Joseph of Arimathea
Today is the Episcopal feast day for Joseph of Arimathea. The Catholics commemorate him on March 17, but most of us Irish wannabes don't want anyone to share the spotlight with the great apostle Patrick! So, we'll follow the Anglican lead here (it was yesterday in the Orthodox tradition).
A lot of interesting things can be said about the legend of J of A. Wikipedia has a nice and succint page here. And you can plunge right into historical claims that link him to Britian, the Grail, King Arthur, etc. at this fascinating page. This fellow, like so many figures that pop in and out of the New Testament narrative, has given imaginative reconstructionists so much enjoyable fodder over the course of the last 2000 years.
There is also a deeper, archetypal significance for us to contemplate from the slice of information we are actually given from each of the gospel accounts. In Joseph we find a person ready to stand alone in the world with the task of caring for and preserving the body of Christ. A body, no less, that was in all actuality dead.
I am stirred today by the challenge of a similar task -- to love, serve and preserve the present Body of Christ, even when (especially when?) that Body (church) has no apparent signs of life. I can further be assured that such a task is precisely the means by which the Body will be Resurrected. Today's patron saint of death offers a rich typology towards the way of life!
