Fathers Day: St. Joseph

Fathers Day is tomorrow and as I was praying a rosary for a Priest, or "Father", I was thinking about St. Joseph, who is the patron saint for fathers. We learn from our fathers and I was thinking of funny quotes my dad says like me being a "chip off the old block" and that "the apple didn't fall far from the tree." This led me to think about how we do pick up elements from our dads but also from our spiritual fathers (if we want to). I was thinking about the house where St. Joseph raised Jesus. What did it look like? Did Mother Mary decorate with any nice wooden crafts that he made? Did it have windows or any fabrics or baskets? As I was contemplating the house where Jesus grew up I thought more and more about St. Joseph's role in this incredible part of our history. He was the only sinner of the three (Mary was without sin from conception, hence the Immaculate Conception) and Jesus was without sin or stain. So St. Joseph was the only one who actually sinned, so is more comparable to us in that way.

I was thinking about him and what great faith he had and how to learn from his faith. The Bible doesn't have any words of St. Joseph but it does say a lot about his faith in God the Father. St. Joseph had a deep and powerful faith in God, so much that he followed the voice of God several times and protected Mary and Jesus in doing so. When the Angel of God appeared to him in his sleep to announce that Mary, his fiance was pregnant with Jesus, St. Joseph believed him. What kind of solid faith must St. Joseph had that in the times where women would be stoned for such a pregnancy, he not only stayed with Mary but furthermore believed in an angel that appeared in a dream. I think this teaches, in a very crude nutshell, that St. Joseph was a man who wasn't attune to agreeing with his surroundings and the voices of the masses. He must have had a very special spiritual relationship with God so that he could be quiet enough to discern the message of God as real and true, even if it was vastly different than what St. Joseph was raised with or what his immediate culture believed.

The Angel of God, depicted, telling St. Joseph about the pregnancy of Mary

Secondly, I was thinking of St. Joseph's courage. He was a man who believed in the right dream when it came and gave it enough thought to act upon it. When baby Jesus was just a little ball of joy, King Herod was jealous and wanted to kill Him. In fact, he was so jealous he sent all baby boys under the age of 2 to be slaughtered. St. Joseph had a dream telling him to escape, to take Mother Mary and Baby Jesus and to go far away to Egypt. This was no ordinary road-trip with air conditioning or pretzels as snacks. No, this was a hard and long journey on foot with a donkey, a postpartum Mother and a little Baby. Anyone asked to do this would be called crazy. But St. Joseph had courage to listen once again and to act with courage.

St. Joseph dreaming again, with an angel telling him to hurry up and go!

Lastly, he didn't complain....Mind you, all these actions, he seems to have carried them out silently. Maybe he did complain, he was a sinner after all, but no where in the Bible does it state that "Joseph complained." Nope! The Israelite's complained with Moses and the complained so much they went to the desert for 40 years. The Apostles complained. Lot's wife turned in to a pillar of salt for complaining in the Old Testament. You could easily supposed that a normal man, a sinner, would complain. I'm sure it would have been recorded somewhere had St. Joseph thrown a temper tantrum, smacked the donkey and taken off for the nearest village to cool off, kicking stones on his way. He had plenty of reason for doing so: pregnant fiance....Harrod wanting to kill him....walking to Egypt. If you think about it, God the Father put a lot of hard things as a responsibility on St. Joseph! Not only the upbringing of Baby Jesus but really tough situations too!

Walking in the desert with Mother Mary and Christ Jesus because a dream said so, and he had faith and sensitivity in  inner silence to discern it as God's will.

There are other great things I could think about St. Joseph: he had a great work ethic, he was creative, he was a good foster father, he was a child of God raising the Son of God and it didn't totally boggle his mind (or maybe it did), he was humble (he didn't parade around with his very special Child), he was a great protector...but for now I will stop here.

One of my favorite images of St. Jospeh. Here he is teaching Jesus how to work on wood and Christ Jesus is holding him the light showing him the true light of God.

 While I thoroughly enjoy taking away some good from my zaney dad, I certainly am also incredibly greatful to have spiritual fathers to look up to and that we can all look up to! I hadn't contemplated St. Joseph so frequently, so I'm glad he came into mind today to inspire me with his life's lessons on faith, courage and being obedient when God calls you to do something really tough.

+++ St Joseph, pray for us and assist us in our struggle against the power of darkness. Oh watchful guardian of the Holy Family, intercede for us. +++