Grant us, Lord, that we may serve you... with a pure heart like St. Joseph, who gave himself to serve your Son....
As we prepared for today's Solemnity by considering the devotion of the seven Sundays of St. Joseph, we meditated on the principle enunciated by St. Thomas, which applies to the choice of St. Joseph, and to every vocation: "Those whom God chooses for something he prepares and arranges in such a way that they are suitable for it". God's faithfulness is shown in the help he always gives, in whatever situation of age, work, health, etc., in which we find ourselves, so that we may faithfully fulfil our mission on earth. St. Joseph responded gently and promptly to the countless graces he received from God.
We should often meditate that the Lord will never fail us; He always awaits our firm correspondence: in our youth, in our maturity, and when there is not much time left between us and God; when it seems that everything is in place to be loyal and in those moments when it might seem that everything invites us to break the commitments we have made.
Not feeling God at times - or for long periods of time - not feeling attracted to dedicate the best part of the day to God, may perhaps be due to the fact that one's soul is full of oneself and of everything that is happening around us. In these moments, fidelity to God is fidelity to interior recollection, to the effort to come out of this state, to the life of prayer, to that prayer in which the soul remains alone, naked before God and asks Him, or looks at Him?
God expects from all of us an alert, loving attitude, full of initiative. The heart of the Holy Patriarch was always full of joy, even in the most difficult moments! We must ensure that our divine work on earth, our journey towards God is always new, just as love is always new and original....
Today we ask St. Joseph for that inner youthfulness that always gives true dedication, the renewal from its very foundations of these firm commitments that we have made one day. We also ask him for so many who expect from us that inner joy, the consequence of self-giving, which will draw them to Jesus, whom they will always find very close to Mary.