St Joseph, the worker

And though they son were God indeed 

over that home no Angels sang 

but still through years of toil and need 

hammer and mallet bravely rang 

and surely t'was a gracious thing 

when standing at his father's knee 

the world's great craftsman and its king 

not king but craftsman learned to be. 

The Lord himself learned to be a carpenter under your care,help us too to appreciate the beauty of hard work and to recognise the dignity of every labourer.

Dreams and discernment

 Listening to the brief homily of the Mass of St Joseph, it struck me that Joseph received all his communication or 'instructuons' via dreams! He dreamt an angel telling him to take Mary as his wife. He was told in a dream to flee Jerusalem. He was informed in a dream to return from Egypt. He truly was a man of dreams!! And faith, to believe that what he saw in a dream was what was actually expected of him.

Then it also struck me, Don Bosco was a man of dreams! The number of dreams that full his biographies! So did Martin Luther King dream! And Abdul Kalam speak of his numerous dreams. 

All these great visionaries and leaders were guide by dreams. If course, not all of them would have been something they went through, at night lying flat in their bed. Yet these are the facts that drove them. That propelled their actions and their whole life.

Hence the confirmation of my prayer which Ive been praying more and more: 

Lord grant me the wisdom to discern Your will and the courage to live it, no matter the cost.

St Joseph

Joseph, the Church of God protect;

Her priests with holy care endow; 

Shield of the virgin-souls elect

Hope of the fatherless be thou:

And when our parting spirits cling

To earthly joys that cannot bide,

Make Nazareth in our homes, and bring

Jesus and Mary to our side.

Silence and trust

St Joseph, among the many things he teaches, shows us the importance of silence. Because, in silence, one is open to listen... listen to His voice. 

And then have the humility and the TRUST that He will take care of things! 

St Joseph the worker

 An excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world (no. 34)... 

Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realize God's plan in history.

The childhood of Christ by Gerard van Honthorst

Prayer to St Joseph, the worker

To write this on the feast of St Joseph, the worker, is really ironic: Am really busy!!  However, don't know what to get through first.  The easiest solution or the most practical one would be, "Get off one's butt!" but what to do if most of my work is to be done on my butt and on fingertips!  Of course, the mind has to do the most strenuous task!  Easter still seems far away for this Lenten cross of work at the desk.

So here's my prayer to St Joseph, the worker:

Dear St Joseph and family,
Help me,
discern, not delay;
be grateful, not mourn the kind of work I have at hand;
see the bigger picture, rather than my laptop alone!
As I thank you for the numerous opportunities
and the plentitude of possibilities,
may I respect my priorities, the availability of time,
and be diligent about them all.
Above all, help me do all my works with a genuine love,
and for God and others! 

Son of a carpenter

'What part of Joseph's personality did Jesus imbibe or exhibit?', was the question that Fr Kevin began his homily with, this morning during the Mass of St Joseph, the worker. 

• Was it his relational skills which saw him relate to practically everyone in his surrounding with the same respect and dignity?  
• Was it his workmanship which saw him be dedicated to what he considered was his primary duty?
• Was it his ability in recognizing that he is not the only one at work in the society and hence form constructive alliances and build a network of hard working people from different backgrounds?
• Was it his attitude towards the working class of the society, whom he treated with equal dignity and compassion as any intellectual or civil servant?  
• Was it his concern and affection for the women who followed him or met him during his journeys and visits to the different regions of Israel?  
• Was it his calm and serene nature that helped him stay focused and polite, even when the whole crowd was against him? 
• Was it his down to earth use of imageries in communicating the richness of the Kingdom to his listeners? 
• Was it his grace to be able to mingle and be at home with the hoi polloi of the society, even though he was the son of God?
• Was it his words and phrases and accent and gestures? 
• Was it his dressing sense, his hairstyle, food habits and 
• Was it his knowledge of farming and fishing which he clearly used lavishly in his various anecdotes and parables (surely much more than carpentry!)? 

Matthew 13: 55 expresses the amazement of those who witness Jesus' ministry and ask: "Isn't he the carpenter's son?..."

St Joseph the worker

(A hymn to St Joseph, as found in the breviary, on this feast day of St Joseph the worker)

Joseph, the scriptures live to trace

the glories of thy kingly line;

Yet no succession of thy race, 

no long posterity was thine... 

And though thy Son were God indeed, 

over that home no angels sang, 

but still, through years of toil and need, 

hammer and mallet bravely rang;

And surely 'twas a gracious thing

when, standing at this father's knee, 

the world's great Craftsman and its King

not king but craftsman learned to be.  

Indeed a very humbling but powerful testimony of the role and person of Joseph.  Will certainly appeal to anyone who has seen life in its ups and downs and yet not been carried away or bogged down by anything, always striving to maintain a sensible balance in both the divine and the not-so-divine...

Joseph, truly and fully human

Joseph, the husband of Mary, gives a triple proof for his humanity in today's short Gospel passage. His sensitivity and humanity is shown when he decides to gently divorce Mary without putting her to shame in public.  He reaffirms this human sensitivity when he pays heed to the divine messenger... thus being open to divinity.  He seals his humanity and sensitivity when he actually takes in Mary to be his lawfully wedded wife even after knowing that the child in her womb is not his.

Who else can be more eligible to the title 'saint' than one who was fully and truly human, like Joseph?

St Joseph and discernment

Here's what I shared with the Brothers for the feast of St Joseph...
Would Joseph have taken Mary for his wife, if not for the message of the angel?  I firmly believe that he would have joyfully taken her to be his wife, angel or no angel, message or no message!  Given the person that he was, he did not need an angel to tell him what is right and what is good.  He knew it by then.  Why and how come?

Basic principle of responsibility and choices:  Everytime I make a choice for the good, I build up my virtue.  Later, when faced with a dilemma or a challenge, I do not have to struggle much for I will invariably choose the good, the true, the right!  Joseph did just that.

Secondly, if Joseph were to have married Mary only at the behest of angel/God's command, and not made that his personal choice, he would have grumbled and cursed both Jesus and Mary the rest of his life - which I'm sure he didn't.  God only proposes, offers, directs and inspires... the choice is always, always with us.  The more I take responsibility, the more I grow.

So what is discernment, if all the choices I make are totally mine?  Well the art is in knowing which one is from God and which one is based on my personal convenience; which one is true and good for all, and which one is true and good for me alone...!  The next step is of course, as important as the discernment process: making that decision, influenced maybe, inspired maybe, 'given to me' maybe... MINE! 

St Joseph, the silent

St Joseph, whose feast we celebrated yesterday reminded me of those innocent martyrs of justice... not the firebrands or the vociferous type individuals who go down fighting. Somehow there is a particular aura about him, he who hardly took a public stand or made a public appearance. But all the while making decisions in which he was not to be seen, heard or remembered.

It is really hard and difficult to be one is such days as ours... yet one is challenged by St Joseph (again silently) to be so, so that through us God and His glory may shine through.

Another aspect that flashed my mind yesterday was the decision St Joseph made to stand by Mary, initially was a very difficult and obscure choice. For us to read that he 'dreamt', is quite dramatic. But who among is willing to follow a dream, especially if it jeopardizes all that we have build up for ourselves. So this dream and vision and all is fine, but the decision was ultimately his and for that we revere him!

St Joseph, pray for us!

Jesus, as the carpenter

One very amusing distraction just about when the recollection talk began this evening...
Was Jesus the best carpenter in Nazareth in his days??

I wonder....! Because I remember a while ago, someone sent me an email of a 'mysterious' person making a splendid stairway in a convent chapel (read more of it here). Though it said to have been done by St Joseph, but I guess, being 'his son' Jesus too would have learnt the trade.

St Joseph and acceptance

Somehow the idea of St Joseph being a martyr was not fitting well with my understanding of him... yet I am sure he had his share of woes! I remember sharing this thought with some of my oratory youngsters about Joseph and Mary, way back in 2000 (while I was in Nashik). What if the angel Gabriel appeared to a young couple and revealed to them what he revealed to Joseph and Mary two thousand years ago? Would they be so receptive? What would be their reaction? I still remember the look on the faces of my youngsters when I placed before them this supposition!!

For St Joseph to live all his life knowing that Jesus is not 'his' son and that Mary was not really 'his', would have been a real torment. But Joseph never compromised on his commitment and affection to either of them. I believe this was genuine and total. Now this is possible only if St Joseph accepted the fact stated above whole heartedly and with no ill feelings. Had he at any moment doubted or failed to accept this fact, life would have been miserable for him. But it wasn't!! He was totally at home that 'his' own were never 'his' alone! This acceptance brought about the best of him.

And by the way, Fr TV was fooling at table this morning: If St Joseph were to have lived today, he would have been behind the bars for marrying a minor! (Mary was believed to be only 14 when she married St Joseph!). (The picture is one of my favourite work of art in the Provincial house... and it is a mosaic in the Chapel).

Poor St Joseph!

This morning's shared homily was interesting. I still can't stop laughing recalling it. Asked to share something about our patron saint, a cleric named Joseph shared about what he liked about St Joseph - that God CHOOSE Joseph to be the father of his son. A priest corrected him midway saying, St Joseph was only God-father, not father of Jesus. The cleric continued, "Yes, God-father chose Joseph to be the father of his son!"

So much for parenting and English!!