Page 32 - Reflections on St. Joseph

in us, thus surprising us with graces we would never have thought of. We are called to
live, conscious that there is always a working of God to affirm, and to take it up, care for
it, and nourish that work. Our tribulations are the occasions when we show ourselves
His children.

To say yes to God is a grace to ask for unceasingly. It is very hard, but possible. It is
precisely when we stop opposing, stop refusing the persons, things, and situations, that
we live eternity, live heaven. Saying yes to God allows eternity to open itself within us.

What, in the end, do Jesus, Joseph and Mary have in common? This offers us the principle
of the greatness of the Kingdom of God. Mary, in her acceptance of the announcement of
the Angel; Joseph in all his activity as spouse and father; Jesus, at Gethsemane as the Son
abandoning Himself to the will of the Father. “ May it be for me according to Your Word
“ (Lk 1,38). “ He did as the Angel ordered him “ (Mt 1,24), “ Not my will but Yours be done
“ (Lk 22,46). These are all expressions that say the same thing: trust in God. From all this
comes the adventure that leads to redemption. On Gethsemane is manifested the
greatness of our battle, showing to our humanity the capacity of trusting in God.

To return to living in the awareness of being children of God, called to entrust themselves
to Him, is the greatest challenge given to the heart of man. Very certainly, this pandemic
has given us the possibility of doing so. In the end, as people of faith, Christians, aware
of our divine childhood as a result of our Baptism, we must see that there is always a Will
to enter into.

Above and beyond, every reasonable dialog, reflection, consideration, sociological,
economic and cultural literature, the Christian is he, who called to bring ferment to
history, sees that he is in a story of salvation made of unexpected opportunities. These
are never weighed on the balance of whether I like them or not, whether I will suffer more
or less. It is a journey, a path made of the unforeseeable and the unexpected, which calls
us to trust always, and for this reason, invites us to a profound discernment of the heart
in the light of reason.

Rather than take the measure of our reality, the believer is called to walk in the story of
salvation, which for us takes place here and now, in the middle of a pandemic, which
despite causing upheaval in all our comfortable realities, calls us to consider the deep and
intimate truth of these events: that every story of salvation is a way of redemption. The
God of love, of tenderness does nothing other than this.

To us is always given the responsibility of choice, of perspective: the capacity of knowing
how to act and live wisely among the things of life.

We need to learn step by step the art of penetrating into the meanderings of the Mystery,
which despite its unpredictability and inaccessibility, becomes a constant possibility of
recognizing that we are loved and therefore are able to love. Joseph of Nazareth has done
nothing less than this.
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8 Reflections on st. joseph