Page 37 - Reflections on St. Joseph

We, despite not having chosen to live, must learn to live. If existing is a fact, living is instead an
art. Those who live and believe that everything is a miracle are not visionaries or dreamers with
"closed eyes", they belong to the ranks of those who do not want to miss the appointment with
normality. In fact today, the real problem is this: we risk to break away permanently and
irreparably from everyday life, and for this reason dreams are not realized. The existence of Joseph
other than in "working", is a constant and continuous reminder of normalcy. If we want to be
happy for a day, just organize a party. If we want this happiness to last about two weeks, just go on
a cruise. And if we want it to last a year, we must inherit a fortune. If our desire is that it lasts a
lifetime, then it is urgent to give our life a purpose worthy of it. Joseph gave a purpose to his life,
trusting completely in the Lord. In obedience to the divine will, our carpenter from Nazareth
teaches us first of all to live wisely and with depth. His example puts us in a position to understand
that a full life consists, for example, in mitigating the suffering that is in the people we meet and in
arousing trust in those we approach. For a father and a mother, as were Joseph and Mary, it means
not merely looking at their children, but contemplating them because they are the expression of
innocence and purity that asks us to re-emerge even in us who have lost it. Joseph teaches that
having a place to stay, that is, a home, is important; having someone to love is indispensable,
because this means family. Finally having both, a home and a family, this is a blessing.

Saint Joseph is not a different and distant man from us. Even if the Gospels seem to suggest the
contrary to us because of its special closeness to the Son of God, the Spouse of Mary is close and
very similar to us. What little the Sacred Scripture says about him certainly makes him an
extraordinary character, but not entirely removed from us. Let's try to understand how it is
possible that a man so deeply loved by God could be quietly considered one of us. I am convinced
that this closeness is not just for a life that oscillated, as we have seen, between the family, the
workshop and the synagogue. As it happened for Joseph, the putative father of Jesus, even for us
nothing of life, of our history concerns only us. Often we are under the illusion that everything
is enclosed and established in what we can think of, say and do. In reality it is not so. The earthly
story of this gentle and just man speaks of a link between earth and heaven. It probably never
happened to us to perceive the presence of an angel in a dream. But how many times have we felt

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Reflections on st. joseph