Joseph: A Gift of Silence
March 15, 2008
Gospel: Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a
Today, we have St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. We know very little of Joseph. But it seems that everytime he appears in the gospels, he is confronted with nearly impossible situations. He often travels from bad to worse situations. What a trial this must have been for Him!
Even though he moves from bad to worse situations of life, the bible presents him as a calm and quiet person; always able to hear the voice of God in the midst of the turmoil of life. What was his secret of life? The Bible gives us two clues. First of all, we are told that he was a just man. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus explains to us the meaning of being a just man: giving to God what belongs to God, and giving to men what belongs to them. In other words, a man who keeps the commands of God, a man who loves God, a man who loves his neighbour. Doing what one knows to be right. As Joseph shows us in the gospel, it is never wrong to do the right thing. No matter how awkward the situation might be; no matter how inconvenient, trying, expensive, exhausting it might be. If we know in our hearts that something is so right it simply couldn’t be wrong, then we have to go all the way to do it as Joseph did.
Secondly, although Joseph is present all throughout the story of the nativity, we do not have even a word reported by the evangelists as spoken by Joseph. Joseph was a silent man, did silently all that he knew to be right. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of our lives, God is demanding only one thing from us. Give me a break! Stop talking and merely doing things. Give me a break, bring me into your life. Let me speak to you!
Let Joseph teach us some silence, and then we will be able to listen to God even in the midst of confusions and turmoil in life. May God bless us all.
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