Ordinary 2 – Year of St. Joseph I

The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time – The Year of Saint Joseph I

2021 Cycle B – 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20; John 1:35-42

This is the first in a series of homilies on Saint Joseph marking the Year of Saint Joseph declared by Pope Francis 8 December 2021

He was descended from the House of David. His great-grandfather was named Eleazar; his grandfather, Matthan. His father was Jacob. We do not know his mother’s name.

Though his family line was from Bethlehem, the City of David, he hailed from Nazareth in Galilee. As the Gospel of John attests, not much was thought of people from Nazareth. He married a hometown girl, a woman named Miriam/Mary.

He seems to have been a quiet man. …a craftsman, who worked in wood. No spoken word of his is recorded. He was a silent witness; A witness to everyday life, to birth, to work, to Roman oppression, to mass murder, to family life, to events of wonder…

The few records speak of him as a righteous man; fulfilling the Mosaic Law. He revealed his moral virtues when he found out his fiancée was pregnant. Though he decided to divorce his betrothed, he wanted to do so quietly so as not cause Miriam or her family any shame or embarrassment.

Like his namesake, a son of the patriarch Jacob, he had and put his trust in dreams.

The man’s name was Yosef/Joseph.

Joseph disappears from the record of Matthew after the return from Egypt. Luke has him present into Jesus’ adolescence. He is referred to only indirectly by Mark and John; Jesus being identified simply as “the carpenter’s son”, or “the son of Joseph”. Paul does not seem to know the names of either of Jesus’ parents. The Church Father Jerome posits his marriage to Miriam a 2^nd marriage. But is that so? Tradition presumes his absence from the scene due to death. Yet silence in the record does not imply or verify absence from the record.

Pope Francis has invited us this year to reflect on this Jewish man, Joseph of Nazareth, of the House of David. Who was Joseph? What might the example of his life offer us for a reflection on contemporary life?

Like so many men, Joseph, keeps his thoughts to himself. Like so many men, what emotional price did Joseph pay for his silence? So we are left with our Christian imagination to seek out and fill in who this Joseph is. In this manner of imagination I make reference to a series of poems by Bertrand Fay, entitled The Agon of Saint Joseph.

When did that first blush of romantic love for Miriam arise in Joseph? Was their first encounter in his workshop? Did she bring a piece of furniture to be repaired?* Falling in love is wonderful; a lightness in the step, a glint in the eye, butterflies in the stomach. What was your first experience? Who was she, he? Is there anything more hope filled than a young couple in the bloom of love?

How much more devastating than when it is revealed to Joseph that Miriam is pregnant. What feelings rose up inside him? The director Franco Zeffirelli in the movie, Jesus of Nazareth offers a portrayal of a fitful, restless night of sleep as Joseph is confronted by the phantoms of betrayal and infidelity of the woman he loves. For how many nights did Joseph cry himself to sleep?

Men’s thoughts and feelings never seem to enter into our considerations, portrayals and discussions of marital infidelity, child rearing, divorce, abortion, and betrayal of relationships. It is as if all men are emotionless and amoral; while all women are virtuous. Is that a true portrayal of both women and men?

Do we ever consider that men mourn as deeply the death of their children? How often is a father taken into consideration over a decision about an abortion? Do fathers receive paid maternity leave? How painful is betrayal within a man’s heart? Men are taught to be emotionally strong for everyone else. Who is strong for men? And at what price to them? Why is any emotion, other than strength, considered a weakness in men? Did Joseph cry himself to sleep as his heart broke tossing and turning throughout the nights? Men, when was the last time you cried yourself to sleep? What was the reason, the hurt?

What kind of trust and courage did it take to believe God was involved in this pregnancy?  Or was it a depth of love for his betrothed that conquered Joseph’s anguish? For where there is love, God is near. Yet, this child is Mary’s, her flesh and blood. There is nothing of Joseph in this child, not even a family name. Yeshua/Jesus. It is the name an angel proffers. What was it like for Joseph to embrace that which was not his and claim it as his own?*

Joseph invites us to reflect on the complexities of human relationship. How fragile it is.

What experience of Joseph has your life encountered?

*Reflections using imaginative portrayals of Joseph’s life are taken from The Agon of Saint Joseph by Bertrand Fay, a series of poems.

__________________________________________________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: Homilies presented here are also being videotaped and put up on the Saint Mary, Oneonta website: http://www.SMCCOneonta.org.