The Example of Saint Joseph

Homily for the Solemnity of Saint Joseph
19 March 2014

        The statue I placed in front of the altar this morning is called “Joseph On the Journey.” It was given to me from Father John Batchkay, then-pastor of Incarnation of the Lord Parish, when I and my fellow parishioner and classmate, Father Tom Gillespie, entered our priestly formation at Saint Paul Seminary ten years ago this August.

        This is one of my favorite depictions of the Saint whose memory we honor today. This particular image of Saint Joseph is, for me, a reminder of the journey that not only Joseph took when he was alive, but the same journey that you and I are on right now. It is a journey of pure faith; it is a journey of trust in the Lord.

        This man, who spoke not a word in Sacred Scripture, was a man of many journeys: As a child living the Jewish faith, he would have learned how to make the journey to Jerusalem for the great festivals. The first journey we see Joseph make in Scripture is taking his newly-betrothed wife, Mary, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, to be counted in Caesar’s census. We also see Joseph fleeing in haste to Egypt, to protect his wife and the Son of God he was to help raise. And somewhere, hidden from the pages of Scripture, we know of that journey he ultimately took from this life to the next.

        Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI teaches us: “Saint Joseph’s silence is steeped in contemplation of the mystery of God in an attitude of total availability to the divine desires. . . . Let us allow ourselves to be filled with Saint Joseph’s silence!”

        Joseph could not have made those impressive journeys throughout his life and of his life if he had not been silent to hear the voice of the Lord.

        And so it is with us.

        My brothers and sisters, as we journey from this life to the next, as we make the many journeys of this life which take us to many places – physically, spiritually, emotionally –, then we, like Saint Joseph, must be silent to hear the voice of the Lord guiding us throughout all of our journeys.

        We must especially be silent when it comes to listening to our God about our relationship with His Son, and how we are to journey with Him.

        The silence guides the journey.

        Yet the journey can be its own reward.

        My friends, the life of Saint Joseph can teach us so much, though we know so little of it. Through his silence, he speaks volumes of how to trust and obey the will of God; his journeys teach us that when we enter into a relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ, and His Blessed Mother, our lives will not be those of standing still, but journeying, ourselves, in adventures and moments of trust that only our God can give us.

        As we approach to receive the Eucharist this day, we pray for the ability to allow that Food to be our spiritual nourishment for the journey, and the Message that we listen for in the silence of our hearts.

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Enjoy the journey . . .