Saint Joseph is a true man of God. Let us discover why
The Gospels contain very few references to Saint Joseph, but they are enough to bring out the figure of a true man of God. The evangelist Mark limits himself to reporting what the people of Nazareth say about him when they state that Jesus is the son of Mary and that he is a carpenter.
In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, the evangelists address this unique figure in different ways, without reporting a single word from him.
Art depicts him as old, gray-haired, and rather melancholy, but it is easier to imagine him as a strong, young, loving, and courageous man. Joseph fully lived out his role as husband and father, doing so almost unnoticed, with the utmost discretion. Saint Joseph is a true man of God! Let us discover why.
He Was a Righteous Man
Matthew presents Joseph as “righteous,” a qualification that indicates not only the individual's moral conduct, but also his complete fidelity to the Law of Moses.
In the Bible, the righteous person is one who has a relationship of active faith with God and makes himself available to do whatever God's Word asks of him. Despite his advanced age, Abraham believed the Lord's promise of descendants, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Joseph is righteous because he lives a constant experience of the presence of the merciful Lord in his life, a man who does not speak but acts, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who “say but do not do” (Mt 23:3).
The righteous are those who place all their trust and hope in God, who trust in his promise to be forever at their side. The righteous live fully in the events of this world, of this history, but they know that existence is not confined to the limited horizon of earthly time, but opens onto a destiny filled with eternity; the righteous make room for God's logic in the reality of their lives, welcoming, amid the difficult and often incomprehensible routine of daily life, the irruption of God's newness.
Guided by God
Being a righteous man enabled Joseph to be constantly guided by God himself (the Angel of the Lord), who three times - a number that in Jewish symbolism signifies totality - would show him what to do (Mt 1:20; 2:13, 19) through dreams.
Pope Francis describes his devotion to Saint Joseph precisely in relation to his ability to dream, to listen to God's dreams revealed to him in delicate and very beautiful ways: “I would also like to tell you something very personal. I love Saint Joseph very much because he is a strong and silent man. On my desk I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. And while he sleeps, he takes care of the Church! Yes! He can do it, we know that. And when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a note and place it under Saint Joseph so that he may dream about it! This gesture means: pray for this problem!”
Joseph sleeping might seem distant from real life, uninterested. Yet it is precisely in this attitude of trusting surrender that he shows himself to be completely entrusted to God; from his heavenly Father he receives the gift of his earthly fatherhood, his capacity for care, and his taking responsibility for the problems of the Church and of humanity.
He woke from sleep
There is complete continuity between Joseph’s sleep and his conscious, waking life. He acts, and that is all, taking full responsibility for everything. As a true man. In the dream, the Word of God is addressed to him through the angel; the Lord speaks to him. He becomes a father not in the biological sense, but in an existential one: Joseph is the one who watches over, protects, cares for, and opens the way. And he does this not when everything is easy and self-evident, during the day, but at night, when difficulties, doubts, and fear prevail, countered by the firmness of his presence and the constancy of his devotion.
The same could also be true for us when we listen to the Word, when we read the Scriptures, when, as living members of the Church, we pray and even manage to live through experiences in which we feel that we have grasped something of his will for us. Joseph leaves this situation, wakes from sleep, and could go back to considering these things as he had been doing shortly before the divine intervention, mulling them over, perhaps trying to find some autonomous and independent way out, and regarding the angel’s instructions as a delusion, merely a dream, after all. Joseph, however, trusts in God and «did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him» (Mt 1,24).
He did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
Repeating the deeds of the first Joseph in the Bible (Gen 45-46), the carpenter of Nazareth saves his family from King Herod’s murderous plots by taking them to Egypt, and then returning to Galilee. By accepting Mary’s son as his own, Joseph legitimizes him in the eyes of the people, and the child, whom he named Jesus (“The Lord saves”), experiences the earthly father as his savior even before experiencing the protection of his heavenly Father.
Saint Joseph does not say a single word and obeys. Obedience is the fruit of faith; only those who have faith obey, because they trust what God says, even when they do not always understand. Who knows how many times Joseph, like Mary, in the face of God’s requests, said, “I don’t understand, but I trust.” In him, who promptly does whatever he is told, the Word is fulfilled; the history of humanity’s salvation in Christ Jesus is made possible by his silent, steadfast, constant perseverance in faithfulness to the Word of God. History becomes the place where God’s will is fulfilled.
That is why we, too, entrust ourselves to his intercession, his care, and his protection:
1. We need not to shut ourselves within our limitations. We are experiencing firsthand, at various levels, the limits inherent in our lives, our existence, and the forms and models of our civil coexistence. We are discovering how fragile the certainties we took for granted until just a few days ago were—so much so that we were not even able to conceive of such a sudden shutdown, such a radical change in the space of a few moments. Time is not in our hands: we are capable of the greatest things, yet always exposed to the risk of failure and closure. We discover the true measure of what it means to be human when we keep it open to the horizon of God's infinity, an infinity of justice and mercy at the same time.
2. We need to entrust ourselves to a deeply human and powerful intercession. Saint Joseph, who while asleep ensures the care of what is dear to us, gives us hope that we can continue striving even when our strength seems to be failing and our determination risks giving way. We need to entrust to him the struggle, strength, and courage of all those who are striving to the limit, and even beyond their own abilities, for the good of each person and of all. We need to ask for Saint Joseph's intercession, so that he may accompany us in this time of trial.
3. We need help to live out concretely the love that faith awakens in us. Saint Joseph, who awakens and continues to be faithful, supports us in the transition from prayer to active life, from contemplation of the mystery of Christ to the choices and actions of each day. We need Christians who live their faith in every aspect of life and translate into concrete choices the love of God experienced in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.
4. We need witnesses to the Gospel. Saint Joseph reminds us that in the Church deeds matter more than words. Words without works become a cause of scandal, while works without words provide an opportunity for growth and edification.
We need a silent, patient, daily fidelity, aware that, in our own small way, we too can be silent, strong, and faithful guardians of everyone's life.
Let us learn from Saint Joseph to be men and women of faith, a faith that is born from listening, manifested in obedience, and passed on through witness.
May the silence, industriousness, and responsible care that Saint Joseph practiced toward Mary and the child Jesus give all fathers an added measure of courage, stability in the Lord, and the ability to be a secure point of reference in their families.
Let us ask the Lord to grant everyone the gift of a true faith capable of bringing forth fruitfulness and newness of life.
Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and patron of the universal Church, pray for us!
