Well it is good to be back writing again! I am so grateful to our guest bloggers who have provided us with such beautiful reflections along the way. And I am ever-grateful to all of you who continue to offer comments. I know that not everyone has time to do so, but please know that I read, learn from and meditate on all that you write. It nourishes me in my journey and adds to the richness of each day’s reflections. Thank you!
Today marks the feast of St. Joseph in the Catholic church.
If you grew up Catholic, you know that Joseph played a central role in the lives of the faithful. While he had no speaking lines and appears on just a few occasions in the scriptures, he held a special place in Catholic lore and practice – with numerous festivals and traditions growing around him.
One of the traditions associated with St. Joseph is the St. Joseph’s table (which I have known to be associated with Italian/Sicilian culture but may also be celebrated elsewhere), where a meal/feast is offered and all are welcome (and especially those who do not have enough to eat).
Joseph was also the patron saint of laborers (the church also honors him on May 1st as well – the International Day of Workers) and the church holds up Joseph’s connection with all workers of this world – especially those who do manual labor.
If we just took those two aspects of Joseph’s legacy – offering food to those in need and honoring the dignity and rights of workers – and put them into consistent practice, we’d witness a profound change in society.
Looking at the two scriptures offered to us today related to Joseph (one from Matthew 1 and the other from Luke 2), we notice that there’s very little said about him.
And yet for a man of few words, there’s actually so much about Joseph that I appreciate. As I have mentioned before, he is a person who (at least in the scriptural tradition) plays a marginal role (at best), goes against traditional gender roles (supporting the lead of a woman in a patriarchal world) and does “nothing extraordinary” with his life apart from working, parenting and being a family man.
He is also a man who trusts. He trusts his dreams. He trusts his wife. He trusts his God. And he trusts in the not knowing.
This is someone I can relate to!
There’s a few things I’d want to highlight for ongoing reflection here.
First, what I love about this feast is that it celebrates the ordinary. As I have said before, it reminds us that even on the days when we don’t seem to be doing anything noteworthy, we can still deeply align ourselves with the will of God. The small, simple tasks of the daily are a place where we can live out our call. We do not need to go anywhere other than our own lives.
I know that I need to hear this message over and over. Especially in a culture that celebrates celebrity and emphasizes the grand and heroic, I can get down on myself pretty easily because I haven’t founded a new ministry, solved hunger or homelessness or become a massive social influencer with my new book (not that I have even written one). The reality is that most of us are never going to be or do that, and it is OK. St. Joseph reminds us to do what is in front of us and to practice holiness in continual acts of small virtue.
This may mean watching kids. Changing diapers. Buying groceries or running errands. Giving rides. Sending love notes. Packing lunches. Cooking and cleaning. Visiting people. Showing up when it’s not always convenient for us. Loving when it is hard. Encouraging someone else. Doing work we’re not thrilled about to make sure people have what they need. Making sacrifices. A lot could fall in this list…all small things that can be done with great love.
A second aspect of Joseph that I love is the role of support person.
Just a few nights ago, Hollywood celebrated the Academy Awards for the “best” in all kinds of categories. One of the categories is the “Best Supporting Actor/Actress” award. Joseph’s role falls into this category. He didn’t need to be the center of the story and his leaning into what was his to do made the others successful in their roles.
This is such an important and often neglected aspect of the spiritual life. While a lot of people will have and take leadership roles in one form or another, many people will be in the supporting role category – and they do it with love and enthusiasm. I actually think of so many of you at Spiritus serving as sacristans or office staff, cooking for soup suppers, donating food for Trillium or the outreaches, volunteering for religious ed/youth group or doing one of a thousand things that helps the overall community or supports the staff. Someone else may get the mention, but you are the real wind beneath the wings!
Finally Joseph is a simple man who lived his life far from the center of power and notoriety. He was like many ordinary people – people with no great social standing, people who know that they will struggle, people who know that they are not the “most important people in the room.” And yet Joseph believes that his life matters and takes his own calling seriously as he tries to live it out in the shadow of empire and in the shadow of the wealthy oligarchs who rule his world.
I know sometimes that it can be tempting to think that the important stuff is happening in Albany or Washington, on Wall Street, or in the halls of power somewhere. We might be convinced that the social influencers, media personalities, CEO’s, famous celebrities and athletes are the folks who “really make a difference.” But our gospel would suggest otherwise.
The gospel would suggest that it is everyday people, with no speaking lines, sometimes far from the centers of power who can impact history in ways that no one could have calculated.
That’s where you and I might find ourselves today – trusting that the work we do, the sacrifices we’re making, the kindnesses we show – matter and might, in fact, be an essential part of a drama whose importance is not easily recognized.
3 Comments
George Dardess
I beautiful, necessary reflection, Mike. Thank you.
About myself, I can say that all my efforts during my long life to become “important” have always backfired on me— or at least left me with a bad taste and a guilty conscience. As I reflect back, the key events that have brought joy to me and others around me followed from setbacks and humblings. For example: over a decade ago I woke up in ICU after surprise heart surgery, a quadruple by-pass, a “disaster” falling on me “out of the blue.” I woke up in ICU drenched in self-pity, anger, panic— all my plans dashed! And then “out of nowhere” I felt a sense of the deepest gratitude. That sense seemed to me a “grace,” one I could really live by, if I would just honor it. And so I have tried to do, with God’s help and my own painful, startled, unexpected, deeply relieved assent.
Susan Spoonhower
This just what I have been needing in my Lenten practice!
I have definitely been feeling sidelined in my ability and attempts to make any difference in the world, in my world, in the last ten years. Your words and reflection about Joseph give me hope and faith in my own journey.
Bless you, Mike.
Courtney Davis
Good to have you back, Mike! I truly hope more readers take you up on your invitation to comment and join in the conversation.
Once again, thank you for making the daily scripture readily relatable. You’ve given me plenty to sink myself into like a comfortable chair. That chair being the “small, simple tasks of the daily…We do not need to go anywhere other than our own lives.”
I truly believe those words and live by them or at least I try to. I’m not packing my bags to fly off somewhere to lead a ministry or movement. There is plenty to do in my own house and, more specifically, in my own heart. I believe that’s what is being asked of us anyway, more than anything else, to transform our own hearts, minds, souls, and habits to better reflect the image of God.
It takes a lot of consistent practice to rid oneself of bad habits and moral failings. I’m reminded of that every time I get behind the wheel and find myself cussing and throwing curses at others’ driving infractions. A former top student of MAD Magazine’s Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions and playground participant of “the dozens”, it now takes monumental effort for me to moderate my tongue and restrain my ego when certain opportunities, shall we say, arise.
Folks who join me for SWIFT gatherings often hear the advice “Put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help someone else,” meaning tend to your own house and healing before trying to save someone else lest both end up suffering. If we, as individuals, earnestly acknowledged and quietly tended to transforming our own failings, a good deal of ministries and non-profits practically would become obsolete. That’s not at all to say we shouldn’t extend ourselves to help others beyond our own front yards. Rather, perhaps the greatest help we can provide others is to genuinely do the inner work of becoming better individuals – less egotistical, judgmental, acquisitive, violent, boastful, irrational, covetous, jealous, manipulative, apathetic, etc., etc., etc. – and thereby help create better communities. So, no, we don’t need to go anywhere other than our own lives to quietly (without cameras and fanfare) engage in that work.