DAILY MASS READINGS

Wednesday 19 March 2025

Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Solemnity

Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).

Readings at Mass

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First reading
2 Samuel 7:4-5,12-14,16

The Lord will give him the throne of his ancestor David

The word of the Lord came to Nathan:
‘Go and tell my servant David, Thus the Lord speaks: “When your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’

Commentary

The special importance of the readings for this feast of St Joseph is that they link Jesus to the promises made to the Old Testament people of God. The first reading gives us the promises which God made to David through his prophet Nathan. David had settled into his own house and proposed that he would build a Temple, a house for the Lord. Through Nathan God replied that, on the contrary, he himself would build a House for David, a House that would endure for ever. This line we see in Jesus.
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Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 88(89):2-5,27,29

His dynasty shall last for ever.

I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.

His dynasty shall last for ever.

‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.

His dynasty shall last for ever.

‘He will say to me: “You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.”
I will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.’

His dynasty shall last for ever.

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Second reading
Romans 4:13,16-18,22·

Abraham hoped, and he believed

The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham and his descendants on account of any law but on account of the righteousness which consists in faith. That is why what fulfils the promise depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of Abraham’s descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham who is the father of all of us. As scripture says: I have made you the ancestor of many nations – Abraham is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and calls into being what does not exist.
Though it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly as he had been promised: Your descendants will be as many as the stars. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’

Commentary

The second reading goes still further back, to Abraham, our father in faith. Paul meditates on the faith of Abraham. The fulfilment of all God’s promises responds to faith, not to any observance of Law or circumcision.
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Gospel Acclamation
Ps83:5

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
They are happy who dwell in your house, O Lord,
for ever singing your praise.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

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EITHER: ——–

Gospel
Matthew 1:16,18-21,24

How Jesus Christ came to be born

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.

Commentary

The gospel reading can be understood in two ways. Either Joseph was disturbed that Mary had got pregnant and was reassured by the angel, or – preferably – he thought he had no business to intervene where the Holy Spirit had been active, and for that reason had proposed to release Mary from her betrothal. The angel replies that, on the contrary, Joseph has no reason to be afraid. He has a duty to perform, to bring Jesus into the House of David by adopting him. Only a father names a son, so when Joseph names Jesus, that is a formula of adoption.
Joseph must have been an ideal father, wondering at his child, protecting him, but moulding him with gentle love and firmness. The adoptive father gave Jesus the concept of fatherhood which led him to call God his loving Father.

OR: ——–

Gospel
Luke 2:41-51a

Mary stored up all these things in her heart

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.
Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’
‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.
He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.

Commentary

This little incident, the only one told of Jesus’ youth, has two attractive lessons for us. Firstly, it is a joy to see Jesus behaving just like any other twelve-year-old. He was a real child, and a child of that age goes off exploring, adventuring, frog-hunting, sure that the all-powerful, all-knowing parents will know where he or she has gone. Parents meanwhile worry themselves sick at the unexplained disappearance. Mary, the young mother, knows her son and the ways of the twelve-year-old. She does not scold or expostulate, but just accepts him with love and relief. Secondly, Jesus’ reply gives us a glimpse of his relationship to the Father. Whether the correct translation is ‘in my Father’s house’ or ‘on my Father’s business’ matters little. Just as his questions to the teachers showed his wisdom, no doubt as yet unsharpened, so his reply to Mary shows his total absorption with his Father, inarticulate also. Jesus’ human mind needed to develop and become fully articulate. Even he needed to go on learning and clarifying to himself who and what he was. We learn only gradually who and what we are. A child’s development – even a divine child’s development – is not to be rushed
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