Sometimes in our spiritual lives we can get stuck in the “me, myself and I” mentality where it’s all about me. We can lose sight of God the Father and what God can offer us in our lives. In our Responsorial Psalm this weekend, we hear Psalm 51. In the psalm, we encounter the word ‘me’ many times. Take a moment and pray with these powerful phrases:
create a clean heart in me
have mercy on me, O God
thoroughly wash me
cleanse me
create for me
a steadfast spirit renew within me
cast me not out from your presence
your Holy Spirit take not from me
give me back the joy of your salvation
a willing spirit sustain in me
Initially, I was struck by the selfishness of this prayer. However, when praying with it a few times, one can see it is not so much about ‘me’ but David, the psalmist, is asking God to do these things in, with and through him. It is truly a humble prayer, because it takes humility to realize that we cannot offer ourselves mercy, cleansing, creation, renewal, sustenance, etc. God the Father can! I encourage you to approach the Heavenly Father in prayer this week with great expectation that He can do these things in your life if you humbly open yourselves up to Him.
This is why I am so happy that this year is the year of St. Joseph. Many have chosen to consecrate themselves to St. Joseph this year. It has been a blessing to me to journey with you in this. For many, March 19 was the consecration date to make for St. Joseph as it was his feast day. One of the blessings in doing the consecration, according to Fr. Don Calloway, is that what St. Joseph offers us is an image of the Father in our lives. The more we get to know who St. Joseph was for Jesus, the more we can get to know who the Heavenly Father is for us. St. Joseph helps us to know the Father more in our lives. Let’s make it our mission to engage both the Heavenly Father and our spiritual father, St. Joseph, more and more this year!
May God’s peace and joy be with you,
Fr. Jeremy
P.S. It’s never too late to consecrate yourself to St. Joseph. You have the whole year to do this!
