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Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Husband of Mary. March 19 this
year falls on Holy Wednesday so the the Masses of St. Joseph were
said last Saturday. On May 1 he will again be honored as St.
Joseph the Worker.
St. Joseph is not only a powerful intercessor
for us husbands and parents. Meditating on his life teaches men the
perfect example—next to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God—of what
it means to live our Christian faith, how to respond to God’s call
for us to be like Christ and live and work for others.
“Others” are our spouses, children and parents, our co-workers
and bosses, friends, relatives and neighbors, the Church.
St. Joseph’s life teaches a lot of lessons.
How to develop humility. How to live the spirit of service. How to
appreciate our day-to-day tasks as gifts from God so we can be like
Him. How to learn to make our most ordinary work divine, a
means to help others become better people.
Read Saint Josemaria Escriva’s homily “In
Joseph’s Workshop” in Christ Is Passing By and Federico
Suarez’s Joseph of Nazareth. Sinagtala editions of both books are
available at most National and St.Paul’s book stores.
Jesus rejected the Zealots
St. Joseph could never have joined the Zealot
party. They were Jewish nationalists bent on violently driving the
Roman conquerors from Palestine. They tried to recruit Jesus
but He rejected them. He told them he was not interested in ruling
this world. Engaging in political battles ran counter to His
mission.
One of Jesus’ disciples was Simon the Zealot.
He left the rebel party when he became a follower of Christ.
The Zealots hated Jesus. They shouted Barabbas’ name when Pilate
asked the crowd who—between the “brigand, rioter and murderer”
and “the King of the Jews”—should be released. The
Zealots were most likely also those who cried “Crucify Him!
Crucify Him!” loudest when Pilate asked what he should do with
Jesus.
CBCP doctrinally correct
The Zealots dealt with Jesus the way those who
want the CBCP to go beyond what it has already done—berate
the corruption of the Arroyo administration and ask it to reform.
They want the CBCP to join in the call for President Arroyo’s
resignation or ouster.
Like Jesus, the Catholic bishops’ Episcopal
conference is now being maligned for sticking to its
doctrinally-correct role of only serving as a source of advice and
spiritual guidance. The Zealots of our day are crucifying the
Catholic bishops—and the hierarchy as a whole—for not joining in
the political struggle. They want the bishops to turn their
backs on their mandate from Jesus and the Code of Canon Law.
The bishops are first of all priests—just as
Jesus was and is. Tomorrow, Holy Thursday, commemorates the
institution by our Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Eucharist,
the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the sacrament of the priesthood (Holy
Orders) at the Last Supper.
Renewal of commitment
In the morning’s Chrism Mass the bishops will
lead their priests in renewing their commitment to priestly service.
Christ himself asked his first priests—the apostles—to totally
dedicate themselves to His new covenant.
The bishops asks his priests: “At your
ordination you accepted the responsibilities of the priesthood out
of love for the Lord Jesus and His Church. Are you resolved to
unite yourself more closely to Christ and to try to become more like
Him by joyfully sacrificing your own pleasure and ambition to bring
his peace and love to his brothers and sisters?” Each of the
priests will reply: I am.
Answering the second set of questions, each
priest also affirms that he is “resolved to be faithful ministers
of the mysteries of God, to celebrate the Eucharist and other
liturgical services with sincere devotion” and also
“resolved to imitate Jesus Christ the head and shepherd of the
Church, by teaching the Christian faith without thinking of [his]
own profit, solely for the well-being of the people [he is] sent to
serve.”
If every priest—as alter Christus, other
Christs—worked and prayed so hard as required no one would have
the time for political activism. The same applies even more to
bishops.
Canon 287 of the Code of Canon Law says:
“Section 1. Most especially, clerics are
always to foster that peace and harmony based on justice which is to
be observed among all persons.”
“Section 2: Clerics are not to have an active
role in political parties and in the direction of labor unions
unless the need to protect the right of the Church or to promote the
common good requires it in the judgment of the competent
ecclesiastical authority.”
Good shepherds
Most of our bishops have been good
shepherds. Their CBCP pastoral letters and statements have
offered guidelines. It is up to the lay Catholic faithful, not
our priests and bishops, to decide with discernment—after deep
prayer and meditation, and in the communal setting of our prayer
groups and basic Christian communities, and in our parishes—what
political action we must take.
And we have a duty to help our bishops resist
the Zealots.
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