Saint Joseph: He Said Yes
Over the years, much of what I’ve learned about getting closer to God, and subsequently becoming a saint, has culminated into one phrase: saying “yes.” Humility! I don’t think any of us, when we think of the attractive virtues, instinctively go to docility. Instead, we may think of patience, chastity, charity, temperance, all of the cool ones that we aspire to ascertain. But when you think about it, how do we practice those virtues- what is at the core of those? Saying “yes” when the opportunity arises. Much of this humble and obedient theme is focused on our Holy Mother Mary during this time, and rightly so, she is amazing, but there’s another character who also said “yes,” and we know almost nothing about him- St. Joseph.
When you think of St. Joseph, what’s the first title you think of for him? Is it, Terror of Demons? Father of the Universal Church? Carpenter? For me, it’s Father of Jesus, Husband to Mary. And apparently, for Wikipedia, Google, and the USCCB, this is too. We may think to ourselves that that’s such an amazing title for our most beloved saint, but let’s dissect this for a moment. When you die, after living a full life of work, fun, adventure, and creation, after toiling through every emotional roller coaster and dealing with crisis after crisis that at the end of it all you were just remembered as, father of your child? Picture yourself now and whatever you’re going through, maybe you’re having a hard time at work, your date just got canceled, you’re about to create some awesome sculpture. Now, think about how when you die, no one will remember you for that. How you slaved so much to create this cool sculpture, how you told all the right jokes at a party, how you cried your eyes out last weekend because x, y, or z. Sounds a bit underwhelming right?
When Mary came back from Elizabeth, noticeably pregnant, all eyes were on her. Joseph wanted to secretly divorce her, but an angel told him not to because Mary is the Mother of Jesus. When Jesus was born, Magi and shepherds came to adore Him. When Jesus was presented in the temple and years later found there once again, all eyes were on Mary and Jesus. It’s almost as if Joseph’s whole life, and subsequently what we know about him, stopped being about him when Jesus entered into his life and started being about a question- “how can I serve this child?” We’ll never know what great work Joseph was doing or what clients he had or what his specialty was, but that he was a carpenter. We’ll never know what Joseph taught Jesus about the faith or carpentry or how Joseph loved Mary - if he brought her flowers or sang her love songs, but that he was a spouse and father. We’ll never know exactly how Joseph felt when the Angel came to him and said to not be afraid to take Mary into his house, but that he just... did it.
How amazing.
I don’t have any children, but when I think about being a parent, I think about taking the spotlight off of me and shining it on my child(ren) as much as I can- providing them opportunities for success, extra food off my plate, teaching them how to build a fence, anything that I think will help them succeed or grow. This, I think, is how to be a good Christian - taking the light away from us and answering, “how can I make this other person, more apparent?” Simply put, saying “yes” to the call.
Friends, we should strive to be as invisible as St. Joseph. To have nothing written about him at the end of his days, not his hobbies, not any famous last words, not his accomplishments, not his trials, but instead the constant “yes” he said in raising a child that biologically wasn’t his. Constantly giving and allowing the spotlight to be on the other and be remembered for that- or better, not remembered. Because at the end of the day, the end of your life, end of time, your earthly audience doesn’t matter as much as the divine playwright and director, God, who will inevitably ask you, “will you do this for me?”
