One Minute Reflection – 6 February – Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 6:1–6 and the Memorial of St Dorothy of Caesarea (Died 311) and St Paul Miki SJ (c 1564-1597) & Companions/Martyrs of Nagasaki – Martyrs
“Is not this the carpenter?”…Mark 6:3
REFLECTION – “Joseph loved Jesus as a father loves his son and he cared for Him, giving Him the best he had. Joseph took charge of this child as he had been commanded and turned Jesus into a workman, passing on his craft to Him. That is why their neighbours in Nazareth, when they spoke of Jesus, called Him, roughly speaking, a “carpenter” or “the son of a carpenter” (Mt 13:55)…
Jesus must have resembled Joseph in His traits of character and ways of working and talking. His realism, His powers of observation, His way of sitting at table and breaking bread, His attraction for explaining His teaching in a concrete way by taking His examples from everyday things, reflect what Jesus’ childhood and youth were like and therefore His relationship with Joseph. What depths there are in this mystery! This Jesus, who is a man, who speaks with the accent of a particular region of Israel, who resembles a workman named Joseph, is indeed the Son of God. And who can teach God anything? Nevertheless, He is truly man and His life is a normal one – first a child, then a young man who helps Joseph in the workshop and finally, a mature man in the fullness of age: “Jesus advanced in wisdom and grace before God and men” (Lk 2:52).
At the human level Joseph was Jesus’ master. Day by day he surrounded Him with tender affection and cared for Him with joyful self-denial. Is this not a very good reason for thinking this man to be just (Mt 1:19) – this saintly patriarch in whom the Old Testament faith reaches its climax as a master of the interior life?”…St Josémaria Escriva de Balaguer (1902-1975)
“According to the people of Nazareth, God is too great to humble Himself to speak through such a simple man! It is the scandal of the Incarnation – the unsettling event of a God made flesh, who thinks with the mind of a man, works and acts with the hands of a man, loves with a human heart, a God who struggles, eats and sleeps like one of us.
The Son of God overturns every human framework – it is not the disciples who washed the feet of the Lord but, it is the Lord who washed the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-20). This is a reason for scandal and incredulity, not only in that period but in all ages, even today.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 8 July 2018
PRAYER – Lord God, source of strength and grace, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to love the Word of Your Son. Make us recognise Your Son in our daily lives and be generous in sharing our faith to all we meet. Grant, we pray, that the prayers of St Dorothy of Caesarea and St Paul Miki and companions, may help us to manifest zeal and courage. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in unity with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 