Fr Leonard E Dollentas
At the Angelus on December 8, 2021, Pope Francis concluded the 2020-2021 Jubilee Year of Saint Joseph. St Joseph and the Virgin Mary, the pontiff stressed, are “guides on the path of holiness.”
St Joseph was an ordinary man on whom God relied on to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life. As we have celebrated a year dedicated to this great saint, again we are reminded that work has a divine, sanctifying value, for work and other ordinary tasks of our daily life are a path towards holiness, towards sanctity.
As Pope Francis has said: “We are all called to become saints…be a saint by carrying out your work with honesty and competence and by offering time in the service of your brothers and sisters. But, father, I work in a factory; I work as an accountant, only with numbers; you can’t be a saint there…. yes, yes you can! there, where you work, you can become a saint. God gives you the grace to become holy. God communicates himself to you. Always, in every place, one can become a saint, that is, one can open oneself up to this grace, which works inside us and leads us to holiness.”
In the Gospel of St Matthew, St Joseph was described as a “just man.” The term “just” or “righteous” means right with God and others, someone who faithfully fulfills God’s will. St Joseph fulfilled God’s will in his fidelity to his everyday responsibilities which were his as husband, father, provider, and protector of his little family – his ordinary daily work is synonymous with his life of holiness. Holiness means the perfection of love and striving to do God’s will. It means living the beatitudes and becoming poor in spirit, compassionate, meek, hungry, and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure of heart, peacemaking, willing to be persecuted, insulted, and calumniated because of Jesus.
St Joseph is a man and model of holiness in all of these ways. He was the “good and faithful servant” whom the Lord placed in charge of his household.
Reflecting on St Joseph being a just man, Pope Benedict wrote: “In Joseph, faith is not separated from action. His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Joseph is a ‘just man’ (Mt 1:19) because his existence is ‘adjusted’ to the word of God.” Hence Pope Francis challenges us: “When the Lord invites us to become saints, he doesn’t call us to something heavy, sad… quite the contrary! it’s an invitation to share in his joy, to live, and to offer with joy every moment of our life, by making it become at the same time a gift of love for the people around us. if we understand this, everything changes and takes on new meaning, a beautiful meaning, a meaning that begins with little everyday things (General Audience, November 19, 2014).”
As we have celebrated a journey for a year with St Joseph, Pope Francis holds up to us, the faithful, the life of St Joseph as a model for our own daily lives. Like him, we too are to bloom where we are planted, faithful to whatever is asked of us in each of our daily tasks and activities. If we are faithful in this way, we too will delight the heart of God and merit a holy death, with Jesus and Mary at our side. As it was for St Joseph, such a happy death will be for us the crown of a life well-lived-in love and fidelity to God.
(Illustration credits: St Joseph – MMJSP Painting by Br Mickey McGrath OSFS)
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