Last Sunday, we celebrated Gaudete Sunday, Rejoice Sunday, where we saw that joy is the fruit of hope, of love and of patience. On this last Sunday of Advent, the Church gives us a special figure in the person of St. Joseph, as we start journeying from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where the Savior is to be born. Today, I would like us to meditate on the thoughtfulness of St. Joseph, what it looked like, and how to imitate Him. I would like to show that Joseph’s thoughtfulness is worth emulating because it is: 1) Focused on God; 2) Seeks the good of his neighbor, and 3) rooted it’s rooted in his identity. In a word, the pattern of his thoughtfulness is God first, others next, self last.
Focused on God
When I think of the thoughtfulness of St. Joseph, Michael Card’s song comes to mind: “How could it be?” … It's like those essays in middle school: “Write an essay of five hundred words which begins with the statement: “This cannot be…” “No one saw this coming…” When the incomprehensible strikes, the temptation is often to focus on others and the storm that rages, than to focus on the one who permits the storm in the first place.
Joseph never sought to do simply his own will; He sought God’s will first and was always eager to execute once He knew it: “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” To imitate the thoughtfulness of Joseph is to run first to God whenever we are confronted with a difficult situation. We go to God first because He is the Master planner and His plans are always for our good. We are not because we can think; we are because God lovingly thought us into existence. In the first reading, God tells Ahaz that His plan for us has always been to be with us, for the one to be born of the virgin shall be called Emmanuel – God with us. In the second reading, St. Paul recognizes God as a Father who keeps His promises as He brings to fulfillment in Jesus Christ the Good News of salvation “promised previously through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” His plan, St. Paul reminds us, is that we are all “called to belong to Jesus Christ, to be holy.” By letting our thoughtfulness be informed by God’s thoughtfulness is to be at peace in times of trial, and to seek the glory of God above all else.
Thoughtfulness of others
Scriptures says, it was Joseph’s intention to divorce Mary quietly. Why is that? If he took her to the high priest, she would be stoned to death. This observation made Mother Teresa of Calcutta to wonder: “Do you see the charity and thoughtfulness of St. Joseph? If we have the same kind of charity and thoughtfulness toward each other, our families will become the abode of the Most High. How beautiful our families will become where there is thoughtfulness for others.” There is no such a thing as “divorce quietly.” What this meant was Joseph would take the blame of the divorce on Himself rather than let Mary be condemned for what He was not sure about. He must have asked himself the question: How could this be since Mary is such a holy, Godfearing person? The thoughtfulness of others challenges us to be their advocate first and never their judge; it invites us to trust in their good intention before considering their actions; it pushes us to seek more evidence before drawing a conclusion.
In the presence of a threat, it is easier to seek to protect one’s interest before every other person’s. However, this was not the case with Joseph. He sought the good of His neighbor first. Joseph’s thoughtfulness is akin to what the great Greek philosopher, Socrates had stipulated: “It is better to suffer evil than to do evil.” Like Jesus, he is willing to lay down his life, for the dignity of his neighbor.
The Thoughtfulness of Self
The Gospel tells us why Joseph acted the way He did by this phrase: “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man.” Other translations use, “Just Man,” “Man of honor.” Nobility, or righteousness, or justice was his second nature. He was noble in season and out of season like the ever green cypress tree. It is only recently that I learned that the Fall colors are the real colors of a plant. So, if you would like to know the real identity of a person it is not in the springtime of life, but in the adversity of the Fall season. The challenge of a Christian is to remain ever green, ever good like the cypress tree and not like the maple tree when his love is met with indifference and his sacrifice with ingratitude.
If Joseph, acted the way he did from his identity as a noble man, the question we must ask ourselves today is, by what name do I identify myself? We must never identity ourselves by our weaknesses nor reduce another person by their negative trait. In the Eucharist, we receive the long-awaited Emmanuel in mystery. Jesus comes to claim us for Himself, heal and strengthen us. Let us ask Him to help us always see things from the divine perspective; resolve to think thoughts of love, kindness and goodness towards our neighbor; and be ever rooted in our identity as God’s beloved children.