by Tullio Locatelli
When I think of Saint Joseph I go to read the Gospel which tells the first years of Jesus' life and in which Saint Joseph has a particular presence.
But for some time now, I have realized that Saint Joseph is also present in other passages of the Gospel, well beyond the time of Jesus' childhood and youth, beyond the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth.
In light of some moments of the Gospel it seems to me that Saint Joseph can be said to be an "anticipator", or rather that Saint Joseph in his life had already realized some of the fundamental elements that we find in the announcement of the Lord Jesus.
Perhaps some examples can make this belief better.
“Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Mt 25:13).
Jesus is talking about his final and definitive coming into history and states that no one knows when this will happen. In other passages of the Gospel, Jesus invites us to be vigilant because the Lord will come when one least expects him. In truth this also happens in people's lives: the Lord makes himself present beyond any warning, by surprise, and those who vigilantly await him will be blessed.
In the life of Saint Joseph how many times did the Lord make himself present by surprise, in the night. The indication of time, in the night, increases even more the sense of an unexpected, unplanned event. Let's think about when Saint Joseph learned of Mary's pregnancy; this is a completely disconcerting fact, which revolutionizes the plans and dreams of Saint Joseph. During the night Saint Joseph was warned to flee to Egypt and during the night an angel announced to him the possibility of returning to Israel.
Every time Saint Joseph obeys, that is, he welcomes the Lord's invitation, he lets the Lord enter into his life.
«We are useless servants. Let us have done what we had to do" (Lk 17, 10).
We know nothing about the death of Saint Joseph, even if tradition presents us with Saint Joseph who dies between Jesus and Mary and for this very reason invokes him as the patron saint of a good death. In the words of Jesus, reported by Luke, there is little appreciation for what we do, but he places attention on doing freely, without expecting particular successes or recognition.
Not knowing anything about the death of Saint Joseph is along the same lines as the Gospel passage: Saint Joseph dies because he fulfilled his duty, he fully realized his vocation. It is the servant who can now close his eyes in peace because he has accomplished what was asked of him.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:21).
Jesus warns who the true faithful disciple, the true believer, is. He tells us to be consistent not only in words but in deeds and carry out the will of the Father. It is not easy: we are asked to leave our will aside and adhere to that of the Lord, who often sets us on paths that are difficult to understand. How many whys, sometimes, do we ask the Lord before deciding to carry out his will.
Truly the life of Saint Joseph can only be understood in the light of his obedience to the will of the Father. An obedience not made of words, but immediately realized, carried out according to the command received. Jesus himself is a witness to this obedience, indeed he is the one who fully understands it because Jesus came to fulfill the will of the Father.
Saint Joseph: the man of the beatitudes (see Mt 5, 1-12).
it is easy to compare the beatitudes to the person of Saint Joseph: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the pure, blessed are the meek, blessed are the persecuted, etc. Jesus will indicate the Beatitudes as the new fundamental charter of the disciple if he wants to be the salt and light of the world.
Saint Joseph lived the Beatitudes both as a fundamental attitude of his existence (example: blessed are the pure), and as an attitude with which he faced certain situations (example: blessed are the persecuted). We can say that they were truly evangelical beatitudes for Saint Joseph because he lived them to fulfill his vocation as guardian of Jesus and husband of Mary. His whole life, in fact, is understandable in light of his marriage to Mary and his fatherhood towards Jesus. There is no other reason than this! We must also conclude that he deserved the fruit that the Beatitudes promise: they will see God, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, they will be consoled...
«Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. Truly I say to you, many prophets and many righteous people desired to see what you look at, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not listen to it" (Mt 13, 16-17).
it is true that Jesus pronounces this statement in a particular context: he was speaking to the crowd with parables and often the crowd did not understand, then Jesus explained the meaning of his words only to his disciples. For this reason they are blessed because they are directly in contact with the Lord and the secrets of the kingdom are revealed to them.
However, it seems beautiful to me to think of Joseph who sees, looks, observes, contemplates Jesus.
Furthermore, Saint Joseph speaks and listens to the Lord in the ordinary life of Nazareth, she hears him conversing with Mary, she listens to him when they recite their daily prayers together. Seeing and listening every day, but always rich in that mystery that Saint Joseph knew on the day of his annunciation. Sometimes I think that this was the true beatitude of Saint Joseph: seeing and listening to the Lord every day.
There may be other passages from the Gospel that may have a connection with the life of Saint Joseph, each of us has the desire to seek them and discover them. In this search we will be accompanied by Saint Joseph who with his life testifies to us that it is possible to live the gospel.