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Fathers of Saint Joseph – Meeting Notes [27 June 2026]

  • Writer: Marcelo Bastos
    Marcelo Bastos
  • Jul 31
  • 3 min read

Updated: Aug 4

Date: 27 June 2026

Location: St. Mary's Church, Pope's Quay, Cork


Opening Context

We began our meeting with a time of Adoration before reflecting together on the reading.

As our meeting took place on the Memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, and on the Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we were reminded both of the importance of defending the truth of the faith and of Mary's humble example of discipleship, entrusted by God to accompany us in our journey towards Christ.


Caravaggio (c.1597–1599) Narciso. Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica – Palazzo Barberini. Available at: https://barberinicorsini.org/collezione/opera/?id=WE4286 (Accessed: 31 July 2026).
Caravaggio (c.1597–1599) Narciso. Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica – Palazzo Barberini. Available at: https://barberinicorsini.org/collezione/opera/?id=WE4286 (Accessed: 31 July 2026).

Reflection Reading

Book: LEAD: The Four Marks of Fatherly Greatness

Author: Devin Schadt

Pillar: Pillar 2 – Embrace Your Essence (Embracing Woman)

Reading: 69 – Do You Know What You Really Need?

Pages: 183–184


This reading explores the complementary needs of husband and wife through the teaching of St Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. The author explains that while every person has many needs, a wife's deepest need is to be cherished—protected, nurtured and held dear—while a husband's deepest need is to be respected. These needs are not presented as competing desires but as gifts that enable spouses to serve one another in love, reflecting Christ's relationship with His Church (Ephesians 5:21, 28–33).

The reading also highlights the example of the Holy Family. Mary freely respected St Joseph as head of the Holy Family, while Joseph's loving care for Mary reveals the model of sacrificial husbandhood. Fathers are invited to move beyond merely satisfying personal desires and instead learn to recognise and respond to the genuine needs of their wives through attentiveness, humility, patience and self-giving love.


Call to Action

Spend intentional time with your wife, listening with humility and vulnerability so that you may truly understand and respond to her deepest needs rather than your own assumptions.


Reflection Associated with the Reading

The accompanying Examen invites fathers to examine whether they truly honour the dignity of women, cherish their wives as Christ loves His Church, and cultivate an authentic devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It encourages a sincere examination of heart, asking whether our relationships are shaped by self-giving love or by selfish desires that reduce others to objects for our own satisfaction.


Shared Thoughts from the Group

  • Modern culture increasingly encourages the objectification of people, reducing relationships to the satisfaction of personal desires.

  • Society often presents a distorted understanding of marriage, gradually shaping attitudes that differ from God's design for husband and wife.

  • Authentic Christian marriage calls husbands and wives to seek each other's true good rather than pursuing individual fulfilment alone.


Personal Reflections & Final Thought

Coming from Brazil, I can recognise many of the cultural patterns described in this reading. Some of what is now becoming more visible in Ireland has been present in Brazilian society for many years. When people are gradually reduced to objects, relationships become fragile and society loses the peace that comes from recognising the God-given dignity of every human person. It can begin to feel as though we are encouraged to live according to our instincts alone rather than according to the image of God in which we were created.

I was also struck by how easily we become centred on ourselves. When our own desires become the measure of everything, our needs seem endless, and it becomes difficult to recognise what we truly need. It reminded me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a model that reflects many of the ideas that shaped the twentieth century—a century increasingly focused on the self. Like Narcissus, who became captivated by his own reflection, modern society often turns inward, seeking fulfilment through self-contemplation rather than self-giving love. Yet history shows that when humanity loses sight of God and of the dignity He gives each person, the consequences can be devastating. This reading challenged me to rediscover that authentic manhood is found not in serving myself, but in learning to love, cherish and serve others as Christ does.


Scripture References

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