In our session today we explored the life of Joseph, his personal qualities and his role in the life of the Holy Family. We put ourselves in his shoes: a young man with expectations, hopes and a dream of having a family of his own.
We used chromatography to separate mixtures. Chromatography is a technique of separating different components in a mixture. First, the children drew dots with different felt tips on a blotting paper, while avoiding primary colours and then we dipped the blotting paper in water. As the capillaries started to absorb water, the colours began to separate.
by Sonia Sedda
WEK FOUR
Lenten Workshop, Week 4
What can we learn from St Joseph?
In our session today we explored the life of Joseph, his personal qualities and his role in the life of the Holy family.
We put ourselves in his shoes: a young man with expectations, hopes and a dream of having a family of his own.
Life was very different 2,000 years ago and the lives of Mary and Joseph were ruled by a strong Jewish tradition. So, when the young carpenter spotted that there was something about Mary, Joseph had to make his intentions known to her parents and once she agreed, they both had to declare their intent in front of two witness to be considered committed to one another; Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. [However, it would have taken them another year before their formal celebration and only then they would be able to live together as a husband and wife.]
Lowly Mary, deeply rooted in faith and the love of God, was visited by the angel, who told her that she was highly favoured and would give birth to the Son of God who was to be Emanuel- God is with us. The angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary and that her cousin Elizabeth, who was an older woman and barren, was also with a child. Having just received the confusing news, surprised Mary decided to go to her cousin Elizabeth for a while and give her a hand. When Mary returned Joseph realized that she was in an advance stage of pregnancy, of which Joseph knew nothing about. How heartbroken he must have felt, to realize that the love of his life was carrying someone else’s baby. According to the Jewish law he had a right for Mary to be punished -to be stoned to death. Suddenly Joseph’s world came crushing down: his hopes for their marriage and for their children that he envisaged to be raising together with Mary were gone and he was feeling betrayed, ashamed and humiliated. Joseph was standing at a crossroad – he had to decide what to do. Would he make a decision based on his broken heart? Disheartened Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly to spare her any public humiliation and harm, however anangel warns him in a dream not to do so. The angel advises him to ‘not to be afraid, as the baby Mary is carrying is the Son of God and to ‘take Mary as hiswife’. When Joseph woke up he must have felt relieved that Mary is still the woman he fell in love with and so he did exactly what the angel commanded.
Though his circumstances have changed, Joseph shows a steadfast trust in God which enables him to remain the loving and honouring husband that he intended to be from the start and to become a protective foster father to Jesus.
Joseph is a wonderful example of integrity, humbleness and self-sacrifice. For his deep faith coupled with unfaltering commitment to loving and honouring Mary, Joseph is honoured as the trustworthy guardian of the Holy Family.
In science we used chromatography to separate mixtures. Chromatography is a technique of separating different components in a mixture. First, the children drew dots with different felt tips on a blotting paper, while avoiding primary colours and then we dipped the blotting paper in water. As the capillaries started to absorb water, the colours began to separate. We noticed that the black colour is the only one that separated into a surprising array of colours.
Similarly, Joseph found himself in a dark place having to deal with his feelings of betrayal, shame and humiliation after discovering that Mary was with a child. He had a choice to make, and he chose to trust God and to honour Mary. The result of his choice was surprisingly wonderful, just as the amazing colours we saw in chromatography! Thanks to Joseph’s trust, the humanity received the gift of Jesus and hope in eternal life.
Then the children arranged Skittles on a plate, which they drowned with water and watched with excitement as the process released the most stunning patterns!
At the end we played a game of contradiction, led by our young budding leaders. An afternoon of good fun!
Thank you St Joseph for your life and your unshakeable faith. St Joseph, help us
trust God more! St Joseph, pray for us.
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