Joseph spent his life in Nazareth, a small Jewish village; in it, everyone was well known in the community because of his job as craftsman, farmer or because his religious and social commitments. Joseph, as well as all the young people of his time, lived his process of formation, growth and maturity that led him to realize his project of life and the fullness of love, according to the law and traditions of his Jewish culture.
God, in his inscrutable designs, since the beginning had chosen Joseph for a great mission: to be Mary’s husband and Jesus’ father during his earthly life. Therefore, endowed with faculties and special graces to fulfill his mission, he took his part in the salvation economy.
The celebration of the year of saint Joseph is a gift of the Spirit for us, Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. This great Saint is a distinguished source of inspiration and a reference point that may help us to live our spirituality and charism. That is why we would like to consider some aspects of his life as an illumination for our challenges.
1. A defender and guardian of life
A crucial situation put Joseph to the test. Being engaged to Mary, a chaste young woman of deep faith, one day he came to know that she was pregnant and, in order to protect her from a shameful scandal, he planned to secretly disown her. However, after the announcement in a dream, the angel told him to “not be afraid to take Mary as his wife to his house” (Mt 1: 18-21). With the courage of a man, he accepted his mission and trusting in God he took the challenging path of faith, received and embraced Mary as his wife and, in her, the Son that she was carrying in her womb.
In another moment, the angel of the Lord revealed to Joseph the dangers threatening Jesus and Mary that were forcing them to flee to Egypt and, later, to settle in Nazareth. With discretion, humility, tenderness, fidelity and a fruitful dedication, he lived the mystery of these happenings. In silence, he suffered exclusion and persecution, he emigrated to a foreign land and, although he did not understand, he always lived according to God’s plan and, with an attitude of prayerful listening, he gave a prompt and assertive response to the different circumstances since the betrothal to the episode of Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple when he was twelve years old.
Therefore, Joseph is a reference for us in our commitment of life.
To defend, with prophetic attitude, life in all its forms, promoting the care and conservation of the «common home». To be bearers of peace and hope to the suffering brought about by violence in its different forms, situations of exclusion and the denial of human dignity.
(Cf. Final document XXII General Chapter – 1.3. Renewal actions)
2. A father who safeguards his identity integrating the reality of the daily life
When we talk about Joseph’s life in Nazareth, we talk about a normal life and of a person that accepts the history, culture, family and relationships and we discover that fidelity to daily life is fidelity to God consisting in living in the common anonymity like most of his town people, searching out what God likes, making projects and renouncing to them, always looking for God´s project and learning how to read the signs of the Kingdom in the world.
We acknowledge that Joseph was a religious man of prayer and faithful observer of God’s precepts; he initiated his son Jesus in the piety and in the religious traditions of his people. Joseph, protector of his family, discovered, by his spiritual strength, greatness of heart and intuitive capacity, the great secret of God present in each member of the family of Nazareth and the mystery of the eternal Father in their lives. Joseph, a man of fruitful silence, entered into the dynamics of contemplation and assumed with patience, amazement and respect the provident plans coming from above and became a docile instrument of God’s will.
This divine human aspect that we perceive in Joseph is a priority in our being Capuchin Tertiary Sisters; to discover that fidelity to the daily life is fidelity to God who likes us to be presence of his Kingdom. We are called to contemplate God being open to the newness of each day, to discover Him and to be his witnesses to Him through our own life, in fraternity, people, environment, creation (cf. Const. 42).
3. Protector of the family
- Joseph was entrusted the care of the Holy Family in order to carry on God’s plan for it. In his family life he acted as a kind, tender, obedient husband and a father; he propitiated in his family the communion through love, mutual help, learning, surprises and family concerns, like in any other family of his time, not only within it but also projecting his experience to his fellow countrymen. “Once they fulfilled all that the Lord’s law ordered, they went back to Galilee, to their town of Nazareth. The child was growing, developing and becoming wiser every day; and the grace of God was with him”(Lk 2,39-40).
In the same way, we, Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family, through our name, have received the legacy of apostolic work with the family and “to know and accompany the different situations and realities of the family in the environment of our mission. (Cf. Const. 61) is a priority for us.
May Saint Joseph teach and accompany us our in our response to the different demands of the mission entrusted us by Father Luis Amigó and much more now, when life confronts us in face of our society´s vulnerability and imbalance in which we are immersed.
Hna. María Elena Lopera Sierra, TC