunday of St. Joseph (2026)

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins, and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

Our Lord will always enlighten those who seek him with a clean heart. To think about the life of St. Joseph is to discover a life full of joys and sorrows. Our Lord teaches us through the life of the holy patriarch that true happiness is never far from the Cross. If we bear suffering and trial with supernatural spirit, we will soon be rewarded with clarity and peace. With Christ at our side, sorrows turn into joys.

The Gospel relates the first sorrow and first joy of St. Joseph. We’re told “when Mary his mother had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:18). Joseph was well aware of the holiness of his spouse, even though he could not understand the evident fact of her maternity. He was deeply perplexed. He loved Our Lady with a pure and deep human love, yet he felt obliged by his upright conscience to follow the Mosaic law in this regrettable situation.

In order to protect Mary from public shame, Joseph decided to put her away privately. This was the most painful test for both Joseph and Mary. Just as his sorrow was great, so Joseph’s joy was immeasurable when at last he was shown the ways of God’s providence. We’re told that while he thought on these things—these were the things that he could not hope to fathom, that he was unable to share with anyone—and in the midst of this trial, Joseph was visited by an angel, who said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David, to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20).

All of Joseph’s doubts vanished at once. Everything had become clear. John Paul II says his soul had become filled with God’s peace. He now understood that he was the recipient of two incredible treasures, Jesus and Mary. He had been given for his wife the Mother of God. He had been given for a son the Son of God.

Joseph had become a different person. He became a unique guardian of the mystery hidden for ages in God. We can learn from Joseph’s first sorrow and joy that Our Lord will always enlighten those who seek him with a clean heart. God’s light can shine through the most perplexing situations imaginable.

How often does it happen that we fail to grasp the meaning of God’s plans? The why behind different circumstances and events? If we take care to trust in Our Lord, we will come to appreciate his divine wisdom. With that realization, we’ll discover a deep sense of peace and joy in our soul.

A few months later, Joseph and Mary set off from Nazareth to Bethlehem to enroll in the census decreed by Caesar Augustus. After this three or four-day journey, they were tired and worn out. This must have been especially true of Our Lady, mother with child. They had arrived at the town of their forefathers, but they had no place to stay. There was no room for them at the inn. There was no home for them anywhere.

We can imagine Joseph going from door to door in search of shelter and hospitality for his pregnant wife. At each door he would have made the same simple request: we have just arrived in town, my wife is about to deliver a child. Everywhere he must have received the same negative reply. Our Lady was probably close by on their donkey, a silent witness to this trying search.

What must this experience have been like for St. Joseph? What must have been his feelings at the sight of his weary wife, her clothing travel-stained, and every feature proclaiming her utter exhaustion? Eventually they learned of some caves in the outskirts of the town. Joseph took Our Lady to one of those places, which served as a stable. Our Lady could go no further. “And it came to pass while they were there, that the days for her to be delivered were fulfilled. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger” (Luke 2:6–7).

All of the anxiety and suffering that was there in that journey was quickly forgotten from the moment that Our Lady held the Son of God in her arms. St. Joseph would have realized that the Son of God was now his son as well. He would have kissed him and worshipped him. In the midst of this simplicity and poverty, a multitude of the heavenly host appeared and proclaimed “glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14).

One writer says Our Lady experienced a great joy in these moments, and St. Joseph participated in her happiness. He contemplated the way she looked upon her son, the way she spoke to him, the way she watched over him with loving reverence.

This alternating sorrow and joy should teach us that serving God is worth the effort, even though we will encounter difficulties and perhaps poverty and pain. In the final analysis, a single look from Our Lady will more than make up for the little and not-so-little sufferings which may come our way.

We’re told in St. Luke, “When eight days were fulfilled for his circumcision, his name was called Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21). By means of this rite, each male was initiated into the community of the chosen people. The ceremony took place either in the paternal home or in the local synagogue. The boy’s name was imposed at this time. The actual ceremony was sometimes performed by his father. The giving of names had a special significance for the Jewish people.

The name Jesus means Savior. It had been chosen by God himself and communicated through the message of the angel: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It was the desire of the Holy Trinity that the Son should commence his salvific mission on earth in suffering. It would seem fitting that Joseph was the one to inaugurate the mystery of the Redemption by shedding the first drops of his son’s holy blood. One writer said this blood would yield its full effect in the awful context of the Passion.

The child who cried upon the receipt of his name had thereupon begun his work of salvation. St. Joseph was himself pained at the sight of these first drops of blood. He was well versed in the scriptures, and he knew, if only in an imperfect way, that there would come a day when his son would have to shed his blood even to the last drop. Joseph was filled with joy to carry the child in his arms and call him Jesus, a name which countless people would later repeat with awe, with profound respect and devotion.

Joseph was always aware of the mystery involved in that name. We’re told in St. Luke that “when the days of her purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22). The temple was to be the setting for the purification of Our Lady, and the presentation of Our Lord as prescribed by Mosaic law.

Upon their arrival at the temple, the holy family were met by an elderly man called Simeon, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Simeon took the child into his arms, and with immense joy he praised God. Simeon prophesied that this young child would become a sign of contradiction which many would obstinately reject. He foretold that Mary would be intimately united with the redemptive work of her son; a sword would pass through her heart.

This sword signifies a deep and lasting wound. Mary then understood the immensity of her son’s sacrifice, as well as the immensity of her own. The sorrow in this sacrifice was to be all the greater because some would reject as unwanted the graces won for them by her son.

The prophecy of Simeon, the sword in the heart of Mary, is also the sword in the heart of Joseph, since they were of one heart, cor unum et anima una, one heart and one soul. One writer said this sword represents the battle for or against Jesus. Mary is therefore directly tied to the many diverse acts which constitute the history of mankind. It should be evident to us, however, that Joseph is also heavily involved in this struggle, inasmuch as he was a loyal and loving husband.

When Joseph heard the prophecy of Simeon, surely a sword must have pierced his heart as well. On that day in the temple, Joseph and Mary were given a more profound insight into the mystery of the Redemption which their son would bring to completion. St. Joseph was now able to understand a little better the sorrow of his wife and son. He made this suffering his own. He would probably never have forgotten the words that he heard in the temple that morning. Alongside the pain, there must also have been the joy of impending universal redemption.

Jesus was “a salvation prepared before the face of all peoples; a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:31–32). No pain is greater than beholding a stubborn resistance to grace. No joy is comparable to understanding that the Redemption is being carried out in our time, and that many souls are coming close to Christ.

We’ve all experienced the joy when a friend has returned to the sacrament of penance, or when a friend has given his or her life to God without conditions. One writer says: O most holy and lovable Virgin, help us to share in the sufferings of Jesus as you yourself did. Help us to have a profound horror of sin, an even greater desire for holiness, and a generous love for Jesus and his Cross. We would like to make reparation through our acts of love for your great sufferings and humiliations. We can ask St. Joseph, our father and lord, to help us by his powerful intercession to bring Jesus to many people who live out their lives apart from him.

St. Joseph was the custodian of Jesus and Mary, a father and spouse. Foster father of Jesus, and husband of Our Lady, the Mother of God. He was the person who was closest to Our Lord on earth after his mother. The legal and practical father of Jesus. The angel tells him to name the child Jesus; this was a right found only for fathers. He was the person who worked, suffered, and most cared for Jesus after Our Lady.

Our Lord must have been eternally grateful for all the things that he did for him. He must have given him a great heaven. That’s why many fathers of the Church think that after Mary, he is the greatest. Together with Our Lord and Our Lady, he forms with them the trinity on earth. He must have taught Jesus, the Son of God, to work, to read, to write. He must have taught him ways of speaking that must come out in the parables.

He was called in a special way to fulfill these two tasks: custodian of Jesus and Mary. In that vocation, all his other graces find their reason for being.

St. Jerome assigns some reasons for Mary’s espousal to Joseph: so that the ancestry of Mary be demonstrated by the genealogy of Joseph; so that she would not be stoned by the Jews as an adulteress; so that her running away to Egypt she may have support; and the martyr Ignatius adds even a further reason, so that the birth of Christ may be hidden from the devil.

Joseph deemed himself unworthy of the Virgin Mother’s company. He trembled on beholding that she bore in her womb the divinity incarnate. He couldn’t fathom the mystery. The angel tells us of the emotion of Joseph, which was fear. In scripture, the just men, when faced with divine mysteries, always express fear. If he suspected Mary of unfaithfulness, probably the emotion would not have been fear.

St. Josemaría loved St. Joseph so much that in his last years he used to say that his love grew in an impetuous manner. Each day that went by, he said that he loved him with a new impetus that was capable of overcoming all difficulties. Why? Because God had reserved for St. Joseph the highest place that was possible to occupy after that of Our Lord and Our Lady.

God asked St. Joseph for something very big. Our Lady was the Mother of God, and he had the mission of covering up the miraculous maternity of his wife. Jesus had to be a man like any other, so it was necessary for Joseph to be there. It was necessary for Joseph to participate in the game, you might say, in this divine game.

He should be a just man, as scripture says. A man who loved the will of God, and who always tried to put it into practice. The name of Joseph means increase. For St. Joseph, the life of Jesus was a continuous discovery of his own vocation. As a light, the vocation is a maturing in the faith. It means growing in the life of grace. It doesn’t exclude all traces of obscurity, which are proper to the life of faith on earth. It fills one’s entire life.

For many people who approach God, it’s a light that sheds meaning on their lives. It’s a possibility that they discover in the depths of their being, a light that gives meaning to their life so far and opens horizons for the future. By the light of faith, the person discovers God’s plan for him, is called to follow him. As an impulse, the vocation is a blossoming of charity, and therefore of freedom.

God’s call and a person’s response mean the beginning of a transforming friendship. St. Joseph, more than anyone else before or since, learned from Jesus to be alert to recognize the wonders of God, to have his mind and heart awake. We imitate St. Joseph by sanctifying our professional work. If our work is the work of a carpenter, well then that’s the one we’re going to sanctify. If it’s that of an intellectual, man or woman, well then that’s the one we’re going to sanctify. Which is more important, St. Josemaría would ask. The answer would be the one which is done with more love of God. It is the love of God that gives divine importance to human things.

In that, St. Joseph gave us a great lesson. The call from God is a grace of Our Lord. A gift. A choice made by divine goodness. Many young people change their lives when they decide to follow Our Lord. We can see them progress in their interior lives in a way that might previously have seemed unimaginable. With faith come morals. By the light of faith, we can recognize in this change of life a sign of God’s call as he touches the soul and prepares it to fulfill the mission on which it is set out.

This is a lasting impulse, an interior grace which lasts a lifetime. St. Josemaría liked to say that perseverance in a vocation is the clearest sign of its divinity. Vocation is a deep personal adherence that affects the whole person throughout their life. It grows with the person. Insofar as it is a free and irrevocable choice, it constantly helps one mature and produce the fruits of perseverance.

As a light and an impulse, the vocation exists at the level of theological faith. This means that even though it’s a special gift from God, and it’s important that it’s always perceived and presented in this way, recognizing it does not require extraordinary manifestations except in extraordinary circumstances.

St. Josemaría has said we cannot doubt that we have been deliberately chosen to be co-redeemers. Along with all the other reasons we have often considered, we have an external sign: the fact that we have been laboring so willingly in his work for no earthly gain. In St. John we’re told “the wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, Prelate of Opus Dei, has said while faith tells an individual that there is a general vocation to sanctity—communion with God in Jesus Christ—the existence of a special vocation for oneself is not the direct object of theological faith. It comes from natural knowledge of signs, which when seen in the light of grace of that special vocation, lead the mind to a moral certainty that one is being called. The fact that God normally does not impose a special vocation as an evident truth allows us to think that he wants the person’s freedom to come into play, not only in the moment of answering the call, but in shaping it as well.

There are also some attitudes that are good to nurture in souls to equip them to recognize a call from God and give themselves: generosity, cheerful self-giving, and especially loving as Christ taught; awareness of the grandeur of being part of something greater than ourselves, that is the beauty that surrounds the mystery of the Church and our participation in it.

In a climate of individualistic hedonism, these attitudes cannot always be taken for granted. In many cases, it’s an encounter with the mission for which one seems particularly suited, and with which one can identify with one’s own talents and aspirations, which sets the spark of vocational light in the soul. Each of the enormous variety of different vocations found in the Church draws its specificity not from the level of holiness acquired—because one and all are called to holiness—but rather from the particular ecclesial mission that each one is invited to carry out.

This responsibility can then take focus in a thousand different ways. God’s call is doubtlessly the fullest response, as beautiful as it is demanding, to the aspirations born in a young heart.

In The Forge, St. Josemaría says “Committed.” How I love that word. St. Joseph led a life of commitment. He obviously had a great love for his vocation. Each one of us should have a great love for our vocation. It is the best. We can ask him to help us to foster a sincere desire for holiness, to desire that goal of our vocation. Sanctity is continuously doing what God wants, not what we want. We have to try and work at our vocation every day, to polish up that vocation, to keep the message of our vocation very clear on a day-to-day basis.

When all these things happen, we see a great example in St. Joseph. “How I love that word,” St. Josemaría says, “we children of God freely put ourselves under an obligation to live a life of dedication to God, striving that he may have complete and absolute sovereignty over our lives.”

We can ask St. Joseph to help us to live out our vocation in the ways that God wants us each day of our life. From our meditation on his vocation, may we come to give ourselves in a greater way on a day-to-day basis.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW