Page 31 - Reflections on St. Joseph

pandemic, because it is within Your power, a power of love, because you can...but instead
pour into us Your Spirit of Wisdom so as to enter into the mystery of this story... a story
inextricably linked to the “mysterium iniquitatis” which cannot be understood without
reference to the mystery of the Redemption, the “mysterium paschale” of Jesus Christ.
To enter the plan of God means we must recover our story in its entirety, in that richness
of its goodness, unfortunately menaced and wounded by evil, restoring everything as a
possibility of life, at times troubled and demanding. “The entire history of man is
pervaded by a tremendous battle against the powers of darkness, a battle begun at the
beginning of the world and will last, as the Lord says, until the last day. In the midst of
this battle, man must fight without respite so as to remain united to the good, neither can
he achieve interior unity except at the price of great efforts, with the help of the grace of
God.” (Gaudium et Spes, 37)

At the heart of everything: recognize that you are saved

The journey which Joseph makes each time towards Mary and Jesus takes us to the heart
of the experience of the saved: to recognize that the objective will never be to just save
oneself. Personal salvation is not sufficient, not enough. The deepest truth resides in
seeing oneself as the instrument of salvation, of hope. Each of us then will either be a
means of grace or an obstacle to grace. Joseph will be a channel of grace. Necessarily he
must believe in the greatness of his story, overcoming his own individualism, his own
plans, the idea of stability and comfort he had in Egypt, so as to enter into the will of God.

Either we will believe in the greatness of our mission, our story, or we will be
mediocrities, betraying our Baptism. Either we believe in the importance of certain
sufferings, catastrophic historical events with all the weight of pain and suffering they
bear, as in fact possibilities, places where God may be met in an outstanding way, or
everything will seem inevitable, making us feel like slaves and oppressed by the deceit of
evil. “Human progress, which is a great good for man, carries with it a great temptation:
with the order of values shaken, evil and good mixing, individuals and groups may look
after their own things, not those of others. Thus the world ceases to be a a place of
genuine fraternity, and instead the increase in human power my threaten to destroy the
human race itself.” (Gaudium et Spes 37). Joseph of Nazareth is the wise man capable of
embracing the situation, the problem, the continuous challenges which propose
themselves to be works of God in him. It is the art of understanding positively and
allowing oneself to be transformed by problems while continuously searching for hope.
It is the profound skill of someone who learns to love in a genuine and disinterested way,
reaching levels of awareness, deep and beautiful in one’s heart. To be in the school of
Joseph is to believe in the greatness of the work of God, of the work of the Holy Spirit,
giving God permission to operate. Thus the experience of Joseph is unique, in his
embracing of Mary and Jesus. The body of Jesus is made in the body of Mary, but is
nourished by the bread of Joseph. This is the great dignity of our works: through them
comes forth the action of God. This is where faith is. Faith is connected to this embracing:
this is the first true fact to see as our own, to embrace, to affirm the work of God, to follow
Him and make ourselves second to Him. To affirm God means to allow His work to occur

Reflections on st. joseph 7