FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH
St. Joseph might be called the silent saint.
We certainly don’t have any immortal words of his recorded for our edification.
But Joseph’s silence is like the pause in a symphony; the great symphony of God becoming human.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen in his book, On Being Human, said, “Life, like music, must have its rhythm of silence as well as sound.” Without silence there is no music only noise. Human silence is wonderful to listen to.
Perhaps Joseph’s silence reminds us that in the face of infinite Mystery there are no word to adequately express our awe.
Perhaps Joseph, like Mary, pondered in his heart all that was occurring in his life with no need to utter a Magnificat.
Joseph is a model for our contemplative life when we close down the noise that assaults us from outside and the noise that rumbles in our interior emotions and reactions.
A SECOND ASPECT ABOUT JOSEPH
Legend paints pictures of Joseph and Mary being poor.
But Joseph wasn’t poor in the sense of today’s street people, nor was he wealthy like Herod the King.
Joseph was a carpenter who presumably made a good living for his family who could walk the streets with their heads held high.
On the other hand, Joseph lived the spirit of poverty inasmuch as he was open to all God called him to do, even if that call sounded like a summons to break the Law by not shunning his espoused and pregnant Mary. Joseph was open to doing something lawless because he reached out to a more divine law.
It is in the silence of our contemplation that we can gauge the strength of our spirit of poverty, our response to God’s call to us to become all God wants us to be in all areas of our lives.
THIRD ASPECT
St. Joseph was entrusted by God to care for and nurture the most priceless gift God has given to the human race: the Son of God become human.
So we too are to cherish Jesus by opening up and accepting his values, his priorities, his insights and live them even if this means a torturous journey like Joseph’s journey into Egypt. The torture of our spiritual journey will end when we return to our eternal home just as Joseph and Mary and Jesus returned to Nazareth.
St. Joseph might be called the silent saint.
We certainly don’t have any immortal words of his recorded for our edification.
But Joseph’s silence is like the pause in a symphony; the great symphony of God becoming human.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen in his book, On Being Human, said, “Life, like music, must have its rhythm of silence as well as sound.” Without silence there is no music only noise. Human silence is wonderful to listen to.
Perhaps Joseph’s silence reminds us that in the face of infinite Mystery there are no word to adequately express our awe.
Perhaps Joseph, like Mary, pondered in his heart all that was occurring in his life with no need to utter a Magnificat.
Joseph is a model for our contemplative life when we close down the noise that assaults us from outside and the noise that rumbles in our interior emotions and reactions.
A SECOND ASPECT ABOUT JOSEPH
Legend paints pictures of Joseph and Mary being poor.
But Joseph wasn’t poor in the sense of today’s street people, nor was he wealthy like Herod the King.
Joseph was a carpenter who presumably made a good living for his family who could walk the streets with their heads held high.
On the other hand, Joseph lived the spirit of poverty inasmuch as he was open to all God called him to do, even if that call sounded like a summons to break the Law by not shunning his espoused and pregnant Mary. Joseph was open to doing something lawless because he reached out to a more divine law.
It is in the silence of our contemplation that we can gauge the strength of our spirit of poverty, our response to God’s call to us to become all God wants us to be in all areas of our lives.
THIRD ASPECT
St. Joseph was entrusted by God to care for and nurture the most priceless gift God has given to the human race: the Son of God become human.
So we too are to cherish Jesus by opening up and accepting his values, his priorities, his insights and live them even if this means a torturous journey like Joseph’s journey into Egypt. The torture of our spiritual journey will end when we return to our eternal home just as Joseph and Mary and Jesus returned to Nazareth.
posted by The Ronald | 5:03 PM
1 Comments:
Loved it. Thank you.
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