Glory of Home Life

Dear St. Joseph –

You may know me by the title my oldest child has given me: Mr. Mayor. What a contrast we make.

You don’t utter a single word in the Gospels, while I can’t seem to shut up.

We have the testimony of mystics in which they claim you have spoken to them, but while the words you may or may not have shared are certainly valuable in those instances, you, the gospel writers, and indeed God above did not find it necessary for any of your thoughts or words to be made known to us directly.

Instead, we see you in action.

I don’t suppose you were a subdued individual, Joseph. Our Lord himself was a passionate preacher who could captivate thousands. Our Lord told stories and parables which drew everybody in – even those who hated him. His voice echoed from the mountaintops for a great multitude to hear. When he gave an order, people listened.

Surely we can chalk some of this authority up to him being the Son of God. We can also attribute his human tendencies to you – his adoptive father. Jesus would have swung a mallet much like you. He would have scraped away with a plane much like you. He would have, perhaps, scratched his beard or smiled much like you.

Maybe Jesus grew accustomed to tucking his napkin into his shirt or laying it across his lap because that’s what you did. He might have said his night prayers in a certain order, modeling even his prayer time after the man who kept vigil over him. And of course we know you must have had a deep and abiding prayer life, St. Joseph. That much is clear. How else could you have corresponded so well to the Angel’s petition to do as God willed?

There were occasions in the Gospels in which we read that Jesus wept – Lazarus, Jerusalem…

We also know, or we may assume, that Jesus wept at your passing, St. Joseph. You who taught so much to Our Lord in your silent perseverance were likely an early model of how to suffer death gracefully. As Jesus was stripped bare and nailed to a cross, he perhaps called to mind even briefly your own death and how you bore it patiently with he and Mary by your side.

Of course having your feast on March 19th guarantees that we will, on an annual basis, pay homage to you during our Lenten fast. This makes sense. After all, your whole life was spent in sacrifice to Mary and Jesus if the early years are any account. Now, we have the opportunity to break from our fast briefly and share in the joy you must have felt every day coming in from the shop to the waiting arms of Mary your wife, and Jesus your son and Lord.

Intercede for us here on Earth, St. Joseph, that we fathers may carry on heroically in the many little trials of each day – all for the sake of the souls we have been charged to protect.

St. Joseph, Glory of Home Life, pray for us.