Happy Father's Day, St. Joseph

 I don't especially enjoy Father's Day. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the cards and phone calls, and this year one of our daughters will arrive here tomorrow, along with her husband and our two young grandsons. We're looking forward to a nice visit, a Father's Day treat. What I don't enjoy are the thoughts this special day brings to mind. Every Father's Day I find myself recalling those times when I was particularly un-fatherly, the times I didn't come through as I should have for my children. I realize I can't undo the past, but that doesn't stop me from wishing I had been a better father.

Earlier today, as I dealt with these conflicting thoughts, I said a prayer to St Joseph, the man God chose to care for His Son. And I think he's worth our attention on the day devoted to fathers.

From the Gospel story of the conception, birth and childhood of Jesus, there emerges this quiet, modest figure, the perfect model for fathers today.

Just consider the sort of man Joseph must have been. God the Father, out of all the men who ever lived, chose one, Joseph, to be the guardian, the teacher, the guide of His only Son, Jesus. He also chose Joseph to love and protect Mary, the virgin Mother of the Son of God. Yes, Joseph must have been a very special man indeed.

In the Gospels we see a courageous man of honor who wants to protect Mary's reputation. Why? Because he is a righteous man and this is what God would want.

We see a man who then takes Mary as his wife even though the child with whom she is pregnant is not his. Why? Because God told him to take the Child and His Mother to himself. And so Joseph obeys. 

 We see a man who, to protect his young family, leads them into exile, into an unknown future. Why? Because God told him to do so. Joseph doesn’t wait to think it over; he doesn’t even spend a day planning the trip. No, he leaves immediately in obedience to God’s command. He “rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.”

What a mystery for us to ponder! That God, in order to protect His Son, the uncreated Word of God, should choose to do so through the mediation of a humble carpenter.  For this is a piece of the greater mystery of the Incarnation, in which the Father and the Holy Spirit now relate to the Son, not only as Divine Word, but also as incarnate Man.

Matthew, in his Gospel, glosses over the flight to Egypt in a few words, but the reality would have been a nightmare.Traveling by night and hiding by day, the Holy Family would have needed weeks to travel the several hundred miles through inhospitable desert from Jerusalem to Egypt.

Once in Egypt, as homeless refugees, the family would rely solely on Joseph to earn a living during their years of exile. And just when Joseph had probably established himself as a carpenter in this foreign land, God tells him to return to Israel, and once again he obeys.

The murderous Herod is dead, but in Judea and Samaria, his son, Archelaus, now rules. Joseph fears him, and rightly so, since Archelaus began his rule by slaughtering 3,000 of Judea's most influential citizens. And so Joseph, once more in obedience to God’s command, guides Mary and Jesus far to the north, to the safety of a small town nestled in the hills of Galilee, to Nazareth. So it is, through the obedience of Joseph, that the prophecies are fulfilled. "Out of Egypt I called my Son" and "He shall be called a Nazorean."

Again turning to Matthew’s brief narrative, we notice that God doesn’t reveal everything to Joseph at once. Instead, Joseph remains continually dependent on God’s next word. For Joseph, the just man, is nevertheless fully human, and like all of us he must learn to grow in God’s love and grace.

He must experience, as we all must, the trial of faithfulness, the trial of perseverance in seeking out the will of God in our lives. And so Joseph waits patiently for God to speak, just as God waits patiently for Joseph to grow in fidelity to His will.

It is in Nazareth, in the home of Joseph and Mary, that Jesus grows to maturity. It is here that Joseph, according to Jewish custom, teaches Jesus to recite his prayers, to sing the age old Psalms of David, and to read from the Torah, the Law of Moses. It is from Joseph that Jesus learns to appreciate, first hand, the importance of following the laws and customs of His people.

It is in Nazareth where, working alongside Joseph in his carpenter's shop, Jesus comes to recognize the value and dignity of hard work.

It is here, in the home of Joseph, where Jesus encounters daily a man who is happy in being poor in spirit, happy in being meek, happy in being just and merciful, happy in being pure of heart, in being singlehearted.

Later, when Jesus begins His  public ministry, he will often speak of God the Father as "Abba" or Daddy. But it was from a loving and caring Joseph that Jesus first learned what a daddy was.

At the very heart of Joseph’s sanctity is his obedience, an unquestioning obedience to accept the Will of God in his life…and to act on it. And because he obeys, God comes to him again and again.

God walks in Joseph's soul just as He walked with Adam in the garden. Is it any wonder that He entrusts to Joseph what is most precious to Him?

Mary and the child Jesus remain almost hidden in this Gospel narrative, contained in the decisions and actions of Joseph. Joseph leads, but he does not dominate. He leads by serving – by serving His God and by serving His family.

On March 19th, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the priest honors this exceptional man when he prays these words from the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer:

“He is that just man, that wise and loyal servant, whom you placed at the head of your family. With a husband’s love he cherished Mary, the virgin Mother of God. With fatherly care he watched over Jesus Christ your Son, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

We Catholics have always prided ourselves on our devotion to Mary, the Mother of God. How delighted she would be to see us, and especially those of us who are fathers, to deepen our devotion to her loving husband.

With Jesus we owe honor to Joseph, and honored indeed would Joseph be if fathers today would accept him as their model. And if single mothers would turn to him, asking for his fatherly intercession in the lives of their children.

And so, as we celebrate Father's Day tomorrow, let's pray for our families, and especially for fathers. Would that all fathers were just men, like Joseph, wise and loyal servants of the Lord who cherish their wives and watch over their children with fatherly care.

Happy Father's Day, St, Joseph. Pray for us.