Page 38 - Reflections on St. Joseph

a thought, a word, a feeling coming not from us. Some experiences or persons who reminded us
that not everything is played out on the horizontal plane of human affairs and that in life, for
those who know how to grasp and look deeply, there are many points of encounter with heaven.
We do not proceed only horizontally. Think of the "geographical grid" made up of parallels and
meridians: how many meeting points. Our life like that of Joseph is not just ours. The bond with
others, a meeting and a meaningful experience of life, the desire to be better, the perception of
our limits, our own frailties, are some of the meeting points between heaven and earth; they are,
in a sense, our "parallels" that intersect with the "meridians" of heaven. Joseph's life suggests that
the experience of every man and woman is a continuous encounter with heaven. The venerable
Anne Marie Medeleine Delbrêl, a mystic and French poet wrote that "every little action is an
immense event in which we are given paradise, in which we can give heaven. What does it matter
what we have to do. All we do is nothing but the rind of the splendid reality, the meeting of the
soul with God, renewed every minute, every minute increased in grace, always more beautiful
for his God". For this woman of our time the commitments and the inconveniences are also
occasions in which God and men meet: "Do they play? Soon we are going to open: it is God who
comes to love us. An information? Here it is: it is God who comes to love us. Is it time to get to
the table? Let's go: it is God who comes to love us. Let him do it. " It is a characteristic that brings
him closer to many tireless seekers of "full life".

Another reason that makes this "giant of faith" not far from every human being is suggested to
us by Jesus' childhood stories. The Son of God was born in a difficult and complicated context,
just like the existence of so many men, comparable to a pendulum that oscillates between happy
and sad moments. The pains and joys of St. Joseph recall this alternation of joys and sufferings.
I wonder how Joseph's thoughts must have been in the days when God decided to become a man
among men. Certainly not very distant from ours when we do everything not to lose faith before
ever greater situations, capable of dismantling certainties and convictions without mercy, such
as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the emergence of a serious illness. Joseph
constantly meets God because he had chosen to let life speak. Whenever the narrative events
from the Gospels seem to be denied that the angel in a dream had communicated to our carpenter
from Nazareth, especially the "do not fear", God intervenes. As for the life of Joseph, even for ours
we can perhaps speak of a hidden God, perhaps silent, but certainly, not absent: we must be able
to intercept him. Not an easy task, but not impossible, as long as you look deeper and deeper
without stopping at the surface of events.

He is a hidden God, but not absent, perhaps because the Almighty loves to observes, not to impose
himself. This is also an aspect that brings this gentleman closer to those who struggle, despite
the adversities of life, to preserve the faith and continue to believe and hope.

Joseph allowed himself be led by the Lord. The carpenter of Nazareth directs us towards an
anonymous and not ostentatious sanctity, not made up of heroic deeds but which is expressed in
the small, in the daily, in the usual: "if sin is the banality of evil, holiness is the normality of good".
The closer we get to Nazareth, the more God grows in the world. Faith has to do with the daily
experience of every person and family. To those of us who see how everyday life is exhausting
and who often struggle to connect faith and daily life, Joseph teaches that every human reality
can become a sign of God's presence. Every action, every moment can transpire into a bigger
reality. For this reason, Joseph continues to be one of us.

14 Reflections on st. joseph