Sixth 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.

The liturgy tells us most blessed among men was Joseph, in being attended to the hour of his death by Our Lord himself and by his mother. Having thus triumphed over death, bedecked in celestial light, Joseph traveled to the house of the Father. The time had come for Joseph to leave this world and with it his precious treasures, Our Lord and Our Lady. They had been entrusted to his care. With his daily work and God’s help, Joseph had supported and looked after the Holy Family. He had taught the Son of God to be a craftsman. Besides countless other lessons passed on in such circumstances from father to son, he fulfilled his paternal responsibilities up to the last moment with complete faithfulness.

We do not know when exactly the holy patriarch passed away. Joseph’s final appearance in the gospel occurs when Jesus turned 12 years old. It seems likely that he died before Our Lord began his public life of preaching. When Jesus returned to Nazareth to preach, people asked each other, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” It was customary in the East to refer to sons through their father. People spoke of the mother only in the case of the father’s demise. In another social situation, we’re told that while Mary was invited to the wedding at Cana, no mention is made of Joseph. Based on what we now know of contemporary Jewish culture, it would be hard to believe that Joseph had been overlooked, nor is he mentioned at all during the public life of his son.

The people of Nazareth do speak of Jesus as the son of a carpenter, and this might suggest that perhaps not very much time had elapsed since the death of Joseph. He was still remembered as the carpenter who had taught his son his trade. If all of this speculation were not proof enough, we might think of the scene at Calvary with Our Lady standing at the foot of the Cross. Had Joseph been alive, without a doubt, he would have been there with her at his son’s side. Following the same line of reasoning, the fact that Jesus entrusted Mary to his beloved apostle St. John presupposes that Joseph had already died.

Most authors are of the opinion that this death took place shortly before Jesus began his public ministry. St. Joseph could not have wished for a happier or more peaceful death, attended as he must have been by Jesus and Mary. Jesus would comfort his father with the promise of everlasting life. Mary would take care of her husband with tremendous devotion. The filial piety of Jesus would have comforted Joseph in his last agony. Jesus probably told his father that their separation would be very brief; they would be in one another’s company again very shortly.

One writer says Jesus would speak to him of his invitation to the celestial banquet given by his heavenly Father. “Well done, good and faithful servant. The workday has come to a close for you. Come into my mansion to receive your just wage. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was homeless and you gave me shelter. I was naked and you gave me clothing.” Jesus and Mary would have closed the eyes of Joseph and prepared his body for burial. The man who would later weep before the tomb of his friend Lazarus surely wept now. What tears he must have shed at the death of his earthly father. Those who may have seen him weep would have uttered the same words as were later to be spoken at Bethany: “See how he loved him” (John 11:36).

It is perfectly fitting that St. Joseph has been proclaimed the patron of a good death. No one could ever have experienced a more serene departure from this life than Joseph’s in the physical presence of Our Lord and Our Lady. We can ask St. Joseph’s intercession whenever we’re helping someone to prepare for their death. We can ask his help when our time also arrives to go to the house of the Father. Joseph will lead us by the hand to Jesus and Mary.

One writer says that after Our Lady, St. Joseph enjoys the greatest glory afforded to a creature. This is only fitting considering his holiness on earth. Joseph gave his entire life to the care of the Son of God and his blessed mother. Since Jesus honored Joseph as his father during his earthly life, sincerely calling him father, he would certainly want to exalt Joseph in heaven after his death. At the moment of his death, the soul of St. Joseph went directly to the bosom of Abraham. This is where the patriarchs and the just from past ages awaited the hour of redemption. Joseph announced to the patriarchs that the Redeemer was on earth and that soon he would open the gates of heaven. The just then became filled with thanksgiving and expectation. They surrounded Joseph and intoned a canticle of praise which goes on and will continue until the end of time.

Since the 16th century, many authors have contended that the body of St. Joseph is now united in glory with his soul in heaven. They reason that the glorification of Joseph took place at the resurrection of Jesus. This teaching is grounded in part on the words of St. Matthew: “Many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose” (Matt. 27:52). Doctors of the church and theologians have argued that it would have been fitting for Jesus to resurrect his adopted father from the dead to affirm the triumph of the Cross. What would this encounter of Joseph and Jesus have been like? St. Francis de Sales says the glorious patriarch had earned a tremendous reward in heaven for all that he had done for the Son, preparing the way for his heavenly mission. How could Jesus deny his gift of eternal bliss to the person whom he had obeyed so faithfully on earth?

“I believe,” said St. Francis, “that on seeing Jesus, Joseph would have told him: ‘My Lord, remember that when you came down from heaven, I received you into my family and my home. When you appeared on the earth, it was I who took you tenderly into my arms. Now take me into yours. Just as I once fed you and looked after you on earth, be so kind now as to lead me to eternal life.’” Jesus would have been delighted to fulfill his wish.

A young person once asked St. Josemaría about the exact location of the body of St. Joseph. He responded, “His body is in heaven.” It is in heaven. Scripture tells us that many saints were resurrected when Our Lord overcame death. “I truly believe that St. Joseph was among that company.” To a similar question on another occasion, he answered, “Today is Saturday. Let us consider the joyful mysteries. Let us contemplate the fourth mystery, or the glorious mysteries, the assumption of Our Lady.” Tradition tells us that St. Joseph died in the presence of Our Lady and Our Lord. Some years later, when Christ left his tomb alive in glory, Scripture relates that many saints were also resurrected to proceed with Christ to heaven. Doesn’t it make sense that Jesus would have wanted Joseph at his side? The same man who had nurtured him as a father on earth.

Today we could contemplate the holy patriarch with his glorious body in the company of Jesus and Mary. He is ready to intercede for us in our every need. The liturgy says God made you father of the king and lord of his home; pray for us. St. Bernardino of Siena has written although it is not a defined dogma, we are free to believe that Jesus honored his adopted father in the same way as he honored his blessed mother. In the same way, he says, that Mary was to be assumed into heaven, Jesus, it is thought, deigned to glorify Joseph on the day of the resurrection. In this way, all of the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—who lived together on earth would reign together in heaven.

Theologians give several other reasons for the fittingness of this doctrine. The special dignity of Joseph increased in accord with his singular fidelity to his vocation. The gift of glorification would be a further confirmation of this heroic loyalty. Our Lady and Our Lord shared a great love for the holy patriarch. This love would have moved them to seek the glorification of St. Joseph rather than wait the final judgment. The greatness of Joseph’s holiness exceeds that of all the saints. It would be appropriate that God should reward him before the others.

One writer says, due to his closeness to Jesus and Mary, his intimacy with the Redeemer and the mother of Our Savior, Joseph’s relations in heaven, these two would surely have wanted to preserve him from corruption. As universal patron of the church, Joseph enjoys a special position among the faithful, which could very well extend to the privilege of freedom from corruption.

St. Joseph filled the mission which God had entrusted to him. His whole life, said Pope John Paul, was an unconditional gift to God for the good of the Holy Family and of all people. St. Paul VI says from his place in heaven he continues to have a deep and lively interest in the concerns of mankind. He has a special concern for those who share his vocation to serve the Son of God in their professional work. We can ask St. Joseph that many people might discover their vocation to Christian holiness. We can pray that our friends, colleagues, and relations will respond generously to this great gift from God. We pray to the holy patriarch that all Christians will be good instruments, well attuned to the Lord’s call. The harvest is great but the laborers are few.

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Jude and Simon? Are not also his sisters here with us?” And they were scandalized in regard of him (Mark 6:3). St. Joseph gives us these lessons, being as he was an ordinary man, a father of a family, a worker who earned his living with the efforts of his hands. St. Josemaría comments that St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. It is exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life. That’s why Scripture praises Joseph as a just man. In Hebrew, a just man means a good and faithful servant of God, someone who fulfills the divine will, or who is honorable and charitable towards his neighbor. A just man is someone who loves God and proves his love by keeping God’s commandments and directing his whole life towards the service of his brothers, his fellow men.

We can ask St. Joseph for the grace of formation to improve our professional work, to prepare to carry it out in a better way. We’re told in The Way, “Don’t succumb to that disease of character whose symptoms are a general lack of seriousness, unsteadiness in action and speech, foolishness—in a word, frivolity. That frivolity, mind you, which makes your plans so void, so filled with emptiness, would make of you a lifeless and useless dummy unless you react in time. Not tomorrow, but now.”

The fact of St. Joseph being an ordinary man who fulfilled his work well, lived a life of holiness, and gave us a meaning in our life is a reason for reflection and joy. We’re told in Christ Is Passing By, “Love brings joy, but a joy whose roots are in the shape of a cross. As long as we are on earth and have not yet arrived at the fullness of the future life, we can never have true love without sacrifice and pain. This pain becomes sweet and lovable; it’s the source of interior joy. But it is an authentic pain because it involves overcoming one’s own selfishness and taking love as the rule of each and everything we do.”

St. Joseph is a model of great holiness in ordinary life: in work, in family life, in adversities and joys, in the little things of every day. His trade was that of carpentry, which probably included the making of plows or yokes or doors or furniture, things of that nature. Being a man of solid virtue and character, he solved his problems in prayer and patience, and God himself came to his aid on several occasions. Jesus must have been eternally grateful to such a person and must have given him a great heaven. That’s why many fathers of the church think that after Our Lady, he is the greatest.

Together with Jesus and Mary, he forms the trinity on earth. He taught Jesus, the Son of God, to work, to read and write, taught him ways of speaking. We know very little about his life; the Gospels say very little about such a great man. He was silent. We don’t know how old he was when he married Our Lady. Some images portray him as an old person, but we can see that he was full of energy. He was loving, he was capable of planning ahead. He is so silent that no words of his have reached us. He passes almost hidden in Sacred Scripture, which doesn’t mean that he was inactive. He was hidden but effective.

We can see that he grew more each day in union with God and in the correspondence that God asked of him. We can ask that we might grow in the same way, in our correspondence, in the faithful fulfillment of our ordinary duties. We can ask this master of the interior life to help us deepen in our interior life, that we might seek God especially in the times that we dedicate exclusively to speaking with him, that period of meditation each day, and also always throughout the day through our presence of God. May we grow in the human and in the supernatural for the glory of God and the good of men.

In Christ Is Passing By, St. Josemaría said Jesus was to resemble Joseph in the way he worked, in the traits of his character, in the way he spoke. St. Josemaría loved him 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 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 Jesus and Our Lady. Our Lady was the mother of God. 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, and so it was necessary for Joseph to be there.

We can ask the holy patriarch to teach us how to work well, to work for love. St. Benedict said external monotony is an invitation to inner change, whereas novelty and constant variety short circuit the process of going deeper. One writer has said people have indeed the right to expect happiness from marriage, but only from the type of marriage that nature instituted, and only when it is lived with God’s grace in accordance with his natural design and his natural laws. Not to respect this design or laws is to turn it sooner or later into a source of misery and frustration.

The person who works, whatever his task, collaborates with God himself, becomes a little bit the creator of the world around us. St. Joseph, help us to fulfill all our duties, the ordinary humdrum ones of each day, the little duty of each moment, the little duties of family or social life. It’s a pathway that seems very ordinary and simple, but which must be made divine through love. God has placed us in a particular place and he wants us to sanctify ourselves in that particular situation, right where we are. That’s where his graces will help us to a maximum degree. The sanctification of ordinary work is very much at the heart of the spirit of Opus Dei. It’s a means to reach God, not an end in itself.

The fact that Our Lord was known as the carpenter and the son of the carpenter has great significance for us. We can turn to Our Lady and ask her to help us, that she might lead us closer to her spouse and to savor the greatness of St. Joseph in everything we do.

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.