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The Forward Day by Day Meditation for March 20, 2023
We post a Forward Day by Day Meditation for every day of the year - and we invite you to consider them and talk about them here. If you'd like to comment, you can log in to Disqus with your Facebook, Twitter, or Google account; just click "Login," or the appropriate logo below. Or, you can sign up for a Disqus account; just use the entry form below, or click the "D" logo to start the process. You can find the past week's Meditations in the box at right (or below, for mobile users), or search for previous entries on the Archives page. You can also listen to the Forward Day by Day podcast anywhere you find podcasts!
MONDAY, March 20 SAINT JOSEPH
Luke 2:49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
This twelve-year-old Jesus has parents—and they are upset. Rightly so. Jesus abandons them and the family caravan without permission, remaining at the temple to converse with rabbis.
Joseph is Jesus’s father—some say, “adopted father,” while others say “earthly father.” Regardless, it is clear that Joseph is Jesus’s father in such a way that strengthens rather than denigrates Jesus’s relationship to God as Father.
I know this because my second child is also adopted from birth. Never do I look at my daughter and think anything other than, “There she is, my daughter, my child.” God chooses Joseph in this way of mystery, and he serves as father to Jesus, including in the arena of discipline.
MOVING FORWARD: Reflect on the relationship between Joseph and Jesus. What do you imagine were the challenges of parenting Jesus?
PRAY for the Diocese of Rokon (South Sudan)
Ps 89:1-29 or 89:1-4, 26-29 | 2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16 | Romans 4:13-18 | Luke 2:41-52
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