Page 131 - Reflections on St. Joseph

belongs to Jesus: “Entering into the world Christ says: ‘You wanted neither sacrifice or
offering, instead a body you prepared; You neither delighted in holocausts or sacrifices due to
sin.’ Then I said: ‘Behold I come - because it was written of me in the scroll - to do Your will O
God’.(Heb 10, 5-7).

Mary with her FIAT, brings her life towards God (before God), and offers herself to Him and
all that is precious which she possesses: her youth, her virginity, her plans, her capacity
to generate life.

The fullness of offering will be incarnated in Jesus, because He will offer His very divinity,
and further, place His body completely (which is to say His life) at the disposal of others
with His sacrifice on the Cross: “despite being of divine nature, He did not consider a
jealous treasure His equality with God, but despoiling Himself, assuming the nature of a
servant and becoming like unto men, He appeared in human form, humbling Himself,
making Himself obedient unto to death, to death on the cross” (Phil 2, 6-8).

Between these two exalted models of “offering” we find our St. Joseph, who with his
FECIT, is no less a figure in terms of generosity and oblation.

2. The Oblation of St. Joseph

In the life of St. Joseph, his being an “oblate” carries all the richness, strength,
decisiveness, passion and determination that would be typical of a young man of his
age, enamored of his beloved, but also a man of faith and “just”, ready to bow his head
so as to allow the will of God to take shape and become concrete in his daily life.

The evangelical presentation of Matthew shows us a man, an adult in his faith, in
whom his active energy in absolutely any no stands in contrast with a rich interior
life. In fact, precisely due to this he is able to find strength and hope to seek and “do”
the will of God, and thus meriting to be associated to the category of the “just” in the
Old Testament.

The oblation of St. Joseph is his “bringing of himself before God”, offering all of
himself. This is not just a “docilitas” (a docility) which runs the risk of presenting us
with a man who is passive before the plan of God. Rather, we speak of a “docibilitas”
which could be translated as “teachableness”, an openness of liberty of the subject to
let himself be taught, educated, formed and transformed by life, by others, by every
existential situation - learning life and learning to do so for his whole life.

Joseph decides to consign his life into the hands of God and allow himself to be
molded by Him. He embraced all the events that would take place from there and
which would mark his existence, as motivations to grow, mature and be
transformed. Even the renunciations, adversities, dangers, and spiritual upheavals
become for him an occasion of growth, not only at the beginning of his vocational
journey, but for his whole life.

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Reflections on st. joseph