In 1889, Pope Leo XIII said, “It is fitting and most worthy of Joseph’s dignity that, in the same way that he once kept unceasing watch over the holy family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ.” We look to St. Joseph, a simple and ordinary man, and from his saintly example we learn how to respond virtuously in faith to the many challenges that we face in our everyday lives.
A recent article I read pointed out three things that we can learn from St. Joseph. The first is the “treasure of silence.” How many words of St. Joseph, the man closest to Jesus, are there recorded in the Bible? Not a single one. But it is in his silence that God speaks to us. We hear in the psalms, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). We are all busy and know how much noise there is in our lives. St. Joseph teaches us to be quiet and listen to God in the silence of our hearts.
The second point is that “actions speak louder than words.” When God wanted to communicate something to St. Joseph, he spoke to him in his dreams. Most of us would say that there is only so much credibility that one can place on dreams, but for St. Joseph, he was certain that it was God’s will. Sacred Scripture tells us that when he awoke, “he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Matt 1:24). God wasn't just asking him to be a better person, to pray more or to do random acts of kindness, but was asking for total trust. St. Joseph doesn't question or ponder how to respond, he just does it. Here we see St. Joseph embracing what Jesus would teach many years later; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21).
The final thing that St. Joseph teaches us is how to embrace “grace under pressure.” Just think about the stressful situations in which St. Joseph finds himself: his betrothed wife is found to be pregnant and he knows that he is not the father; as his wife is about to give birth they are called to travel a long distance to Bethlehem; early in Jesus’ life, they are told to flee to Egypt; and let’s not forget that he and Mary lost God’s only Son for three whole days when he was only 12 years old. In all of these situations, we see that Joseph, a simple carpenter, relied on God’s grace to handle difficulty and challenges with firm trust and faith in God.
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