Daily Reflection Solemnity of Saint Joseph

In Jesus’ genealogy—which we read at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel—his family tree includes some surprises, some good actions, and some skeletons in the closet. Certainly not unlike what we discover when we tract our own genealogy on Ancestry.com. We know that Joseph had the courage to listen to a dream that enabled him to believe that God was doing something completely new in his and Mary’s lives.

 

    What is definitely stated in the gospel is that Joseph was a dreamer. We can rightly conclude that Joseph had a close relationship with God. He obeyed the angel who told him “Not to put away Mary”—that her pregnancy was of God. He obeyed the angel who told him that Herod was searching for Jesua to kill him. Joseph took his family to Egypt to live as migrants for several years before returning to Nazareth by another angelic message. Each time God spoke to Joseph, he obeyed.

                  

    Joseph, Jesus, Mary, and the names of their family were all drawn from Israelite history. Jesus was human and grew up in a deeply religious family. Like any Jewish boy in Galilee at this time, he learned about God from his parents. Joseph’s influence on his son may have been more important than we have recognized. As his guardian, he helped form Jesus’ character and personality. Jesus was accustomed to calling God, Abba, the same name he used for Joseph—his father. Jesus looked to Joseph to learn what it was to be human.

 

    Joseph taught reverence for God and God’s work to his son, Jesus. In working closely with Joseph, Jesus learned his trade. In addition, he also learned about the villagers: their joys, their hurts, their fears. Surely these experiences were fodder for Jesus’ parables.

 

    As Joseph and Jesus traveled from village to village for work, Jesus saw very poor people. From his own town he experienced the Romans ransacking the villages and exacting high taxes from the laborers. Joseph must have told his son about their extremely poor neighbors and their plight as families and citizens of their small village.

 

    So, what do we learn from Joseph—our silent saint? Joseph must have been a listening person. Otherwise, how could he hear these calls from God in his heart and then respond? In one of his writings, Father Terry Moran stated that

“True devotion to Joseph means compassionate listening, imaginative dreaming, and deep commitment to the new thing God is doing in the world.”

As we continue during this season of Lent, let us focus on being listening people. In the silence of our minds and hearts, let us be attentive to God working within us.