Seven Weeks with St. Joseph is a series of weekly reflections on St. Joseph in a variety of ways sponsored by the Diocese of Charleston.  These videos were originally recorded between the two liturgical feasts of St. Joseph, the Solemnity of St. Joseph and the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.  However, they can be used at any time for personal or group reflection.  In each of these videos, your host, Dr. Michael Martocchio, leads you through a brief reflection on St. Joseph.  Use the questions below for your own reflection or to facilitate group discussion.

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection? What does it mean to think of fatherhood (or motherhood) in a faith context?

Have you ever had an experience like Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth?  What happened?  What did you learn from that experience? Why do you think we, as human beings, struggle to find the extraordinary (including God’s message to us) in things and people we are familiar with?  On the contrary, why is it so valuable to find the extraordinary in the familiar?

In what ways can you draw inspiration from St. Joseph’s fatherhood?  In what ways can St. Joseph’s example inform your own calling?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?  How does St. Joseph give us a model for husbands and spouses in general?

In the video, we hear that marriage involves risk and sacrifice.  In what ways is this true of Joseph’s marriage to Mary?  How is this true in your life and in your calling (whether you are thinking a state of life or a very particular call)?

What does it mean to think of Mary and Joseph together as those who share the Gospel?  In what ways are families called to imitate the Holy Family in this regard?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?  What does it mean to be one who does God’s will?

How can you draw inspiration from St. Joseph as a model of obedient action?

In what ways does God use St. Joseph to help to bring about salvation through Jesus?  What does it mean for us to participate with God’s saving will in the world?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?

What does it mean to think about God entering his covenant with Israel ‘from the other side’ in Jesus Christ?

How does thinking of Joseph as a royal heir, through which Jesus is integrated into the royal dynasty of David, affect your impression of how authority is found and exercised?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?  Why is humility important?

How does St. Joseph teach us to do God’s will without seeking recognition?  How do we guard against that tendency in ourselves?

In what ways can we work so that God gets due recognition?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?  What does it mean to be a person of faith?

How does the typology between Joseph in the book and Genesis and St. Joseph in the New Testament shed light on St. Joseph as a model of faith?

In what ways is human faithfulness a response to the faithfulness of God?

Reflection questions (for individual or group reflection)

What are your initial thoughts on this reflection?  What does it mean to think of work in the context of our relationship with God?

How do we balance integrating our work and daily labors into our spirituality without reducing ourselves to ‘what we do’?

How does St. Joseph gives us a model for thinking of our daily work as serving a higher purpose?  How can we integrate this in our lives?