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Feast of the Holy Spouses, January 23
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While there have been feasts of Mary and Joseph as individual
saints, and more recently also a feast of the Holy Family, no feast
honoring their marriage has entered into the universal liturgical
calendar of the Church. At least as early as 1413 Jean Gerson had
proposed the Feast of the Betrothal. It was introduced into the
missal for the cathedral of Chartres in 1482 and by the Franciscans
and Servites in 1537 and thereafter by many other particular liturgical
calendars. Saint Joseph Marello (canonized on November 25, 2001)
also introduced it into the congregation he founded, the Oblates
of St. Joseph. The feast had become so widespread that it was included
in the universal Roman Missal under the section pro aliquibus locis,
when in 1961 the revision of the universal liturgical calendar
suppressed such particular feasts, requiring their reintroduction
by groups wishing to preserve them. In 1989 the feast of The Holy
Spouses, Mary and Joseph, was reintroduced into the proper calendar
of the Oblates of St. Joseph, with its proper texts for Mass and
for the Liturgy of the Hours. (In 1991 Fr. Juan Antonio Morán,
M.J., in El Salvador also prepared a Mass text for private use
for November 26, when married couples were also invited to renew
their vows.)
The approved texts for the Oblate version of the Mass are as follows:
Entrance Antiphon:
Hail Mary, Mother of God, united by a sacred bond to Joseph,
faithful guardian of your virginal motherhood.
Opening Prayer: Holy Father, you joined
together by a virginal bond the glorious Mother of your Son
and the just man, Saint Joseph, that they might be faithful
cooperators in the mystery of the Word Incarnate. Grant that
we who are united with you by the bond of baptism may live
more intimately our union with Christ and may walk more joyfully
in the way of love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ....
Readings: Isaiah 61:9-11; Galatians
4:4-7; Luke 2:41-52.
Prayer over the Gifts: Lord, look graciously
upon the gifts which we present at your altar on the Feast
of the Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph, and enkindle in us the
spirit of your love. We ask this....
Preface: Father, all-powerful and ever-living
God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through
Jesus Christ our Lord. You give the Church the joy of celebrating
the feast of the Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph: in her, full
of grace and worthy Mother of your Son, you signify the beginning
of the Church, resplendently beautiful bride of Christ; you
chose him, the wise and faithful servant, as Husband of the
Virgin Mother of God, and made him head of your family to guard
as a father your only Son, conceived by the work of the Holy
Spirit, Jesus Christ, our Lord. For this gift of your kindness,
we join....
Communion Antiphon: Joseph, son of
David, have no fear about taking Mary as your wife. It is by
the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.
Prayer after Communion: Lord, by your
holy gifts you have filled us with joy. By venerating the Blessed
Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, her spouse, may we be strengthened
in your love and live in continual thanksgiving. We ask this....
While the feast is celebrated on January 23 in all Oblate houses
for all the faithful, the recent emphasis in California has been
to extend a particular invitation to married and engaged couples.
They are invited to look to Mary and Joseph as patrons and intercessors
for their marriage, and to take them as the model husband and wife
to strive to imitate in loving one another selflessly as spouses.
Mary and Joseph may be shown to exemplify the two inseparable ends
of marriage, love and life, and to refute the mentality of contraception
and divorce. The Holy Spouses Image may be displayed and decorated
during the Mass, special petitions offered, and special blessings
given. Couples may be invited to renew their marriage vows or to
make the commitment to the Holy Spouses Society described below,
if they have been properly prepared. The Holy Spouses Rosary may
be prayed before or after the Liturgy. The feast is a particular
occasion each year to honor and uphold the Christian sacrament
of marriage, in light of that most exemplary marriage of the two
persons closest to Christ.
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- Holy Spouses Rosary
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