Draw strength for Lent from saintly examples

The month of March always finds us celebrating the great penitential season of Lent and this year is no exception.

However, just as it happens in Advent, so it happens in Lent that the Church celebrates some beautiful and special feasts which give us a break in the discipline of the season. During this month, we will celebrate the solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on March 19, and the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord on March 25.

It is not just a coincidence that the Church celebrates these two feasts, but it is intentional that we honor the two persons chosen by God to be the mother of His Son and the foster father of His Son and the guardian of the Holy Family. In fact, if we meditate on the lives of Our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, we will learn better what it means and what it takes to follow the Lord and do His will in daily life.

Mary’s assent to God’s will for her at the Annunciation not only fashioned the rest of her earthly life, but it made her the very pattern of holiness for the Church. Her fiat should be ours. Lent helps us rid ourselves of all that prevents us from saying with her, “let it be done to me as you say.” Lent helps us correct our priorities so that we do God’s will and not our own.

While we do not have a single word recorded of Saint Joseph, what we have is a powerful description of a good and just man who lived his life of obedient faith trusting in God’s will for him and his spouse and the Child she carried. Lent helps us cultivate the faith of Saint Joseph, an obedient faith, just as it helps us cultivate the Marian faith of submitting to God’s will and making His will my will.

So, as these two beautiful feasts of the month of March occur, be sure to be at Mass and give to Saint Joseph and to Our Blessed Mother the honor we must give them. In doing so, we extol the greatness of the Lord God and give Him glory just as Our Blessed Mother and her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph, gave Him glory. In Saint Joseph and Our Blessed Mother, we have the two best models for us to emulate in daily life. Enjoy these two feasts this Lent and, better, allow Lent to strengthen your faith, hope and charity in anticipation of the greatest moment in human history, the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead.