 the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. So Team Grace, we continue our homely series on mercy, and during this portion of ordinary time, as we end this series, it's important for us to go back to the figure of St. Joseph. As we end ordinary time, this Wednesday as we enter into Lent, it's helpful for us to go back to St. Joseph. We spoke about Joseph last week, and again it's important we go back and see what else can we learn from this Holy One, from this Patriarch, this great Father in our faith. It's particularly good for us to look at the consecration to St. Joseph, a very popular devotion. And I'm going to encourage you to make that consecration to St. Joseph. As soon as I say that, perhaps multiple questions might come up. For example, what is the consecration? Can anyone make it? Why is it important? What does it involve? What's my commitment? And how can this really help me or my family? All great questions which I'll address in the homely. So first, what is this consecration, and can anybody do it? Let me answer the second part first. Not everyone can do the consecration to St. Joseph. What? I thought everyone could do it. No. Only to baptize. You must be a baptized Christian before you can make the consecration to St. Joseph. But why? Because dear friends, baptism is the definitive, foundational consecration that we have received by God the Holy Spirit, in Christ by the power of God the Father. In baptism, the Lord Jesus has wiped away all our sin. God the Father adopted us as his own son and daughter and we've literally became a member of the body of Christ the Church. No devotion can compare with that. And all devotions in the life of the Church are in service to that consecration. So why is the consecration so important? Because it helps us to live out our baptism. It brings a new dynamism into our baptism. It allows us to fan into flame what we have received by the power of God. But we have to be baptized in order to be able to make the consecration to Joseph. Because we don't have our baptism. The consecration to St. Joseph can do nothing. It relies on the strength our identity that we have received by baptism. Look at our Gospel today. That leper was so dirty. Was not allowed to be in the community. Had to be kept outside and had to yell to his great shame, unclean, unclean. And the Lord purifies him, consecrates him and calls him to obedience. Tell no one. And what does the man do? He takes the consecration and he goes and he willfully disobey the Lord. Announcing to everyone what was done. And the Gospel tells him he hurt the public ministry of our Lord. Jesus was not able to enter into some villages or towns because of the disobedience of this man. We have been purified and consecrated by baptism. Are we living a life of obedience? Are we seeking to listen to the ways of God and to follow his path of love? We need baptism to help us do that. We need the grace that comes from baptism in order to strengthen us. And dear friends, this is where the consecrations and the devotions of the church come in because they help us. It's good to consecrate ourselves to our Lady and to St. Joseph. It's good to have these various novenas and acts of piety that the church gives us from her treasury in order to strengthen, to enhance at baptism what we have received. But we have to be baptized. That's why as you walk through the preparation for consecration to St. Joseph, your task your principal task will allow this consecration to make your baptism take deeper root in your souls, in your hearts, and in your actions. Let me just take a quick aside. Would it surprise many of you to learn that the number one goal of the Second Vatican Council was to strengthen the baptized to be good disciples and strong witnesses in the world? So many people have taken Vatican to misinterpreted it and they are so worried about coming up here and doing my job. You are not many priests. You are the baptized of Jesus Christ. You have received the dignity that is beyond this world. And that will take you into eternity if it's lived well. And the whole task of Vatican II was to help you understand and appreciate what we have received. We claimed that inheritance. Good Pope John St. John the 23rd looked out at Mother Church and said, it's getting stuffy in here. We need to open up the windows and let some fresh air in. We need to tell our people to go out into the world and proclaim Jesus Christ. That's why he called Vatican II. That's why what we have received at baptism. So the second question can then be asked, well why is this consecration important? You know Pope John the 23rd who called Vatican II was the exact same Pope who once again elevated Joseph and told us all we have to look to Joseph. He understood that if there was going to be true reform in the church, we had to bring Joseph back. Devotion to Joseph had become eclipsed. He was there in glimpses and in parks. But good Pope John said we need to bring Joseph back because if we're going to reform the church, he is the patron of the universal church. We need to bring him back. We need his help. That's interesting because there are some people who tell us, no, no, no, no, no, no. Vatican II did away with all the devotions. Years ago when we started on the Venus, the miraculous medal of our lady a now former personer said to me, we're not doing that. We don't do that anymore. That's from the past. We've gone beyond that. Oh, we haven't. You can't get beyond Mary. I said, no, no, no, Vatican II said we need to do away with that. No, it didn't stop. You're embarrassing yourself. Okay. Vatican II said that the devotions of the church are to be explained to the faithful. That you might know what we're praying. That you might fit the saint aren't equal to Christ and that you might understand the relationship between these devotions and baptism. So quite the opposite Vatican II said instruct the faithful, but keep the devotions. And good Pope John gives us Joseph as he calls Vatican II and entrusts the work of the church to St. Joseph. Father Callaway in his preparation book tells us two reasons why we should make the consecration to St. Joseph. First, he reminds us that we need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph. We have the spiritual motherhood of our lady. We need the spiritual fatherhood of St. Joseph. Incidentally, this is why in most Catholic churches, Mary and Joseph flank the altar. If you go to a Catholic parish and they don't have Mary and Joseph by the altar, it's a different parish because we need these two spiritual motherhood and fatherhoods if we are to grow in the spiritual life. But what does a good father do? Well, the scriptures tell us. A good father protects, provides, and teaches. And that's exactly what St. Joseph wants to do for us. He wants to protect us, protect our discipleship from the allure of the evil one, from the secularism that is running across our society. He wants to guard our faith which can be so precious and so vulnerable at times. Joseph wants to protect our vocation. He protects my priesthood. He protects our widows and widowers. He protects those who are single. He especially protects those who are married and he protects the Christian family so dear to his own heart. He was the head of the holy family and the most perfect of the three. But God called him to be the shepherd of that family. We call on Joseph to protect us. We live in interesting times dear friends. Men do not know what it means to be a man and women do not know what it means to be a woman. It is further displayed in the transgender movement. Such a sign of confusion. A complete denial of rudimentary anthropology. Of what it means to be a human being of a particular gender. But far before that men had forgotten to be men. When I told my father I was going to the seminary, he said, you have my support. But make sure you work hard. Because too many men and too many priests are pampered. They have forgotten that men are to work hard and to provide for their wives and their families above all else. Men need to be reminded what it means to be a man and women need to be reminded what it means to be a woman. We have to remind ourselves that God has so ordained a Christian family in such a way that the spiritual life can flourish, virtue can flourish, stability is given to children as they are raised in the faith. Our Christian families are attacked from the outside and on siege from the inside. Oftentimes the very ones who are called to the vocation are the very ones who are willing to throw under the bus to sacrilegiate or to abandon it. We need Saint Joseph. We need Joseph's help. We need him to protect us. We need Joseph to provide. He desires to intercede for us and ask God's grace for each one of us. And we need Joseph to teach us. Joseph throughout the scriptures always placed God's will above his own. God could ask Joseph to do anything and he knew that Joseph would do it. A beautiful legacy. I pray the same can be said for each of us on the day that we die. God asked and that Christian always said yes. We ask Joseph to teach us the ways of God and the ways of obedience and docility. That's the first reason we would make the consecration. We need Joseph's spiritual fatherhood. Father Calaway gives the second reason. He says that we need Joseph's help and evangelization. This is why Good Pope John would turn to Joseph and ask for Joseph's help. As he sought reform and renewal in the life of the church. Because Good Pope John looked out at the world and he saw the church and he saw so many people who were doing the right things but their hearts were far from Christ. Some of you shared that with me. Our older Catholics. We were taught to go to Mass. We were taught to make sure we paid the tithe. We were taught to make sure our kids went to Catholic school. But we were never taught how to pray. Or to read the Bible. Or to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Unacceptable! Unacceptable! That should never have been the state of Mother Church. When Pope John saw it. We said we need to change this. We need to make sure that the baptized understand what it means to live as a son or daughter of God. And what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Pope Saint John Paul II who followed Pope John. John Paul II. 27 years as Pope. One of the longest serving popes in our 2000 year history as a church. God blessed him with 27 years in order to implement the Second Vatican Council. And what does he tell us? He kept telling us to hope for a new springtime. Because he looked at the church and it was bleak. As he looked out and looked and said we have so many baptized pagans. So many who have received the sacraments, the mysteries of the Christian faith. But who do not know Jesus Christ. Baptized pagans. The catechism of the Catholic Church would phrase it in this way. But the church needs a post baptismal catechumenate. A catechumenate is the way in which an unbeliever becomes a Christian. And if you have a post baptismal catechumenate, that means we have baptized pagans. It means there are people who have been baptized who don't know Jesus Christ, do not think as Christians, speak as Christians, or act as Christians. But supposedly Christians, they don't know Jesus. And the church calls for reform. And we are told that Joseph could help us. Because look at Joseph. He has been described as the first missionary of the Christian faith. Long before the Lord began to preach the gospel, Joseph was so fashioning and teaching Jesus that he was able to fulfill his ministry. We can say he was one of the pre disciples of our faith. And we need to turn to Joseph in particular to help us in our discipleship. We need to ask Joseph for the reform of our parish and the reform of Mother Church. So Father Calloway gives those two reasons. Spiritual fatherhood and evangelization. Now maybe at this point you're saying, okay, okay Father, fine, I'll get the book, fine. Okay, you convinced me it's important. But what does this involve? What's my commitment? Well, you get the preparation book. And there are 33 days and each day has about a page or a page and a half. It's a reflection on some part of St. Joseph's life. There are some pious practices that are recommended. It will take you about 10 to 30 minutes a day. And as you walk through the preparation, the task is to look at Joseph and seek to bring again that new dynamism to your own baptism. How can I imitate Joseph? How can I be a better Christian? And after 33 days on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19th, you make the consecration. The prayers are in the book. You can make the consecration at home by yourself. You're a baptized Christian. You have that power. Or you can make an appointment with myself or Deacon Doc and make the consecration privately. Or you can join us on Friday, March 19th at 7 p.m. for a big mass in honor of St. Joseph. And you can make your consecration then. That mass will be in person and by live stream. So that's the commitment. 10 to 30 minutes a day for 33 days. Perhaps at this point you're asking the more pressing question. But really how can this help me? I get everything. I hear everything you're saying but how can this help me? Why would I take on something else when I'm just trying to keep up with what I've got right now? Perhaps some are even saying, Father, I'm hardly even praying at all. And you're asking me to take on something else. And here's why I'm going to ask you to make the consecration to St. Joseph. First, because this is the second lent of this pandemic. And there are a lot of hearts that are heavy, anxious, confused. I read an article the other day that says it will take us seven years to return to normal before the pandemic. I hope that's wrong. But there are a lot of people whose hearts are in many places. And this consecration, this preparation can bring our hearts back through Joseph to encountering the Lord Jesus. So we need it during this pandemic. But also this consecration, this preparation can help us once again to be renewed in our own baptismal consecration. It can help us to become better Christians. People of prayer and virtue. It can help us to live our own vocation well. To become better husbands, wives, fathers and mothers. And this consecration can help us understand how much God truly loves us. And the workings of His providence. And how we can come to that total surrender to God's will in the invitation of St. Joseph. In the Old Testament, the patriarch Joseph was the favored son of Jacob Israel. The other brothers were jealous of him. But when a plague hit, only Joseph was prepared for it. And when the other brothers ran the risk of starving to death, God told them, go to Joseph. And they went to Joseph and Joseph had food and mercy for them. Go to Joseph. Here in the New Covenant, Joseph, the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus, once again the Holy Spirit is telling us, go to Joseph. Not a famine now, but a pandemic. Go to Joseph if you want reform in your heart and in your homes. If you desire the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. Go to Joseph. Make sure you get the preparation done. Do those 33 days of preparation. And on March 19, please join me. And together, let's make this consecration and ask Joseph to bless us and help bring true reform to the church and help to make us all better Christians. Dear friends as you approach this altar, hear those words of the Holy Spirit. Go to Joseph.