We are in a year of Saint Joseph. We begin the month of May, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. And our Mother very much likes us to remember Her husband on earth from the very first day of Her month. This is so every year and, all the more so in 2021, when until December 8, it’s a Year dedicated to Saint Joseph.
Surprisingly, the Gospel records no word of Jesus’ foster father. This makes us think of his life, which was so normal and ordinary but of great holiness and much work. He did what he had to do extraordinarily well, without calling attention to himself. We know he worked as an artisan or carpenter, as Jesus did until He was 30.
Joseph was always a young man, who loved Mary, his wife, with delicacy and tenderness, and who found his strength in faith to respect and obey God’s ways.
Joseph is a Saint who is impressive for his silence. He was the reference for the two greatest persons in the history of humanity, without showing off to others, without looking for prominence. No man has ever been so close to Jesus and Mary for such a long time. We don’t need to say anything if Christ lives in us. We speak another way, without the need for words; a glance suffices to understand one another.
As all carpenters, Joseph no doubt had very different clients, yet he attended each one with kindness, no matter what they were like, and he did his work to perfection. He finished it well and delivered each order on time. As is proper to manual labor, to become a good carpenter meant that he developed many virtues. We can imagine his very ordered, clean workshop, and his punctuality in beginning and finishing his work. He took care of all the tiny details, as is proper of a good professional. It is said that carpenters must measure things twice to ensure the correctness of their work before taking the next step and, no doubt, Joseph worked like this.
It was natural that, from his tender years, Jesus watched the way his father worked and imitated him, as children usually do. However, in this case, we can also imagine Saint Joseph, moved by his son’s ability to work a lot and well. His reputation grew and, years later, Jesus was recognized as the son of Joseph, the carpenter, as we hear in the Gospel of Saint Joseph’s Mass on May 1.
Saint Joseph’s work is an example for all of us, so easy and at the same time so difficult, to do simply what we must do at every moment, and to use our five senses to do it very well, without leaving things half done.
Saint Joseph is an admirable model for us, a serene man with a kind smile, because God’s peace was in his soul, despite his having many serious difficulties to overcome. He never lost his nerve, because he was just, which means he was holy, a man who loved God with all his heart.
For centuries, recourse is taken to all three with a petition that shows our desire to be close to them: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul!”
