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It's the year of St. Joseph!!!

10 days ago, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis dedicated this entire year to St. Joseph to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as the patron of the universal Church. Yes!

St. Joseph is an elusive character. He never speaks a word in Scripture but we learn a little bit about him in today's Gospel. We read that Joseph was a righteous man, "yet unwilling to expose (Mary) to shame" when he learned of her pregnancy. Why would Joseph be unwilling to expose Mary to shame? It's what any other righteous man of his era would do. Joseph loved Mary. He cared for her deeply.

Joseph loved God. That's what Matthew means when he calls Joseph righteous. Joseph sought in all ways to serve the Lord, and he obviously did a pretty good job of it to be entrusted with the care of God's own Son! Let's not think that Joseph loved and served God any less for his love of Mary ;)

I love the simplicity of Matthew's words following Joseph's dream. "When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him." I think it's natural to assume that this would be an easy decision. From our perspective, Joseph had clear and unequivocal evidence of God's plan. But wouldn't we say the same thing about Zechariah? No, I'm sure that the angel's message left more questions in Joseph's heart than were there to begin with, but I also imagine Joseph waking from that sleep with a smile of his lips. He knew his beloved Mary and was searching for reasons to justify her. He rejoiced at the angel's message because he was one of the many faithful Jews waiting for the Messiah. 

There's a little bit more about Joseph in Scripture and a bit more about Joseph from private revelation and Pope Francis just wrote an awesome letter about him, but really there's not a lot we can know about the details of St. Joseph's life. So what can we learn from him? 

So much!

We can learn about authentic masculinity by praying about the sacrifices and the work that Joseph made for the sake of the Holy Family. We can learn about fatherhood. We can learn about work. We can learn about prayer, virtue, leadership, surrender, humility, and more. But it all begins in prayer. 

Ask the Lord to reveal to you what He wants to teach you through St. Joseph. What are the virtues you can learn from him? Take the first page out of St. Joseph's book and embrace silence.