One day after the feast day of St. Joseph, Cardinal Wilton Gregory visited the Beltsville, Maryland school and parish named after the foster father of Jesus to celebrate a votive Mass for students there.
“Joseph was a dreamer,” Cardinal Gregory told the students from St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School. “His two most important dreams tell us all we need to know about Joseph.”
The cardinal was referring to the fact that little is known of the historical Joseph. The only mention of him in the Gospels are in Matthew – the first and second chapters and 13:55 – and in Luke – again, the first and second chapters, and in 4:22. He is mentioned once in passing in John (1:44), and not at all in Mark. He was betrothed to Mary at the time of Jesus’s birth.
Joseph’s dream where he was encouraged not to forsake his betrothal to Mary after he discovered she was going to be the mother of Jesus, Cardinal Gregory said, “tells us Joseph really, really loved Mary.”
“Joseph was a man of great kindness,” the cardinal said. “And he married his dream.”
Referring to St. Joseph’s dream in which an angel warned him to take flight into Egypt after the birth of Jesus, the cardinal said Joseph “had a great love for Mary and he was a protector of his family – Mary and Jesus.”
“I pray you students here at St. Joseph have important dreams of what you want to do with your lives,” the cardinal said. “St. Joseph School is a place to help you make dreams come true … I hope you dream to do great things with your lives.”
Noting that he was celebrating the Mass one day after the March 19 feast day of the saint, Cardinal Gregory said that “since this is St. Joseph Parish and St. Joseph School, I think it is appropriate we have a two-day celebration.”
While the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, is celebrated March 19, the saint is honored two other times in the Church’s liturgical calendar: May 1 is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and on the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, he celebrated as the foster father of Jesus and protector of the Holy Family.
Father Rob Maro, pastor of St. Joseph Parish; Father Timothy Baer, pastor of St. Nicholas Parish in Laurel; and Father Johnson John, a member of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate who is in residence at St. Joseph Parish, were concelebrants of the liturgy for the students.
The school is jointly sponsored by St. Joseph Parish, on whose grounds it is located; St. Nicholas Parish in Laurel, Maryland; and St. Hugh of Grenoble Parish in Greenbelt, Maryland.
After Mass, Cardinal Gregory was presented with a picture of St. Joseph drawn by one of the students. In accepting the gift, the cardinal said that “one thing I love about celebrating Mass for students is you pray and sing so well. You are so enthusiastic.”
Prior to departing, the cardinal also paid a quick visit to the school where he was greeted by some of the students. He observed that the school had a St. Joseph table set up in the hallway. A popular custom in many countries is to celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph by creating home altars or tables decorated with a statue of the saint and laden with flowers and foods such as cakes, breads and pasta.
Erin Meunier, the principal of St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School, told the cardinal that at her school each class prepared their own St. Joseph table.
“St. Joseph’s table reminds us we have to care for the poor,” the cardinal said.
