Listen……..Do You hear it?……….. Be still and listen………

That, my brothers, and sisters is the sound of silence.  In our world today we are inundated with noise and other distractions. We live in a society where we are always on the go and there is no time for silence. We are always going to the next activity, planning the next meal, running to this practice, that rehearsal, all the while working at our jobs and trying not to bring them home to our families. We have our radio, our television, our cell phones, and social media. All these things distract us from our life, from our prayer, from the awareness that God is present in our lives.

Silence is the foundation of a prayer life.  In prayer, in the silence of our hearts, we can talk to God, and more importantly, he can talk to us.  Our silence in prayer makes us receptive to the Holy Spirit. It allows God the opportunity to speak to us in our hearts and soul.  Our silence is a sign of docility to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  It shows our desire to know what God’s plan is for our lives and how we are to respond.  We see this docility in the silence of St. Joseph.

In the gospel accounts, Saint Joseph stands as the model for silence. He never speaks a word. God comes to him in his dreams and reveals to him the next step in following God’s plan for the Holy Family.  Saint Joseph responds with silence. No words of questioning. No words of acceptance. No words at all.

Silence is typically defined as a negative, as an absence. The silence of Saint Joseph may be seen as weakness, as an inability to grasp the importance of the moment. Silence can be seen as complicity, complacency, or acceptance without the fortitude to stand for one’s convictions. 

However, this is not what the silence of Saint Joseph teaches us. In his silence, Saint Joseph listens to the word of God. In his silence, Joseph contemplates God’s will for his life. He is instructed by the word of God. Pope Benedict explains that “St Joseph’s silence does not express an inner emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart and which guides his every thought and action.” 

We hear not a word from the lips of St Joseph in the Gospels and yet his sanctity shines through his silence. His total fidelity to God can be seen in his actions as he accompanies the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bethlehem and becomes the first man to see the Christ-child; as he leads his family to safety into exile and ultimately brings them home to Nazareth; as he searches with Mary for the boy Jesus and finds him in the temple after which, Scripture tells us, Jesus lived under his parent’s authority. 

St. Joseph is a humble man of action rather than one of excess words and noise. He simply gets up and does God’s will without question. In his silence, Saint Joseph becomes the humble servant of God for his actions speak louder than his words. 

St. Joseph’s silence is a sign of his humility. In his humility, St. Joseph is obedient to God’s will. He does what he is asked, out of love of God, and love of his family.  St. Joseph willingly sacrifices his own desires and plans to meet the needs of his wife and child.  For this reason, he is called the Guardian of the Virgin and Savior of the Savior. St. Joseph’s humility is an important part of our salvation, as he protects Jesus and Mary by taking them to Egypt and returning to Nazareth once it was safe.

Humility is another word with negative connotations.  The societal view of humility is weakness. A humble person is seen as a non-assertive doormat, as disengaged and not driven for success.  Humility is often misunderstood as humiliation.  Humiliation means the loss of respect for one’s self or the loss of respect from others.  Humiliation denies a person their God-given human dignity.  Humiliation can lead to addiction, mental anguish, and self-harming.

Understanding the humility of St. Joseph helps us to not only put a proper perspective on what it means to be humble but also on what it means to respect one’s self, to love others, and to be successful.

The word “humility” derives from the Latin word “humus” meaning “earth.” Humility literally means being grounded.  St. Joseph was grounded.  He understood that he was not God.  He also understood that God had a plan for his family and that he had an important role to play in that plan.  St. Joseph’s humility shows complete love and trust for God the Father and sacrificial love for his wife and child.

We are called to be humble like St. Joseph.  To love God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole strength. (cf. Luke 10:27) We are called to express that love through sacrificial love for others, especially members of our family, but also for the poor and marginalized of our society. Humility calls us to judge situations and circumstances and not people.  Humility calls us to understand that we are not God and that success is not measured in how big our bank account is, how fancy our car is, or if we are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Humility is an inner strength that is forged by prayer and constant practice.  It is confidently living life with sincere trust in God’s providence.  Humility provides the graces necessary to face persecution, ridicule, and suffering from the assurance that God will reward our struggles with everlasting joy.  Humility helps us to see that success is not measured by achievements, but in love of God, neighbor, and self.  To be truly successful in this life means to learn to love as God loves.  How much does God love?  He loves us to the point of humbling himself to take on our human nature with all its frailty and dying on a cross for our salvation.  He died for your personal salvation and mine.  If you were the only person on the earth, Jesus would have died for you because he loves you and wants to spend eternity with you!!!  Let that sink in.  The creator of the universe humbled himself to die for you out of love, so he could spend eternity with you.  Christ’s humility is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of the strength of pure love.

St. Joseph in his humility plays an important role in our salvation.  He responds to God’s call to the earthly father of the Savior of the world.  Through St. Joseph’s silent yes, his humility, and his commitment to his love for Jesus and Mary, we are embraced by the eternal love of God.

“Let us allow ourselves to be ‘filled’ with St Joseph’s silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God’s voice, we are in such deep need of it”. Let us pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on us. Let us enter into the love and strength of St. Joseph’s humility so that we can bring Jesus to our world and offer it the love and salvation it truly needs.  With St. Joseph as our role model and protector, let us humbly seek to do God’s will each and every day in faith, with hope, and through love.

St. Joseph, silent and humble servant, pray for us.

Deacon Scott A. Root
St. Katharine Drexel Parish
Mechanicsburg, PA

St. Joseph, teach all fathers and men to be courageous for those in their care! St. Joseph, help all men to be fathers and leaders after the heart of God the father! St. Joseph protect the Holy Catholic Church of your Son from the attacks of darkness and evil which are upon us now!

The Church (and all of us who believe) are currently surrounded by political, economic, and natural evils that wish to take goodness, truth, beauty, and even the joy of living itself from our lives. Like St. Joseph, we will persevere with the help of God’s grace in faith, hope, and love, no matter what the future brings. We know that God will overcome all sickness, suffering and human and supernatural evil for those who are faithful and persevere courageously like St. Joseph. The promise of Christmas is that Light will conquer Darkness once and for all.

All fathers are called to be prepared and ready to protect their family in the hour of need, and so we ask St. Joseph to help us be spiritually ready first of all for whatever may happen in the near future. We have been reflecting on messages from heaven for the last nine months that have called us to be ready and attentive for it appears that a new era in time’s progress toward the Kingdom of God may be upon us. Are you ready to respond to the Father’s will and do whatever is necessary for the spiritual safety and salvation of your own soul and of those around you like St. Joseph was? Daily prayer, the praying of the rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, reading of the Bible, and acts of love and charity for others are the tools that we must employ these days for the protection and prosperity of our souls and the souls of others. Are we willing to work for the Kingdom of God by using these tools in order to make a spiritual living for ourselves and our families?

St. Joseph was called to make timely, courageous decisions to act toward the will of God and so are we. The time is short and we must courageously prepare and act decisively, like St. Joseph, for our own salvation and that of those around us.

Dear St. Joseph, teach us to be courageous for God and for one another like you were at the time our Savior was born. Teach us to live the truth with great love and courage! May we trust that the Light will always conquer the Darkness when we remain and act in the Grace of Christ!

Fr. Christopher Derda
North Allegan Collaborative
Byron Center, Mi

Tap the link below to Listen:

Fr. Len Sudlik, January  17, 2021
St. Robert of Newminster Parish, Ada  MI
Visit   http://www.strobertchurch.org/

In the Litany of St. Joseph, as well as in the Divine Praises that are said at the end of Eucharistic Benediction, we refer to St. Joseph as the “most chaste spouse” of the Virgin Mary. What does this title mean? Many today think about celibacy when they hear the word “chastity.” Because of this, most understand chastity to be reserved for priests, religious sisters, or other really holy people. But this misses the point because every Christian is called to live a chaste life. So, what does it mean to be chaste? 

Firstly, chastity is a virtue, which means it is a habit of doing the good. Chastity specifically refers to the proper integration of one’s sexual energies of life and love. Many think of chastity in a merely negative way—namely many understand chastity as exclusively limiting what we can or cannot do (no to fornication, no to pornography, and no to adultery). For those who think this way, chastity just means “no” or is a long list of rules. But this is a very limited understanding of chastity! Instead, because chastity is a virtue, it is oriented to the good of one’s life. Chastity is the virtue that allows one to truly love the other with respect to each person’s state of life. Rather than merely being a virtue of saying “no,” true chastity enables love and self-gift—true chastity teaches us to truly say “Yes!”

To be quite frank, it can be difficult to be chaste in our culture. We are constantly bombarded by images and media which can lead us to impurity. So too our culture’s casual attitude toward sexuality makes living chastity with one’s significant other seem extremely counter-cultural. This is why St. Joseph, the most chaste spouse of Mary, is a great saint for our times. 

We ought to consider St. Joseph as a model of chastity. As a married man, St. Joseph was chaste in his conduct with the Blessed Virgin Mary. But just because Joseph has “Saint” before his name, does not mean he cannot relate to our own struggles around chastity. Remember, he was the only member of the Holy Family capable of sinning against chastity! So, St. Joseph can teach us a lot about chastity through his own example.

For those who struggle to live with chastity, St. Joseph can also be a powerful intercessor. Ask him to aid you in living for love that is real. If we are only considered with the “No’s” of chastity, we can ask for his help in teaching us what the virtue of chastity will help us to say “Yes” to. 

May each of us go to the most chaste spouse of Mary in this year of St. Joseph, and find in him a shining example of chaste love.

St. Joseph, Most Chaste Spouse of Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us!

Deacon Noah Thelen
Diocese of Grand Rapids
Seminarian – Theology IV

On December 8, 2020, Pope Francis announced the Year of St. Joseph.  Because of my personal devotion to St. Joseph, when I heard the news, my heart leapt for joy.  Pope Francis begins his apostolic letter, “WITH A FATHER’S HEART: that is how Joseph loved Jesus. St. Joseph loves each of us with a Father’s heart as well and wants to bring us closer to his Son. Our time spent reflecting on the life of St. Joseph and his role in salvation history will ultimately lead us to a deeper relationship with his son, Jesus, and God, our heavenly Father through the workings of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel passage, Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a, we see that Joseph was a righteous man. A righteous person puts his or her relationship with God before all else in life and cares for people as God would care for them.  In scriptures, someone who is righteous reflects God’s compassion.

As a righteous man, Saint Joseph sets an example for all Christians, as well as all people of good will (cf. Lk 2:14). Saint Irenaeus teaches that righteous people are those who “love the God who made them and do nothing unjust against their neighbor.” Although Saint Irenaeus was not writing specifically about Saint Joseph, his definition certainly can be applied to the Spouse of Our Lady. (https://catholicstarherald.org/saint-joseph-the-righteous-is-the-model-for-every-man/)

Being a righteous man required St. Joseph to put his personal wants and desires aside, for the greater good of his family.  God called him to an extraordinary life, much different than St. Joseph probably envisioned for himself.  In his righteousness, he seeks to divorce Mary secretly, quietly, so as to protect her and her child.  The Church has not definitely taught why St. Joseph responded to this situation in the way he did.  On Day 16 of the Consecration, Father Galloway explores these three theories. (Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father by Father Donald Galloway)  Maybe St. Joseph suspected that Mary had committed adultery, maybe St. Joseph was perplexed and could not understand the situation but believed in Mary’s innocence. Or maybe St. Joseph understood that God had truly brought forth life in Mary’s womb and in his righteousness, he deemed himself to be unworthy to take care of Mary and the child.  Whichever theory is correct, one thing is certain, when the angel tells him “Be not afraid to take Mary into your home,” his righteousness leads to obedience.

How often do we allow our self-righteousness to get in the way of our obedience to God and his plan for our lives? We accept his blessings without a second thought to how he is calling us to use them for the betterment of our world. Each day, God blesses us with many different gifts, but do we offer those gifts back to God by using them to build up his kingdom here on earth?

Self-righteousness leads to selfishness and hardness of heart.  In our self-righteousness, we judge others not to be worthy of our love.  We fail to see the sin in our own lives, and we look down on others. When this occurs, we place ourselves in the place of God.  This path will lead to certain destruction through addiction, a lack of respect for the human dignity of others, and a deteriorating understanding of our own value as children of God.  Self-righteousness takes us away from God’s love, love of self, and love of others.  Self-righteousness is a disease that leads to pride, use of others, and division.  The only cure for self-righteousness is to put aside our own wants and desires and to surrender to God’s love through obedience.  

In our world today, obedience has a negative connotation and is often seen as a word of oppression. We view obedience as a forced, unwilling decision to do something we don’t want to do because we’re afraid of punishment.  Yet that’s not the kind of obedience to which God calls us. In the actions of St. Joseph, we see the true definition of obedience rooted in love.  Obedience to God is humbly acknowledging the fact that we are not God.  It is not only accepting God’s love in our lives but returning that love by seeking to do His will.  This might not always be easy, and often we may not understand what the future may hold, but God reassures us in the words of the angel to St. Joseph “Be not Afraid.”

We can see Saint Joseph possessed a great love for God in his obedience in following the message of the angel to take Mary into his house. The obedience to do the will of God in this extraordinary case implies that Saint Joseph must have striven to follow the commandments of God in the ordinary things of daily life.

Obedience to God’s will requires us to know his will for our lives.  In the case of St. Joseph, he knew God’s will through dreams in which the angel of God tells him what to do.  In trust and courage, St. Joseph responds immediately and without delay.  Through his obedience, the savior of the world is born into a loving family that protects him so that he can fulfill God the Father’s plan for his life, which is the salvation of each and every one of us.

But you may be saying to yourself, how do I know what God’s will is for my life? How can I seek to do his will if I don’t know what I am supposed to do?  These are fair questions.  The search for God and the desire to do his will is a lifelong endeavor, but we do not have to guess what God’s plan for our lives is.  He loves us and wants to spend eternity with us.  He wants to walk with us in this life, as Mary and Joseph did with Jesus, in the good times and the bad, in the quiet moments, in our sufferings, and in our joys.  So, if his plan seems unknown to us, all we need to do is ask him. 

There may be some of us who know God’s plan for our life, but we are placing obstacles in the way.  We are afraid, we have an addiction, we have our own plan, we are running away from God’s love.  Now is the time to surrender.  Now is the time to hand over our lives to God through the intercession of St. Joseph.

Maybe the obstacles to being just and loving obeying God’s will involve sin.  Now is the time to ask God for forgiveness and start anew. In the words of absolution, God brings us back into recognition of his total, faithful, and undying love for us.  When we are forgiven, we can begin to heal, and we can begin to love ourselves and others with the love of God in the depth of our soul.

Let us lay all our shortcomings, our failures, and our fears at the feet of Jesus through the intercession of his earthly Father.  This complete surrender will enable us to open our hearts and minds to God’s loving presence in our lives and learn to love as he loves. 

Pray the Litany of St. Joseph, found in the prayers button of myParish App. Spend a few moments in silent reflection.  In that moment, speak to God from your heart.  Ask him to show you his will for your life.  Ask him for his forgiveness.  Ask him to help you name the obstacle, the self-righteous tendency that you have that keeps you from his love and from obediently loving him.  When you pray the litany, ask St. Joseph, your spiritual father, and Terror of Demons, to intercede for you to your Heavenly Father.  Ask St. Joseph to show you how to be righteous and obedient and live in the intimacy of God’s love

St. Joseph, righteous and obedient, pray for us.

Deacon Scott A. Root
Pastoral Associate
St. Katharine Drexel Parish
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050

Pope Francis
22.12.13  Angelus, St Peters Square  (4th Sunday of Advent  Year A )      

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Gospel tells us about the events preceding the birth of Jesus, and the Evangelist Matthew presents them from the point of view of St Joseph, the betrothed of the Virgin Mary.

Joseph and Mary were dwelling in Nazareth; they were not yet living together because they were not yet married. In the meantime, Mary, after having welcomed the Angel’s announcement, came to be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Joseph realized this, he was bewildered. The Gospel does not explain what his thoughts were, but it does tell us the essential: he seeks to do the will of God and is ready for the most radical renunciation. Rather than defending himself and asserting his rights, Joseph chooses what for him is an enormous sacrifice. And the Gospel tells us: “Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly” (1:19).

This brief sentence reveals a true inner drama if we think about the love that Joseph had for Mary! But even in these circumstances, Joseph intends to do the will of God and decides, surely with great sorrow, to send Mary away quietly. We need to meditate on these words in order to understand the great trial that Joseph had to endure in the days preceding Jesus’ birth. It was a trial similar to the sacrifice of Abraham, when God asked him for his son Isaac (cf. Gen 22): to give up what was most precious, the person most beloved.

But as in the case of Abraham, the Lord intervenes: he found the faith he was looking for and he opens up a different path, a path of love and of happiness. “Joseph,” he says, “do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20).

This Gospel passage reveals to us the greatness of St Joseph’s heart and soul. He was following a good plan for his life, but God was reserving another plan for him, a greater mission. Joseph was a man who always listened to the voice of God, he was deeply sensitive to his secret will, he was a man attentive to the messages that came to him from the depths of his heart and from on high. He did not persist in following his own plan for his life, he did not allow bitterness to poison his soul; rather, he was ready to make himself available to the news that, in a such a bewildering way, was being presented to him. And thus, he was a good man. He did not hate, and he did not allow bitterness to poison his soul. Yet how many times does hatred, or even dislike and bitterness poison our souls! And this is harmful. Never allow it: he is an example of this. And Joseph thereby became even freer and greater. By accepting himself according to God’s design, Joseph fully finds himself, beyond himself. His freedom to renounce even what is his, the possession of his very life, and his full interior availability to the will of God challenge us and show us the way.

Let us make ourselves ready to celebrate Christmas by contemplating Mary and Joseph: Mary, the woman full of grace who had the courage to entrust herself totally to the Word of God; Joseph, the faithful and just man who chose to believe the Lord rather than listen to the voices of doubt and human pride. With them, let us walk together toward Bethlehem.

I want to reflect with you on a scene in the Gospel of Matthew.  It speaks to the character of Joseph, a man, a husband, and the foster father of the Savior.  It is also a profound insight into the intimacy of marriage:

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was
betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child
through the Holy Spirit.  Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has
been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus
because he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with
child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means
“God is with us.”  When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. Matthew 1:18-25

One can imagine Joseph’s grief as Mary shares with him that she is pregnant.  Without averting her gaze from his, she tells him of the apparition of the angel.  She shares all that was disclosed to her, and her assent to all that was asked of her.  Her own body has informed her that she is now “with child.”  The clarity that was always in Mary’s eyes when she spoke with him – a clarity that drew him to love her – was still there, somehow more deeply penetrated by his gaze than ever before.  Yet as he faced her and listened to her words, only one fact flings itself back and forth, wildly in his mind:  the child, he knows, is not his.  The grief of this is unbearable.  Yet it is without anger, bitterness, or rancor.  Joseph was a “just” man.  The only solution he could comprehend was to distance himself from the pain.  He would separate from her quietly.

The night after, an angel penetrates his troubled sleep.  The apparition confirms two points:  this child is miraculously “generated of God,” and he is to be named, “Jesus.”  There is no way that Joseph can even begin to comprehend the meaning of “Son of the Most High,” nor can he fathom the salvation this child will be from the bondage of sin that plagues his ancient race.  But the Truth, now confirmed by the angel, sets him free! (John 8:32)   The pain at the loss of a child “of my own,” is released and falls away.  He rises and hastens to find Mary – not to take a pregnant woman into his home, not to take a fatherless child into his care, but to take custody of Mary’s faith.  He finds himself aware again of what he has always known:  her faith is pure.  Why is it shocking to him that Mary’s faith should be fertile – as fertile is his own?   Taking custody of her faith in God, he can now penetrate the depth of her faith in him – her husband..  He offers his assent and becomes spouse to her faith.  Looking into his eyes, she returns the assent and completes the vow, taking custody of his faith in God.  In this, they become spouse to each other, parent to their child, and suitable partners to the joys and sorrows of the vocation God has given them. 

Between Joseph and Mary, Marriage is redefined for every Christian from that day forward: 

“I will take custody of your faith in God.  I will become partner to all that your faith will ask of you.  We will become one in the only thing that can fill this life and that will endure into the next.”

The depth of human intimacy with another is always found in God

Fr. Jim Chelich
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
Grand Rapids, MI 49506

May 1st is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

There’s a favorite song of mine that reminds me of St. Joseph. It’s called “The Carpenter.”

Let us now praise a carpenter and the things that he made
And the way that he lived by the tools of his trade.
He was tough as a crowbar, quick as a chisel,
Fair as a plane and true as a level.
He was straight as a chalk line… and right as a rule;
He was square with the world, he took good care of his tools.
He said anything that’s worth cuttin’ down a tree for
Is worth doin’ right; don’t the Lord love a two-by-four.

Over the centuries, the Church has found it necessary to keep reminding the world that Jesus was truly human. From the beginning, the Church has proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter… obviously trained by Joseph.

Joseph — it seems to me —  must’ve taught Jesus both the “satisfactions” of that vocation… as well as the “drudgery.” 

The Church continues to remind us that humanity reflects the image of God — not only in “thinking” and “loving” —  but also in “creating.” Whether we build a table or a cathedral, our mission is to bear fruit with our minds AND our hands … always for the building up of the Body of Christ. 

Everything we know about the husband of Mary — the foster father of Jesus — comes from Scripture. But that’s been “too little” for some. So legends about him have been made up. 

We DO know he was a carpenter…a working man. The skeptical Nazarenes asked about Jesus: “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” 

We know that Joseph wasn’t a rich man. When he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised — and Mary to be purified —  he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or pigeons, because he couldn’t afford a lamb: the preferred sacrifice of the wealthy. 

We also know that Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant — and he wasn’t the father —  he thought about divorcing her. But he knew that women accused of adultery could be stoned to death; so he decided to divorce her quietly. 

Obviously, Joseph was a man of great faith. He was obedient to whatever God asked of him without ever knowing the outcome.  When the angel came to him in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question took Mary as his wife.

Pope John Paul II taught us that Saint Joseph is the model of fatherhood. He said: Generations of fathers have followed in Joseph’s footsteps… fathers who — with the example of a simple and laborious life —imprinted on their children’s souls the inestimable value of faith, without which every other good runs the risk of being in vain. 

St. Joseph the Worker: carpenter… obedient servant of God… model of fatherhood.

Deacon Denny Williams
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
Grand Rapids, MI