Page 112 - Reflections on St. Joseph

Within our own Institute? In its nearly six hundred year history, this feast, once upon a time
called the “Espousals of Mary” was dedicated to reflecting on community life. And our
ancestors in the Josephite life were right to see it so. If we completely overlook all the actions
of Joseph and Mary as they fell in love, became engaged and ultimately married, since the Gospel
doesn’t speak about them, we can still fruitfully reflect upon how they behaved with each other,
and both in relation to God.

Fr. Cortona tells us that our Holy Founder, loved to speak to the first Oblates considering the
interior life of St. Joseph, talking about many beautiful things which he had learned from the
works of St. Francis de Sales, other approved authors and from his own personal reflections.
Everything leads us to believe that Marello’s teachings, which were never written down, were
transmitted through the life of the Congregation, and remembered on the occasions of the
feasts of St. Joseph. And those dealing with fraternal life were brought up on the Feast of the
Espousals.

We need to remember that the idea of fraternal life in community was not yet developed in the
theology of Religious Life and the principles of a common life went very little beyond norms for
living together, viewed as an exercise in virtue (prudence, self-denial, obedience, especially
charity). Regarding duties towards one’s companions, the Manual of Piety for Aspirants said:
“Avoid acting proudly, hurtful jokes, calling names, sharp words, lack of respect, gossip. One
should avoid every argument, every exaggerated discussion, every form of annoyance...”. You
can thus understand the noted saying of St. John Berchmans, patron of novices: “community
life is for me the hardest of penances.”

The weight of hierarchical order, which conferred on superiors the authority of an abbot in the
field of obedience, was tempered by the “spirit of family”, a theme which would merit its own
separate reflection. However, for now, it would be enough to remember that the mission of
superiors back then, like the true exercise of an authentic paternity, extended even to the
smallest details of the life of the religious entrusted to them. In turn, the religious were all the
more perfect the more they allowed themselves to be docilely lead in everything and for
everything by the will of the superiors, because they represented the will of God in every
circumstance. They were taught oboedientia ac cadaver, to be given to the superior, who was
said to command them with auctoritas qua fungor. Decisions always came from above, without
the participation of the base. The phrase of Fr. Cortona on obedience is insightful: “ask nothing,
refuse nothing.”

Then there are the relations between the members of the community, regulated, as we said, by
good manners, and which not rarely gave rise to true friendships with a strong spiritual
emphasis, avoiding thus the detested particular friendships, which were considered a
dangerous deviation. We can say, as a rule, the members of a community wished each other
well and as regards the inevitable problems of jealousy, envy, irritations, etc...they turned to
the superior.

In connection to our life today, we need to recognize that community life then was much simpler,
of a simplicity which we have lost without knowing how to replace it with something similar.

88 Reflections on st. joseph