Page 105 - Reflections on St. Joseph

fatherly love for all His adopted children in Jesus Christ. It is he that we present and represent
to the people whose particular search is for an earthly icon of a “father.”

In today’s modern world, human families are looking for a figure that would build up the basic
institution of humanity and society. The particular group of fathers themselves is so urgently
in need of a role model par excellence. In response, the OSJ present St. Joseph as the model of
family and social virtues (OSJ Constitutions, 74) in their preaching and in the life that they live.

St. Joseph: A Man of Faith and Prayer

It is commonplace to hear today of crises in spiritual and moral leadership. Easily this is traced
at home where it usually begins. Some of its bitter fruits among the young are high rate of
juvenile crime, broken homes and unchurched young people.

Turning to St. Joseph then, we can offer a solution with the call to faith and prayer for fathers.
We glimpse his faith in action in the Gospel of St. Matthew. First, we find him agonizing over
whether to divorce Mary quietly because she was betrothed to him and conceived a child that
was not his. Yet after the angel of the Lord had revealed to him in a dream Jesus’ true paternity,
Joseph awakened and did as the angel of the Lord had directed by receiving Mary into his home
as his wife. (Mt. 1:24) So too, after the visit of the magi, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph
in a dream. This time, he informed Joseph that King Herod was searching for Jesus to destroy
Him since he viewed “the newborn King of the Jews” as a direct threat to his rule. Joseph was
instructed to flee into Egypt with Jesus and Mary. He got up after the dream and took the Child
and His mother and left that night for Egypt. (Mt. 2:14) We have to notice here how Joseph
didn’t hesitate to obey and actualize God’s will without fear.

Now in order to respond to God with such faith, Joseph must have been a man of deep prayer as
well. After the family had returned from Egypt in all those vicissitudes, we can well imagine
Joseph turning to the Lord at home with his family, in his carpenter’s shop with Jesus, and at
Nazareth in the synagogue on the Sabbath with his fellow villagers.

Joseph’s example as well as our life of dynamic, obedient faith and constant prayer are a
powerful reminder of the spiritual role fathers have to play in families today. In many Catholic
homes, spiritual leadership is considered the particular and even the sole responsibility of the
mother. It might mean only the mother reads the Bible stories and leads (or supervises) the
recitation of the rosary and night prayers with the children when they are small. It might mean
that only the mother and the younger children attend the church. It might mean that only the
mother involves herself in the religious events in the children’s life. Whatever the situation
may be, St. Joseph as father, calls fathers back to God, not simply by being with the family, or
complementing the mother, but in a deep significant manner, leading the rest of their families
in a life of faith and prayer onto the way to salvation.

St. Joseph: A Provider and Protector

In modern society, fathers place an emphasis on providing a good life materially for their
children and protecting them from physical harm. That’s all well and good. But do they protect
their families from moral and spiritual harm?

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