Today’s celebration of the 5th Sunday of Lent comes directly between two great solemnities that fall during the Lenten season. On Thursday we celebrated the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary. On this coming Wednesday we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation, the day Mary consented to be the Mother of God and the Word became flesh for our salvation. Although Jesus is of course God from the first moment of his conception, the Scripture tells us that in his humanity he grew in wisdom and was obedient to his parents.

Like any child, Jesus would have picked up aspects of his character from the example of his parents. In today’s homily I consider some of the key virtues of the two great examples that would have helped Jesus to grow in wisdom. As we enter into Passiontide today, I believe that we can find many ways in which Jesus found the strength for these days in the example of his earthly parents. If we also want to have the strength to take up the cross each day in our life, if we want to be more like Jesus, then we need to do as he did and place ourselves between Joseph and Mary.