Today’s Saint ranks above all other saints but one, a shade below his bride, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yet, the gospels have only the briefest of passing references to this great man, deemed worthy to be the foster father of the Son of God, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Patriarch of the Church. The silence is deafening. Who is this Silent Saint, of the lineage of David and comparable to Abraham the Righteous?
A Righteous Man
The first nugget in today’s gospel is that he is a righteous man. This fact is trotted out as he is contemplating a move that is likely tearing his innards asunder. The woman he loves is found to be with child. To minimize the damage to his betrothed, he decides on the most lenient sentence, he intends to divorce her quietly. Movies depicted Joseph lying down in a troubled sleep and breaking into a sweat, not unlike the agony to be suffered by his foster son. And then God intervenes, sending an angelic messenger to appease his fears and sharing the gist of the message the Angel Gabriel spoke unto Mary: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus Lk 1:31
Trusting in God
“When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him. and took his wife into his home.” Mat 1:24
Joseph obeys the angel’s command; he gladly distances himself from the excruciating notion of separating from his beloved betrothed and takes her into his home to be his wife. Neither of them has anything but a nebulous idea of what is in store for them, but they trust in God and not their own plans. They are obedient to his commands. The questions abound the more God’s plan unfolds. They ponder the divine with their human intellect. And we can relate. We struggle to fathom and plumb the depths of God’s plan for our lives, careening headlong in a maelstrom of confusion, but through it all, God weaves His graces into our lives; the less we try to take the controls, the better off we will be. We need to surrender to God like Joseph and Mary: thy will be done, not mine, Lord, always and despite our not getting the big picture. But you are God, and we are not, so proceed with all haste and let us not get in the way.
God Speaks Through the Silence
The paucity of information about Saint Joseph seems almost too much to bear. Why do not we have a single spoken word from him, for crying out loud! But this is surely a testament of how close to God’s own heart is this Father figure of ours.
God loves silence. Exhibit A: the Real Presence, where God waits patiently and silently for us to show up, and of course, most of us do not. Exhibit B: the Incarnation, which unfolds in the utter silence of the night.
Man loves the fanfare, but God loves the obscure. How great a saint, then, is our beloved Saint Joseph! Speaking not a word, he is the epitome of the saint after God’s own heart. For surely, he lived, adored, observed, and imitated the divine Son entrusted to his care.
Today, let us consecrate ourselves to this humblest of saints, great in the eyes of God and a powerful intercessor for us. Dear Saint Joseph, husband of the Ever Virgin Mary, Head of the Holy Family, Protector and Foster Father of the Redeemer, Pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
[Readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a]
“GO TO JOSEPH”. Profound words and great advice.
Great job again, Patrick/Julie and fly.