St. Joseph at Christmas

In the Gospel of Matthew (Mt. 2: 18-25) for the last Sunday of Advent God’s plan for our salvation is at a pivotal moment. Mary is facing a grim future--she was found to be with child. In the Jewish law of the time she and the child could have been stoned or shunned for the rest of their lives, forced to live on the margins in poverty and destitution

At this point God’s plan for salvation depends upon Joseph. And what do we know of Joseph? Joseph is called a righteous man, a carpenter by trade.  He was of the lineage of David through Abraham. He was from Nazareth in Galilee. He was betrothed to Mary.

For a man who is pivotal to our salvation, he is remarkably quiet; he says nothing in Scripture. Basically, that’s all we ever know about Joseph. Except …that he has dreams to which he pays attention, dreams that he interprets as a man of righteousness and relationships as the voice of God breaking into his life.

In the first dream an angel appears and tells him what to do.  Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. It is a righteous thing. You are of the house of David. The Child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. You will name him Jesus because he is coming to save his people, your people. from their sins.  This will fulfill the prophecy by Isaiah in which a savior will come,  Emmanuel which means God is with us.

This Gospel has been called the Annunciation to Joseph but Joseph does not get to ask a question or dialogue with the angel. He wakes up and does what the angel tells him to do which is, in essence, extending protection to Mary and the child to be born. The rest of his three his dreams go the same way. In all of them he is told to protect Mary and the child.

Because Joseph says nothing in the Scriptures, it is tempting to assign him our own thoughts and words. And we do. Pope Francis says, “I have a great love for Joseph because he is a man of silence and strength.” Francis continues, “Joseph is a ‘protector’ because he is able to hear God’s  voice and be guided by God’s will; protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness.  In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!”

What about our own tenderness and strength? As I was working on this, I had been reading about the impeachment and other political and social news of the day. Tenderness is not in vogue in our society today. Tenderness is a fragile thing. For myself, I can let my ego, judgementalism and inattention to God’s voice get in the way of engaging my tenderness.

As we celebrate Christmas this year of 2019, a year of political and social division, a year of anger and rage, where is our tenderness engaged? During this Christmas season, as we pray for protection from all evil, where is the spirit of the silent, protective, tender Joseph in our lives?

Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB