The Bishop of Nottingham has urged young people across his diocese to “never dismiss their dreams” on the Solemnity of St Joseph.
During a live-streamed Mass to all schools across the diocese, Bishop Patrick McKinney described how dreams were a constant theme in the life of St Joseph, through which God spoke to Joseph and guided him.
In his homily, Bishop Patrick asked the young people of his diocese:
“Do you have dreams? I hope you do have dreams about what you would like to do as you grow up. Perhaps be a scientist and discover great vaccines to protect people; or be the third-ever woman Prime Minister of the UK, or be a teacher, and help young people to learn and grow in their ideas, or be a priest or nun, or whatever it is that you dream of becoming. Many of you probably do have dreams of what you’d like to do with your life.”
He continued:
“Dreams like that are good. Never dismiss dreams because, as you see what happened in St Joseph’s life, God can make use of dreams to help guide us as to what he may wish for us to do with our lives. In and through our dreams it can become clearer how Christ may be calling us to follow him as his disciples.”
The Mass was celebrated from the bishop’s chapel at Bishop’s House, Nottingham and marked the launch of the diocese’s Year of St Joseph to coincide with the wider Year of St Joseph, which is currently being celebrated throughout the global Catholic Church.
Bishop Patrick explained to the young people participating, that according to the Gospels, St Joseph had four significant dreams “in which God speaks to him and guides his actions”:
“The first is when, in a dream, he’s told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife although she’s going to have a baby. The next is when he’s warned to escape Herod’s plan to kill baby Jesus by leaving their home and escaping with Mary and Jesus into Egypt; the next dream is when God gives him the message that it’s safe now to leave Egypt and return to Israel; and the fourth and final dream is when he’s guided not to settle with his family in Judea, but to go and make their family home in Galilee.”
St Joseph is the Patron of the universal church along with fathers, unborn children, workers, expectant mothers and many more important causes.
The Solemnity of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on 19 March.
You can read the full text of Bishop McKinney’s homily:
It’s been quite a couple of nice days for me because my baptismal names are Patrick and Joseph. As you know, Wednesday was the Feast of St Patrick and today it’s the Feast of St Joseph. There’s way more known about St Patrick than there is about St Joseph, but it’s St Joseph rather than St Patrick who was chosen by Pope Pius IX in 1870 to be the Patron Saint of the whole Universal Church, and now Pope Francis has declared this year to be a celebration of St Joseph.
So what’s so special about St Joseph? He’s often shown in paintings as an older man, someone much, much, older than Mary. But there’s nothing in the actual gospels to indicate that either Mary or Joseph were anything other than the age for marriage which, according to Jewish custom, was around 13 for girls and 18 for young men. So, yes, Joseph was older than Mary, but probably by only a few years.
Joseph doesn’t appear in many episodes of the gospels, but neither really does Mary. Most of the gospels are all about Jesus, as you would expect. Nevertheless, Joseph is involved in a few very important events: in the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus; in the birth of Jesus; in the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple; when he, Mary and the child Jesus need to escape from King Herod by travelling to Egypt and, finally, when Jesus was discovered lost when the family were travelling home from the Temple in Jerusalem and then later found in the Temple. Joseph is not recorded as saying anything in the gospels, not a word. Joseph was clearly one of those strong, silent types, people who don’t have much to say but get things done! People you’d want on your team, and among your friends. What we do know is that Joseph is someone who’s particularly attentive to God and who’s open to be guided by God in his life. Why do I say that? Because Joseph has dreams in which God speaks to him and guides his actions. As presented in the gospels, he has 4 important dreams, and you might want to look them up for yourself: the first is when, in a dream, he’s told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife although she’s going to have a baby. The next is when he’s warned to escape Herod’s plan to kill baby Jesus by leaving their home and escaping with Mary and Jesus into Egypt; the next dream is when God gives him the message that it’s safe now to leave Egypt and return to Israel; and the fourth and final dream is when he’s guided not to settle with his family in Judea, but to go and make their family home in Galilee.
Dreams were important in St Joseph’s life. Do you have dreams? I hope you do have dreams about what you would like to do as you grow up? Perhaps be a scientist and discover great vaccines to protect people; or be the third-ever woman Prime Minister of the UK, or be a teacher, and help young people to learn and grow in their ideas, or be a priest or nun, or whatever it is that you dream of becoming. Many of you probably do have dreams of what you’d like to do with your life. Dreams like that are good. Never dismiss dreams because, as you see happened in St Joseph’s life, God can make use of dreams to help guide us as to what he may wish for us to do with our lives. In and through our dreams it can become clearer how Christ may be calling us to follow him as his disciples.
Let me end now with my own prayer to St Joseph for all of you:
St Joseph, guardian and protector of Mary and Jesus, this past year of the COVID pandemic has been such a difficult time; guide and protect all the young people in the schools of our diocese, especially those who may be anxious about public exams; give each of them a sensitivity in their dreams as to what you may be asking them to do with their lives. Please also pray for and protect the families of all students, and all their teachers – may they continue to inspire their students to dream big, and may they as teachers find great fulfilment in this awesome role of support and encouragement of their students. I pray too for all staff, Chaplains, governors, directors and Multi-Academy Teams, support them in their roles. Like you, St Joseph, may we all seek to know and do each day the will of God in our lives.
Amen.
