St. Joseph, Saint for Modern Times.

                     St. Joseph, Saint for Modern Times

         St. Joseph is the patron saint of the Universal Church, workers, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travellers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers and working people, among others. In modern times he too stands as our model for a ‘quiet and thoughtful life’ as he always shows himself in the gospel stories. Men in our families often live with stress, anxiety, hassle and pressures of daily life that come from the workplace, family pressures, spousal-relationship, parenting challenges and many other situations of modern life.

            St. Joseph, the Foster-Father of Jesus and the husband of Mary went through all the stressful situations that any father and husband our time go through. The way he handled those situations stands as our model to imitate. His silence, thoughtfulness, generosity, docility, hard work and tenderness give practical lessons in meeting our own challenges of our modern times as a husband, father and a man in the industry.

            Any husband and father go through challenges of family life: lack of communication or wrong communication within the family, ignoring boundaries, lack of sexual intimacy, emotional or sexual infidelity, financial stress, low self-esteem arising from family situations and dealing with different life stages. They take away peace of mind. They create ‘undue noise’ in the mind and heart, pushing the person to live in a noisy world, which are oftentimes too difficult to bear. These are noise from within and noise from outside. Everyone is longing for peace, to have a noiseless world, family and mind and heart.

        St. Joseph is a man of silence. He teaches the value of silence. He teaches us to create a world that is tranquil and serene. We often talk of living in a noisy world. Here the noise not only means the sound intensity measured as Decibels. But it means peoples’ struggle for prominence, position, visibility, recognition and their desperate need to be heard. More than ever before silence is a much-needed value, not just a condition or environment. Silence is an attitude, approach, character and even charisma.

        Every right-thinking person loves silence. It is a virtue born out of training and personal choice. It is serenity, tranquillity and peacefulness. St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta, an outstanding saint of modern times, wonderfully said, “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace.”

        We can confidently say, ‘Silence is sacred and noise is greed.’ Our day-to-day experience teaches us that every noisy person is found to be self-centred and egoistic and thinks only of oneself and the small world around him or herself. On the other hand, a person who loves silence is found to be generous, gentle, kind, calm and considerate. These are the outstanding virtues of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, the Son of God.

            Joseph’s spoken words are not recorded in the gospels, but they mention him as a “Just man” and his qualities are indirectly explained through his humane sensitivity to people and events, discernment, upright decisions, adherence to values and traditions, compassion, caring nature, patience, submission to the will of God and many others. These outstanding virtues and qualities are transmitted to us not through his words but through the eyes of those who witnessed them.

            The practice of these virtues to their highest form is possible only by persons who are silent, calm, serene and peaceful. As explained by our Holy Mother St. Teresa of Jesus, the silence of St. Joseph is the fruit of his prayer, being in constant touch with God, love experienced from Mary, his spouse, and his sense of service to others.  And certainly, we can say that his silence helped him to practice these virtues. It is said in many languages and cultures, ‘empty vessels make noise,’ St. Joseph was not empty, he was full of God, full of concern for others rather than full of himself. When one is full of oneself, the world around them becomes noisy and it is a manifestation of greediness, far from being sacred or holy.

            Psychologists tell us that, Silence is a powerful way to engage with your loved ones, especially during trying times in our family and relationship. It helps communicate acceptance of the other person at a given moment, especially when they are projecting strong and stressful feelings like sadness, anger, or fear. Through our silence, we can give the other person our full attention.

            We all come from families. We are products of our families. Our parents, siblings and extended family members make us what we are. We witness a variety of families. Have we noticed that peaceful families are created by ‘silent’ people? In the gospels, Mother Confidently talks a number of times. She expresses her emotions, doubts, fear as well as her needs. We could confidently say that she is an expressive person, a communicative person and an easy-to-read person. Probably St. Joseph’s silence and a quieter person help to make the family pleasant and comfortable.

        Through silence, he could express his thoughtfulness, sensitivity, hard work, docility and tenderness which he could teach his son, which we all witness in Jesus’ life. May St. Joseph teach us the great virtue of silence and stillness? Let us also learn a sacred silence in our life to grow personally and spiritually. 

Happy feast of our Holy Father St. Joseph. 

Fr. Nicholas Macedon OCD.