Our gospel places Saint Joseph firmly before our sight. It states that he was “a righteous man.” This title is something more then simply being found morally upright. He was one who lived a right relationship with God as well as with other people, he was willing to listen attentively to God’s word, and ordered his life after what he was instructed.
Very soon we will welcome the coming of Christ at Christmas. Saint Jospeh stands before us as a reminder of entering into the silence of prayer and remaining faithful when it pertains to what we have been instructed. So often we are those who are too busy to pray and too afraid to go where we have been called.
Saint Joseph shows us that righteousness is rooted in action and not in words. Throughout the course of Sacred Scripture Saint Joseph is attributed with saying nothing. Nevertheless, he was found so willing to respond by taking his wife, naming his child, protecting his family, and providing for their needs through his labor.
As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux would state, “Jospeh was called righteous because he was a faithful servant, prudent and trustworthy, whom the Lord appointed as head of His household.” Like Saint Joseph we must take to heart the fullness of what has been entrusted to our care and act upon it as a true disciple of the Lord.
Saint Jospeh’s life was not filled with pomp and circumstance. He labored with care by carrying out his daily responsibilities with love and perseverance. He becomes a model to us that we must also act with such hidden faithfulness in all that we do. It can be easy to forget that the mundane gestures of our life are also a means to which we can be connected to God.
Pope Benedict XVI stated of him, “He does not cling to his own ideas of happiness, but makes room for God’s will.” In our life we must also learn to make such room for God’s will within us. It is so easy to become to busy or worried about the ways of the world to the point that we forget to invite God in to dwell with us.
Saint Joseph displays such trust to us through his willingness to pray and act upon what he is told. He was a righteous man who looked upon his relationship with God with great humility. He saw his unworthiness in all of this, but God still called him to act in such a way through the protecting of this family.
Let us continue to make room for God to dwell with us as He does through the Incarnation. Through this act of love God comes in order to make His dwelling place among us. Will we be found ready to greet Him or will we instead be found too busy and unwilling to rush out in order to greet Him? Let us reflect upon this relationship and be found willing to go wherever God leads.
Saint Jospeh, pray for us.
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