I remember day when one of my students told me: “Poor St. Joseph! Everything is his fault! His wife is immaculately conceived and his foster son is divine, so if there’s any problem in the Holy Family, Joseph must be the one to be blame!”.
So when I heard that comment, I directed that student to – Matthew chapter 1:19 – which described St. Joseph as a “righteous man.” The Hebrew Scriptures are replete with praise for the “righteous man” or the “just man.” Almighty God would not entrust Mary and the Divine Son to some random chap off the street. So, definitely St. Joseph was above reproach.
Sadly, St. Joseph – in my opinion – is very neglected in our church. Who is in the centre usually? Mary and her child. St Joseph is in a ‘corner’. Nobody is focus on him.
As we honour St. Joseph, I have to say, that today our society time to time is being hit with a wave of stories about men behaving very badly toward others, abusing their power and positions in vile and destructive ways, and I feel a little bit sorry for St Joseph – righteous man, that he is such neglected in our church.
I really don’t know what’s happened in our culture, but I noticed that from some period in popular culture, especially in the West, husbands and fathers are often portrayed as buffoons or unreliable. In many Countries, family courts are often biased against men. Obviously, many men have abandoned or even refused to take up their responsibilities as husbands and fathers – and that’s very sad situation. But, there is no doubt that fatherlessness is catastrophic for women and children.
In this context, we have rediscover St. Joseph, especially in his divinely-appointed role as guide, protector and provider for the Holy Family.
I’d like to focus on two aspects in particular, namely, the way that St. Joseph must have regarded Our Lady.
Firstly: One of my earliest memories is of my father coming home from work, and the first thing he would do once he got through the door was to embrace my mother. Even as a very little boy, I could perceive that coming home to Mum was the high point of Dad’s day. Surely the young Jesus saw modelled for him by St. Joseph respect, reverence, love and gratitude for Mary, his wife. In this context our Fr. Pat said to me very good comment: the most beautiful gift father can give to his children is to love their mother. And that’s truth.
Secondly: We know one other thing about Joseph, and this year it might be the most important thing: He was kind. Joseph’s kindness may outweigh all his other good qualities, even his righteousness. Righteousness can sometimes become a boat stuck on the shoals of Justice, and rendered immovable. Kindness, which contains an element of Mercy, can lift the vessel to freedom. And Joseph’s kindness is an example of true masculine strength. He could have, in all “righteousness” cast Mary aside in a way that publicly shamed her and would have ended her life. Within the law, within the society and the tribe, he had that power and to use it would have meant no dishonour to him. But even before the re-assurances that came from heaven, Joseph was too kind to use his socially-approved power in that way.
Joseph was a righteous man. The devout life he embraced developed his faith; faith gave him courage; courage permitted his generosity; generosity let him grow in wisdom; wisdom taught Joseph kindness. Kindness is where, if we must err at all, our errors should occur.
Joseph made no errors because he was a man of faith, and a man in full.
Let us pray today, that the whole world would appreciatively make a model of this righteous, faithful, courageous, generous and kind Jewish man! Then, Our families, all places of our work, and our world will become very different and much, much better.
Tomasz MAMELKA - Timperley 