May 1, 2026 // Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter // Optional Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 14:1-6
Reflect on the Word //
On the day I’m writing this devotional, months before you read it, a dear local family buried their nineteen-year-old son and brother, Joseph. His sister, Monica, also writes here for Blessed is She, and she and her family have been community friends for many, many years. Imagine my surprise when I sat down to read the Gospel in my prayer today and turned to John 14. Imagine my surprise when I sat to write my assigned devotional and saw the same exact Gospel for May 1, over three months from the day I write this.
I could go on and on about Joseph, about his faith, his hope, and the beauty and resilience of his family as they have weathered this tragedy. I could share how his mother held me at Joseph’s viewing last night, and reassured me of the goodness of God. He is good. Truly.
Beyond the hope we can see in the Weinkopf family are roots buried deep in the faith of a God that is really, very good. Behold, I am going before you to prepare a place for you (see John 14:3). Is there anything that speaks to you of love more than this?
I read the words this morning, hours before Joseph’s funeral Mass and thought to myself—He knew all along. God has always known. And He goes before us to ready the path, to ready the room, to be with us again.
It’s simple and yet profound beyond comprehension. God loves you and He is waiting for you to be with Him forever. He was waiting for Joseph, and He is waiting for us.
In the eulogy, Joseph’s older brother, Kolbe, shared that Joseph hard carved the word “Live” into the underside of his bunk bed slats. Let us live like he did. Let us live like women fully alive, longing for our home in Heaven, and living each day like we believe it.
Relate to the Lord // Pray the Requiem Aeternam for Joseph or for another soul who has passed into eternity:
Eternal rest grant unto him/her [or them], O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him/her [or them].
May he/she [or their souls] and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
