By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating Mass March 19, 2020, at Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Miami. Three seminarians were installed as acolytes during the Mass. The seminarians are “sheltering in place” at their seminary.
Many people describe religion as the history of man’s search for God. But Salvation History is not so much about our search for God but rather Salvation History is about God’s search for us.
In fact, the whole of Sacred Scripture is about God’s constant search for us. In fact, in the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve once they had eaten of the forbidden fruit hide from God – and God seeks them out and finds them.
Isn’t the real joy of the Gospel the fact that God has found us? Of course, today, we celebrate this feast of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Matthew presents the genealogy of Jesus according to the line of David. He wishes to establish the fact that Jesus is of the royal line of David, for the promised Messiah would be a Son of David. The genealogy proceeds as we would expect: so and so is the father of so and so, who is the father of so and so – until we get to Jacob who is the father of Joseph, then Matthew makes an important shift: He describes Joseph as the husband of Mary. “Of her is born Jesus who is the Christ.”
The Gospel reading gives us an Annunciation story. Of course, we’re much more familiar with Luke’s Annunciation story, that of the Archangel Gabriel’s surprising message to Mary and her obedient acceptance of God’s will. But equally compelling is Matthew’s Annunciation story, that of Gabriel’s annunciation of a message to Joseph that equally surprised him but one to which he also gave his obedient acceptance.
God, in order to bring to fulfilment his plan of salvation, wanted to count on certain collaborators: the ancient judges and prophets, John the Baptist, and God wanted to count on the collaboration of especially Mary and Joseph in order to bring to fulfillment his Divine Plan.
And so, Joseph made a home for them, a family for them. Here we see reflected the sacredness of the institution of the family itself. For the flourishing of human society, the family is not optional. John Paul II insisted, as did the Church Fathers at the Second Vatican Council, the good of persons and of society is affected by the healthy state of the family. In other words, healthy families mean healthy people and healthy societies. It should be obvious that much of the dysfunction that occurs in people’s lives, or in the life of society, has its roots in dysfunctions found in the breakup of the family today.
As I said, for the flourishing of human society, the family is not optional – even for God. When God chose to reveal himself, he did so within a family. He didn’t need Joseph to make Jesus – for the Word became flesh in the Virgin Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit and not through any human agency.
But God judged it necessary that Jesus be raised by Joseph who was married to his mother, Mary. Through the prayers of that just man, Joseph, the most chaste spouse of the ever-Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus, we welcome the Savior in our homes.
And, God took care that, in choosing Joseph for his role in our Salvation History, he chose someone who was a righteous man. Righteous but not self-righteous – and we see this in the evident kindness of Joseph when, after he first found out about Mary’s condition, he decided to divorce her quietly. (Betrothals were serious business, not easily broken as engagements can be today).
Had he been self-righteous – with the moral rigidity that the self-righteous often exhibit – he could have had Mary shunned (best case scenario) or stoned (worst case scenario). But, told by the Angel, “be not afraid,” he took Mary into his home. Mary and Joseph, in obedience to God’s will, collaborated in his plan – they allowed themselves to be needed by God so that Jesus could come into our world.
All of you – who make up this seminary community– are called to collaborate in God’s plan for the world. Like Joseph, each of us has his role to play. And God, while he didn’t have to, has decided to need you. And today he needs these men to be his acolytes. He counts on each one of us to play our role to bring the good news that, in Christ, God has found us.
