511. Third Sunday of St Joseph

Meditations no. 442 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The life of St Joseph teaches us to obey with supernatural outlook.

Today we go to the home of St Joseph and we contemplate at close hand the life of the Holy Family in Bethlehem. When the census ordered by the authorities had concluded, the number of visitors diminished and they were at last able to find a fitting place in which to take shelter. After the departure of the Magi everything seemed to have returned to normal. Suddenly, one night an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, Rise up, take with thee the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; there remain, until I give thee word. For Herod will soon be making search for the child, to destroy him.

Joseph, without considering the inconvenience of the hour, or the tiredness of the day’s work, without considering that Jesus could just as well be defended by a direct intervention by the Almighty, without worrying about the inconvenience of so sudden a departure, obeyed the indication he had received promptly and with sensitivity: He rose up, therefore, while it was still night, and took the child and his mother with him, and withdrew into Egypt. He realised immediately that that dream was an indication from God, and he accepted it as a divine command. For this reason there was no room for questioning whether that message was opportune, or whether he was obliged to do just as the Angel had said. How he obeys! Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt (Matt 2: 13), the divine messenger orders him. And he does it. He believes in the work of the Holy Spirit! He believes in that Jesus, who is the Redeemer promised by the Prophets, whom all those who belonged to the People of God had awaited for generations and generations: the Patriarchs, the Kings …

When relating these events in his Gospel, St Matthew continually emphasizes Joseph’s faithfulness. He kept the commandments of God without wavering, even though the meaning of those commandments was sometimes obscure or their relation to the rest of the divine plan hidden from him. The Holy Patriarch never sought to fulfil his own will but rather that of God: he did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life. That is why Scripture praises Joseph as a just man (cf Matt 1: 19). And in Hebrew a just man means a good and faithful servant of God, someone who fulfils the divine will (cf Gen 7: 1).

The reaction of St Joseph leads us today to examine whether our obedience is like his: supernatural and prompt; whether it stems from the intimate conviction that, on carrying out what the Directors indicate, we are fulfilling the Will of God; whether it flows, in the last analysis, from a profound attitude of faith. To be just is not simply a matter of obeying rules. Goodness should grow from the inside; it should be deep and vital - for the just man lives by faith (Hab 2: 4). These words, which later became a frequent subject of St Paul’s meditation, really did apply in the case of St Joseph. He didn’t fulfil the will of God in a routine or perfunctory way; he did it spontaneously and wholeheartedly. For him the law, which every practising Jew lived by, was not a code or a cold list of precepts, but an expression of the will of the living God. So he knew how to recognize the Lord’s voice when it came to him so unexpectedly and so surprisingly.

To obey with desires of co-redeeming.

You have been told to do something which seems useless and difficult. Do it. And you will see that it is easy and fruitful.

Occasionally we will be asked, like St Joseph, to do something whose usefulness or meaning we do not grasp immediately. Perhaps, for the needs of the apostolate, the Work needs us to change our activity, our environment, our place of work, our plans… We should discover then, as always, the Will of God, and we should obey cheerfully, convinced that supernatural fruitfulness will result from it.

Who are you, our Father asks in The Way, to pass judgment on the decision of a superior? Don’t you see that he is better fitted to judge than you? He has more experience; he has more capable, impartial and trustworthy advisers; and above all, he has more grace, a special grace, the grace of state - God’s light and his powerful aid. In the Church - and, therefore, also in the Work - the need to obey does not derive only, or principally, from reasons of organisational efficiency, nor is it a matter of personal self-denial: the surrender of one’s own will and intellect. The need to obey - over and above any human considerations, any reasons of fittingness - has its roots in the fact that it forms part of the mystery of Redemption, in that it is an essential element of the plan of salvation established by God: To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth and revealed to us his mystery; by his obedience he brought about our redemption. since a multitude will become acceptable to God through one man’s obedience, just as a multitude, through one man’s disobedience, became guilty.

We should have a hunger to obey, like Christ, with desires of co-redeeming. Whoever comes to the Work of God, our Father wrote many years ago, must be convinced that he has come to submit himself, to empty himself and not to impose his own personal viewpoints. In a word, he or she must truly decide to become a saint.

We, who want to follow in the footsteps of our Lord, must be identified with him. Therefore, we ask ourselves with our Father: Jesus, how did you obey? Usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis (Phil 2: 8). Even to death, and death on a cross. We have to obey, regardless of the cost; leaving our skin behind. Ordinarily, this will never happen. But if it does, don’t worry: Jesus went that far.

My children, in these thirty-six years, our Father confided to us in 1963, I have seen brothers of yours perform many heroic deeds… and I have often had the impression of living among saints, among men capable of obeying usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. I have seen brothers of yours carry out calmly, and perfectly aware that their lives were at stake, marvellous acts of obedience, for the sake of the Holy Church, for the Roman Pontiff, in order to serve. We need to obey, to serve. There is no finer self-mastery than that of knowing we are serving, serving voluntarily! That is the way that great honours are won, earthly ones and heavenly ones…

To learn, like St Joseph, how to act with initiative and responsibility within the plans of God.

Joseph’s faith does not falter; he obeys quickly and to the letter. To understand this lesson better, we should remember that Joseph’s faith is active, that his docility is not a passive submission to the course of events. For the Christian’s faith has nothing whatever to do with conformity, inertia or lack of initiative.

Joseph entrusted himself unreservedly to the care of God, but he always reflected on events and so was able to reach that level of understanding of the works of God which is true wisdom. In this way he learned little by little that supernatural plans have a logic which at times upsets human plans.

In the different circumstances of his life, St Joseph never refuses to think, never neglects his responsibilities. On the contrary, he puts his human experience at the service of faith. When he returns from Egypt, learning that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judea, he was afraid to go there (Matt 2: 22). In other words, he had learned to work within the divine plan. And to confirm that he was doing the right thing, Joseph received an instruction to return to Galilee.

That’s the way St Joseph’s faith was: full, confident, complete. And it expressed itself in an effective dedication to the will of God and an intelligent obedience. With the faith went Love: with love of God who was fulfilling the promises made to Abraham, Jacob and Moses; with the affection of a spouse for Mary, with the affection of a father for Jesus. Faith and hope and love in the great mission which God was beginning in the world through himself, among others, a carpenter in Galilee: the redemption of man.

Faith, hope, love: these are supports of Joseph’s life and of all Christian lives. Joseph’s self-giving is an interweaving of faithful love, loving faith and confident hope…

The example of St Joseph should encourage us in imitating the obedience of Christ. If we are dedicated to serving out of love, in this service which is a war of peace, which is always of love and of joy, at the cost of giving up our life, let us, like Him, obey on the Cross! If not, we are not on the right track. And when we feel self-satisfaction - pride! - rising within us, making us think that we are supermen, it will be the moment to say: No!…

That way, my dearest children, perhaps people will be able to say of us that we tried to be good children of God, that we passed through life, with faults, but doing good, that we struggled to obey. And when death comes, as it must inexorably, we will greet it joyfully, as we have seen some of your brothers die, gladly; because like Christ we will rise. And if we have imitated him in doing good, in obedience and in his Cross, we will receive the prize of his Love: surrexit Dominus vere! (Luke 24: 34) - “The Lord has risen indeed!” Do you see? He conquered death.

We go to Holy Mary so that she will help us to understand and to carry out faithfully the plans of God for each of us. In this way, we will travel along the pathways of the earth with the joy and peace of those who want to be good children of God.