St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor
S. Joseph Sponsi B.M.V. Confessoris
First-class feastWhite
Understanding the Day
Season
Lent
Week
Week 3 of Lent
Rank
First-class feast
Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is celebrated in the fourth week of Lent. Lent is a penitential season focused on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as the Church prepares to remember Christ’s passion and resurrection. A “Double of the I Class” is a high-ranking liturgical feast: in plain terms, it means the celebration has strong liturgical priority, with its own proper prayers and readings and fuller ceremonial observance compared with ordinary weekdays of Lent. As a feast in Lent, its observance is shaped by the season’s penitential character—prayer and reflection on Joseph’s faithful example remain central. There is no octave or special vigil noted here; the day is celebrated on its appointed date within the Lenten calendar.
Daily Prayer
The Introit for this day has not yet been generated.
Weekly Prayer
Weekly prayer content will appear here once it is scheduled.
Weekly Formation
Beatitude 5
The Beatitudes
Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
The merciful recognize another’s misery and act to relieve needs of body or soul. Their mercy imitates God’s compassion and disposes them to receive mercy from Him, without making mercy contrary to truth or justice.
Saint & Feast
Principal celebration
Joseph
St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor
Christian saint; husband of Mary and father of Jesus
Born
0030-00-00 · Nazareth
Died
0020-00-00 · Nazareth
According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus.
No Church history reflection has been prepared for this date yet.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Church, as the Body of Christ, thrives through the vital action of the Holy Spirit, who unites all its members in love and purpose. Just as the soul animates the body, the Holy Spirit empowers each believer through sacraments, virtues, and special graces known as charisms, which are essential for the growth and renewal of the Church. These charisms, whether grand or humble, should be embraced with gratitude and discerned within the community, always aligning with charity and the guidance of Church authority. For Catholic families, this means recognizing and nurturing the diverse gifts within their households, fostering a spirit of unity and service that reflects their call to be living members of the Body of Christ.
¶ 803
"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people" ( 1 Pet 2:9).
¶ 804
One enters into the People of God by faith and Baptism. "All men are called to belong to the new People of God" (LG 13), so that, in Christ, "men may form one family and one People of God" (AG 1).
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
The Church is the Body of Christ. Through the Spirit and his action in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist, Christ, who once was dead and is now risen, establishes the community of believers as his own Body.
¶ 806
In the unity of this Body, there is a diversity of members and functions. All members are linked to one another, especially to those who are suffering, to the poor and persecuted.
¶ 807
The Church is this Body of which Christ is the head: she lives from him, in him, and for him; he lives with her and in her.
¶ 808
The Church is the Bride of Christ: he loved her and handed himself over for her. He has purified her by his blood and made her the fruitful mother of all God's children.
¶ 809
The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. the Spirit is the soul, as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.
¶ 810
"Hence the universal Church is seen to be 'a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit'" (LG 4 citing St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 23: PL 4, 553).
Baltimore track
Baltimore Catechism No. 3
Lesson 6 — On Sin and Its Kinds
Q. 302.What is anger?
A.Anger is an excessive emotion of the mind excited against any person or thing, or it is an excessive desire for revenge.
Q. 303.What effect has anger on our soul?
A.Anger begets in our souls impatience, hatred, irreverence, and too often the habit of cursing.
Q. 304.What is gluttony?
A.Gluttony is an excessive desire for food or drink.
Q. 305.What kind of a sin is drunkenness?
A.Drunkenness is a sin of gluttony by which a person deprives himself of the use of his reason by the excessive taking of intoxicating drink.