Tag Archives: St. Joseph

St. Joseph – patron saint of handling the curveballs of life (Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent A)

18 Sunday Dec 2022

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After listing the genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel, Matthew tells us how the birth of our Lord came about and how the humble carpenter Joseph plays a key role but not in any sort of way that he could ever have expected.  After deciding to spare Mary shame and to divorce her quietly, Joseph is visited by an angel in his dream.  The context of “within a dream” is important because by letting Joseph know that Mary is with child through the Holy Spirit, the angel is inviting Joseph to set aside his own dreams in favor of God’s dream. 

Surely Joseph had dreams and plans regarding his marriage to Mary and what their life together would be like.  Surely Joseph found great anticipation and joy in those dreams but then he was thrown the biggest curveball in all of human history – his betrothed was with child, the infant was the Word incarnate and now his dreams must give way to God’s dream.

Joseph is considered the patron saint of a happy death because tradition holds that when he died (sometime between the finding of the young Jesus in the Temple and before the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry) Joseph had at his bedside both our Lord and our Lady.  St. Joseph is also considered the protector of the Universal Church as he took on the duty and responsibility of protecting the newborn Christ and his mother.  There are many titles given to this amazing saint and each title offers a different glimpse of his sanctity.  The first chapter of Matthew offers another title worthy of consideration I believe – St. Joseph, the patron saint of handling the curveballs of life! 

Life throws curveballs and they come at us at unexpected times and in many varied ways – an illness in the family, the loss of a job, the need to move, interrupted plans and projects, an unexpected pregnancy, even a random encounter with a stranger can turn things upside down!  These curveballs come in many shapes and sizes and they all demand that we set aside our dreams and plans in favor of the needs of the situation and the needs of another person(s).    

It is good to have Joseph with us in these moments.  He shows that these moments can be navigated through in faith and in hope. 

Joseph offers three lessons for the curveball moments of life. 

The first is not to react in frustration and agitation (a common and often kneejerk response in such moments) but rather to step back, take a deep breath and choose to act in care for all involved.  Joseph did this.  Before the angel even visited him in his dream to announce God’s plan, Joseph finds out that his betrothed is with child.  Joseph must have experienced pain, shame and a sense of betrayal in this moment.  Yet, he does not react out of all of that.  Joseph falls back on his faith and his honest care for Mary and he chose to act out of that space.  He decides not to expose her to shame.  Even in his pain he acts in care for the very one who it seems (on the surface) betrayed him.  Joseph teaches that when life throws a curveball don’t react – rather step back, take a deep breath and act in care. 

The second lesson is to listen. God is present even in the curveballs of life.  God has a word to share even in such moments.  We are told that Joseph was a righteous man – a righteous person lives in relationship with God which means a person who has learned that God is present in all moments of life and who has learned to search for the voice of God in all situations.  Joseph listened to the message of the angel in his dream and he accepted that message.  Even in the curveballs that life throws at us, God is present. Joseph teaches us to listen for what God is saying even in such moments. 

Thirdly, Joseph (after listening) acts in faith.  Faith means to be willing to just take the next step.  Faith does not mean we know exactly how things will work out.  Faith means we take the next step precisely because we trust in God and His will for us.  Joseph did this.  Joseph did not know how it would all end.  Joseph did not fully understand all that was going on and neither was he given the whole picture but he trusted and in that trust he decided to act in faith.  Joseph received Mary into his home. 

Three solid lessons for handling the curveballs that life can throw at us: don’t react but rather act in care, listen for the voice of God in the moment and then act in faith, take that next step. 

St. Joseph, patron saint of handling the curveballs of life, pray for us! 

The witness of St. Joseph as helpful antidote to escapism

10 Thursday Dec 2020

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Not far into his new book, Let Us Dream, Pope Francis, with the skill of someone trained in the Ignatian method of discernment of spirits, cautions the reader to a prevalent temptation of our times – escapism, the desire to seek distraction from reality, especially if reality is unpleasant or demanding.  The pope later lists this need to escape reality as one of the contributing causes to the virus of indifference effecting our world – the other virus starkly revealed by our world and society’s response to the Covid-19 virus.   Escaping reality can certainly be achieved through such means as materialism, alcohol and drug use and forms of sexual addiction but the Holy Father focuses rather on attitudes and mindsets that any of us can easily fall into and even choose to cultivate in our hearts. Here I want to look at the three ways of escaping reality that the Holy Father lays out in his book – narcissism, discouragement and pessimism – and, since our current liturgical year has been dedicated to St. Joseph, suggest the witness of the foster father of our Lord and chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary as an antidote to this desire to escape reality. 

St. Joseph speaks no words in any of the gospels but from his actions and his life we quickly learn that he is a man who was able to face reality head on with faith and conviction.  How was he able to do this?  Maybe we will be able to gain some insight when we look at what he did not do. 

Narcissism takes you to the mirror to look at yourself, to center everything on you so that’s all you see.  You end up so in love with the image you created that you end up drowning in it.  Then news is only good if it’s good for you personally; and if the news is bad, it’s because you are its chief victim.  (Let Us Dream, Pope Francis)

St. Joseph was not a narcissist.  In Matthew’s gospel we are told that immediately after it was found that Mary was with child, Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.  There must have been confusion, hurt and possibly even anger stirring in the heart of Joseph in the revelation of Mary’s pregnancy but – even with all that – Joseph is “unwilling to expose (Mary) to shame”.  Joseph did not allow himself to be carried off by narcissism to the mirror to fixate only upon himself in this situation.  Joseph did not get lost in himself – did not play the role of the chief victim – but rather accepted the reality of the situation as he knew it to be and then made the choice to act out of the principles he chose to live by rather than reacting out of hurt and anger.  Scripture says that he “was a righteous man” and here is where the virtues that he had acquired, the virtues that comprised his righteousness showed forth – a faith stronger than the hurts and disappointments of life and a care and compassion for the other person even in a difficult moment. 

Discouragement leads you to lament and complain about everything so that you no longer see what is around you nor what others offer you, only what you think you’ve lost.  Discouragement leads to sadness in the spiritual life, which is a worm that gnaws away at you from the inside.  Eventually it closes you in on yourself and you can’t see anything beyond yourself.  (Let Us Dream, Pope Francis)

If Joseph was a man prone to loud lamenting and complaining, would he have been someone open to the different instructions of the angels in his dreams?  Would he have even heard the messages or even paid them any heed?  I don’t think so.  Our actions and choices have consequences and Pope Francis is reminding us of this truth.  Loud lamenting and complaining – in addition to being annoying to those persons around who have to endure it – blinds and deafens the lamenter and complainer to all that is around them, even spiritual realities that offer hope, guidance and endurance.  If we have fallen into the fallacy of thinking that God doesn’t care or that life is always unfair maybe it seems that way because we are actually whining too much to notice how God is indeed present and how there are good things in life.  St. Joseph did not complain nor give into discouragement and therefore his heart was free and open to the instruction of the angel. 

And then there’s pessimism, which is like a door you shut on the future and the new things it can hold; a door you refuse to open in case one day there’ll be something new on the doorstep.  (Let Us Dream, Pope Francis)

St. Joseph was not pessimistic.  If he was, he would never have taken the first step in his journey to Bethlehem and then on to Egypt and then to Nazareth.  These journeys in faith and the fact that he was able to make them, demonstrate that Joseph was not paralyzed by pessimism – that he was able to open the door to the new and to the possible even as there were real risks involved.  Rather than pessimism, Joseph chose faith and that gave him the hope and courage necessary to move forward into life.    

The desire to escape reality is a besetting temptation and sin of our time and it manifests itself in multiple forms including attitudes and mindsets we can each carry within our own hearts.  Pope Francis has given the Church a wonderful gift in this year dedicated to St. Joseph.  The humble carpenter and foster father of our Lord had the strength of character to face reality with faith and conviction and he was blessed in this.  God chose the foster father of his son very well. Hopefully we can learn from this quiet saint and realize that the lessons he has to give can truly be an antidote to the temptation to escape reality and the virus of indifference in our world.    

Joseph’s choice.

21 Saturday Dec 2019

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let mum restIt was more than just the dream for Joseph that led him to take the young, pregnant Mary into his home – even as he knew that his decision would not be understood by his neighbors and that he would be mocked and ridiculed for welcoming Mary. No person wants to be seen as a fool. Yes, the angel appeared in a dream and certainly there must have been the glory and power of God revealed but God never overwhelms our volition. God never manipulates. God always invites our free choice and our free response.

The other part to Joseph’s decision was Joseph himself. This is witnessed by the two descriptions of the man found in the Gospel reading for this fourth Sunday of Advent; “…Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man…” and the title given by the angel in his greeting, “Joseph, Son of David…” Scholars say that the title offered by the angel is Matthew’s way of linking Jesus to the lineage of David but it is also safe to say that the greeting offered is a reflection on Joseph himself as being an observant Jew of his time, as being a righteous man who demonstrated by his life and his choices his belief in God.

Joseph, who says no words in all of Scripture, teaches us that God does not and will not overwhelm our volition nor does faith occur in a vacuum. What led up to Joseph’s ability to both hear and trust in the dream and then to take Mary “into his home” was a lifetime of making the choice for God and responding to God’s initiative and grace in faith and trust.

We often willfully forget that we have a part to play in the equation of faith. So often we say, “Why is God silent? Why is God not speaking in our world or in our lives?” Well, maybe God is speaking but it is we who have stopped our ears and it is we who have hardened our hearts by the choices we have made and continue to make. Choices have consequences.

I think it safe to say that every choice Joseph made for God (no matter how big or small, seen or unseen, applauded or not) in his journey of faith both led up to and prepared him for the moment we hear today in the gospel. All those choices gave Joseph the strength of character to trust in the message of the angel and to take Mary “into his home”.

We hear of the Star of Bethlehem that led the wise men to the place of the birth of the savior. Joseph had his own “north star” that guided him throughout the journey of his life. It was his faith and his decision to live according to his faith. Without a word spoken, Joseph teaches us what it means to be righteous in the eyes of God and what it means to be a child of David – it means trusting in God and then acting on that trust.

Faith does not occur in a vacuum.

God does not overwhelm our volition and God does not manipulate.

Our choices do have consequences.

We can make the choice to soften our hearts and open our ears and to listen to what God has to offer.

Joseph teaches us this.

St. Joseph and Corporal Desmond Doss

18 Sunday Dec 2016

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doss-300x236The movie “Hacksaw Ridge” is a powerful and true story about a man holding firm to his convictions in the face of strong opposition.  Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector in World War II.  Guided by his Christian faith and a personal vow he made to God, Doss would not pick up a gun but he wanted to help his country in the war effort as a medic.  The first half of the film is about the opposition he faced in the army itself.  He was viewed as a coward and his superiors and even fellow soldiers tried to force him out.  The second half of the film is about how Doss proved his courage in the face of battle.  When his unit was forced to retreat due to an overwhelming onslaught of Japanese soldiers, Doss remained and under the cover of night and early morning rescued seventy-five wounded soldiers.  His prayer throughout that heroic effort, each time he went back onto the combat field was, “Dear God, let me get just one more man.”  Corporal Desmond Doss was the first and only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

I recently read in a commentary that in Christ, “God works his plan not in the extra-ordinariness of miracles or in the mystery of esoteric magic, but in the ordinariness of mercy and in the mystery of compassion.”  In today’s gospel (Mt. 1:18-24) we are told how the birth of Jesus Christ comes about.  Mary is found with child.  Joseph, a righteous and merciful man, decides to divorce her quietly.  But, in a dream, an angel comes to Joseph and tells him to have no fear; that the child is conceived through the Holy Spirit and the child will reveal that God is with us.  Joseph took Mary into his home.

It is important to remember that both the annunciation and Joseph’s dream were private.  Only Mary saw the angel Gabriel.  Only Joseph had the dream.  We know the rest of the story but then, at that moment and in those confusing days, it was not known.  There must have been gossip.  The scandal of a pregnancy outside of marriage and the foolishness of Joseph taking Mary into his home when a truly righteous man and observant Jew would have done no such thing!  The stigma probably did not end with the birth of the child either.  It probably always hung around the Holy Family, it probably followed Joseph to his death bed and it was probably whispered about Christ his whole life.

In the gospels Joseph speaks no words but his actions and willingness to live by his convictions whether understood by other people or not say volumes about the foster-father of our Lord.  Both Mary and Joseph, in their own way, said “yes” to God and they entered into that mystery of mercy and compassion where God’s will is known and made manifest.  Yes, there were some signs that we will hear of in the next few weeks – a shining star, a vision of angels, wise men from the East – but for the vast majority of the world all was ordinary but in that “ordinary” the most extra-ordinary was occurring.  God was coming to be with us.

There is a scene in “Hacksaw Ridge” when the troop is retreating and Corporal Doss is at the top of the ridge.  He cries out, “God I cannot hear you!  What do you want me to do?”  There is a silence for a moment as the medic sits in the violent ordinariness of war and then he says for the first time of seventy-five times, “Dear God, let me get just one man.”  Corporal Doss then runs back into the battlefield.  It was not esoteric or other-worldly it was just the mystery of mercy and compassion being lived in the moment. 

We should neither disdain the ordinary nor the choice to live our convictions of faith in the ordinary.  Mary, Joseph and a host of witnesses like Corporal Doss show how God is found and his will is made known in the ordinary – whether understood by other people at the time or not. 

St. Joseph, foster-father of our Lord, pray for us. 

St. Joseph, help us to learn your humility, your conviction and your wisdom.