The Obedience of Saint Joseph – Br. Jack Crowley
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Feast of Saint Jospeh
Occasionally we Brothers are asked which of our three vows is the hardest to follow. Most people think we are going to say celibacy. The correct answer, in my experience, is obedience.
Obedience is always harder, more nuanced, and more unpredictable than you think it will be. Obedience lives in that tricky intersection of listening for God’s will, searching your own conscious, and then living your life as best you can. Saint Joseph, whose feast we keep today, lived in this intersection.
One of the most mysterious parts of Saint Joseph’s obedience is that we really do not know how he felt about it. We literally never hear from Joseph. He doesn’t have a single word of dialogue in scripture. Although we never verbally hear from Joseph, his life and his obedience speaks for itself. As our collect of the day says, Joseph is known for his uprightness of life and his obedience to God’s command. Saint Joseph knew what his vocation in life was, to be the guardian of God’s incarnate son, and he did just that.
The life of Saint Joseph reminds us that much of the work we do in obedience to God is done in silence. Much of what we do internally will never be known to anyone but ourselves and God. Much of our plans, our thoughts, and our emotions will never go beyond our own head, but that does not mean they are not important. When we are trying our best to be obedient to God, all that work is important.
In today’s world, the notion of a quiet, disciplined, and obedient life is almost countercultural. There are times in today’s world in which whoever is the loudest, gets the most attention, and says the most ends up gaining a lot of power. To do the opposite, to know and live with humility, and to respect the balance of speech and silence, is not easy. Yet we must always ask ourselves what does God want from us? To make a lot of noise or to do God’s will?
Finally, whenever we talk about obedience to God, it is important to remember that God loves us. God’s love knows the intentions of our hearts and what we are trying to do with our lives. God’s love knows and understands when we have fallen short and been disobedient. The important thing is to keep coming back to that love of God and to keep listening for what God’s will is for us, and to have the courage to be obedient to that call.
Saint Joseph knew the importance and the challenge of obedience. His vocation was important beyond words. He lived through the challenges of what he was called to do, may we have the grace to do the same. Amen.
Good Morning from Canada where St Joseph is our Patron Saint.. Thank you Br. Jack for such a lovely, gentle reflection to begin the day and encourage us to look at where we might be missing his example of quiet, self-effacing obedience – the world would be a better place if we all could try that on for even a day. Elizabeth Hardy+
Brother Jack,
Thank you, you have done it again! Such simple and few words that relate to and can guide my entire life.
Once, early in my Christian walk, God interrupted me to talk to me, or reveal to me, some things about Joseph. First was the fact that when he learned that Mary was pregnant with a child that he knew was not his, he did not self-righteously have her stoned as he might have done, or openly scorned in the community, but resolved to “put her away quietly.” Joseph was not caught up in egotism and self-righteousness and concern for appearances. And then, when he did hear from God, in a dream of all things, he trusted God and took Mary to be his wife. In spite of appearing to be a cuckold in his family and society.
Joseph was a man brought up in a legalistic and highly patriarchal culture. In spite of that, he trusted his intuition, he trusted that he had heard God through something as ephemeral as a dream. Or dreams. And acted on them. It seems to me that he was, in his quiet way, a bit countercultural. And certainly courageous.
I think God probably knew Joseph’s character pretty well, to choose him to be Jesus’ earthly father. One doesn’t have to look far to see his influence in Jesus’ own life and character.
Amen. Thank you.