Theology

After the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph is the greatest of the saints. He is the one “into whose custody God entrusted his most precious treasures,” Jesus and Mary. 

In his Apostolic Exhortation Custodian of the Redeemer, Pope St. John Paul II elaborates on this statement of Pope Leo XIII, as it touches upon Mary and Joseph’s vocation with respect to the Incarnation of the Eternal Word,

[This is] the mystery in which Joseph of Nazareth “shared” like no other human being except Mary, the Mother of the Incarnate Word. He shared in it with her; he was involved in the same salvific event; he was the guardian of the same love, through the power of which the eternal Father “destined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5).

And later,

[If] Mary is the Lord’s humble servant, prepared from eternity for the task of being the Mother of God. Joseph is the one whom God chose to be the “overseer of the Lord’s birth,” the one who has the responsibility to look after the Son of God’s “ordained” entry into the world, in accordance with divine dispositions and human laws (Custodian of the Redeemer, 8).

The Church therefore honors St. Joseph on March 19 for his faithfulness to God and to his vocation as Custodian of the Redeemer.

March 19

The Solemnity of the Annunciation is celebrated nine months before the Nativity of the Lord, a feast that came about earlier historically. The Annunciation recalls the day when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and revealed God’s will that she become the Mother of the Son of God and she accepted. At that moment, the “Word became Flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches,

CCC 484-486 The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates “the fullness of time,” the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the “whole fullness of deity” would dwell “bodily.” The divine response to her question, “How can this be, since I know not man?”, was given by the power of the Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”

The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of Life,” is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own.

The Father’s only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is “Christ,” that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit, from the beginning of his human existence, though the manifestation of this fact takes place only progressively: to the shepherds, to the magi, to John the Baptist, to the disciples. Thus the whole life of Jesus Christ will make manifest “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.”

March 25

Holy Week

Holy Week honors the week that changed the world. From Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, there were many events that are vital to our faith, including the Institution of the Eucharist, the Passion of Jesus, and His Resurrection from the dead.

Holy Week, particularly Christ’s Passion and Death, is a great reminder of God’s Love for humanity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 604) says,

By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” God “shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

March 29–April 5