Feast of Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary

A week before the feast of the Annunciation, which is nine months before Christmas, we celebrate Saint Joseph in his role as the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus.The protector of Mary and Jesus, patron saint of carpenters and our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, might also be the patron saint of dreamers.

He was named after the eleventh son of Jacob, who was sold into slavery, descended into a dungeon and ascended to the Pharaoh’s right hand. Joseph the Patriarch learned through the betrayal of his family, the humiliation of slavery, and the despair of prison to rely totally on the mercy of God. He could turn to no one else, nor could he imagine that God was leading him along this tortuous path to a position of such power that he would save his faithless family from starvation.

But he had his dreams and his God-given ability to interpret dreams. You’ll recall that Joseph’s first dream caused him endless heartache. When he told his brothers of how he saw their sheaves of grain bowing down to honor his, they understood what he apparently did not – that he would rule them someday.

Despite that bad experience Joseph interpreted dreams for his fellow jailbirds and came to the attention of the Pharaoh, who appointed him to manage the astonishing wealth of Egypt.

Our saint was named after the patriarch Joseph; he had the same gifts of political astuteness and dreams. You remember that an angel appeared in his sleep and told him to take Mary as his wife; a second time, urging him to take her and the Child into Egypt; a third time, to move back to Judea; and finally, to settle in Nazareth. First he saw what was happening around him; then he prayed and waited and “slept on it” and acted.

Using the psychological language of today, Joseph trusted his intuitions. He paid attention to the political scene and to his hunches. He may not have always known why he was doing the right thing, but he did them anyway and God was with him.

Blessed John Duns Scotus, the great Franciscan theologian, taught that we can know Truth not only by our senses and the scientific method that organizes sensible knowledge, but also by our intuitions. Sometimes we grasp the right thing to do and we do it, and if anyone asked “Why did you do that?” we can only reply, “The Holy Spirit spoke to me!”

My friend Father Germain used to say, “The Holy Spirit grabbed my tongue and would not let me speak!”

Saint Augustine said, “Love God and do what you want.” When you love God as Joseph and Mary and Jesus did, and want only what God wants, you do what you want with the assurance that this is what God wants.

Of course, sinners that we are, we’re often wrong about God wants and are seduced by our own desires. But we pray that Saint Joseph and all the other saints – that cloud of witnesses that prays around us – will teach us to wait and watch for the will of God to be made manifest.  

Dear Saint Joseph, pray for the dreamers among us. As we cope with the challenges of today help us to be like that other son of Joseph who said, “There are those who look at things they way they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask, “Why not?”