Fr Mark Schultz

Dear Friend,

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph: Spouse of the Blessed Virgin, Guardian of the Incarnate Word, Foster-Father of Jesus! He has other titles that have been given to him by generations of pious folks, too: Terror of Demons (on account, it would seem, of the zealousness with which he protected Our Lord and Our Lady from harm and danger); Patron of the Church (on account of his Foster-Fatherhood of Jesus, whose body we, as Church, are!); Patron of a Good Death (on account of the legend that he died while being held in the arms of Jesus and Mary).

For all of his various titles, though, we don’t know an incredible amount about Saint Joseph (though that’s not stopped folks throughout the centuries from telling us various stories about him!). But I think that's okay...in part because what we learn about him from scripture—particularly from Matthew, our Office Gospel today—is what’s most wonderfully important about him:

1) Joseph was righteous, which is to say in part that, he desired to be in right relationship with others and this desire led him to be extraordinarily kind and gentle. When he learned that his fiancée, Mary, was pregnant, he didn’t do what so many in his day would have done: expose and shame her for infidelity. No, scripture tells us that he resolved to “dismiss her quietly,” which is to say, to call off the engagement with a minimum of fuss. We don’t know what he assumed about what had happened with Mary, we know only that he responded with kindness and gentleness.

2) Joseph listens. When the Angel speaks to him, he hears and responds. He listens to the voice of the Good.

During these strange days, being reminded of the importance of kindness and the value of listening from our Foster-Father Joseph is a good and salutary thing! While it’s necessary for us now to practice social distancing, it’s not necessary for us to dismiss each other, to forget about each other. No! We're called to remember each other in prayer! We're called to reach out to one another, to stay connected, whether it be by phone or email, or via the art of long-hand letter writing! This is still a time to practice kindness and gentleness, to be in right loving relationship with each other.

This is also likely to feel (to so many of us) like a void time or maybe a time of emptiness. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Every now and again, a field must be given a rest, laying fallow in order for the nutrients in the soil to be replenished so that whatever is meant to grow in it when the time of sowing and growing comes can grow and bear exceptional fruit. We’re embarked now on a time of holy fallowness so that, when the time comes, the Word that is constantly spoken into the silence of our hearts can root in us more surely so that we can bear the spiritual fruit that God desires us to bear. Paul prays in our Office Epistle from Ephesians that we may be “filled with the fullness of God,” and that presupposes that we’re available to be emptied of all in us and in our lives that is not God so we can be filled with fullness. That presupposes that, in the silence of our hearts, in this time of fallowness, that we continue to listen to and for God in and through our prayer as we continue to desire the fullness of God which God always desires to give us.

Beloved Friend! Now and in the days to come and certainly beyond, I pray that we may follow Saint Joseph’s example of kindness and listening!

Under the Mercy,
Fr Mark+