Strength in Flexibility

Let’s return once again to Psalm 92. “The just shall flourish like the palm tree, shall grow like a cedar of Lebanon.”

Palm trees and Lebanon cedars are two very different types of trees. Perhaps the one that come to my mind first is their difference in flexibility. Palm trees are naturally flexible. If they were not, they would simply snap or be uprooted every time a hurricane or strong wind came along. Lebanon cedars are almost the exact opposite. They are sturdy and strong to withstand the earthquakes and floods that are natural to the region. 

Joe, the just man who is like the palm tree and the Lebanon cedar, is flexible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and sturdy and strong against the tremors of the World. Yet, his strength is not his own. It comes to him from God. He is only able to withstand the onslaught of the World because he is flexible to the Spirit’s inspiration. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the flight into Egypt. He stands against Herod by following the Spirit’s direction to go to Egypt, not by a call to arms or open rebuke. He bends to the Spirit’s movements and as a result stands firm against the World. Can the same be said of us?

Joe and the Holy Spirit: Lord and Giver of Life

Jesus called Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life...” (John 14:6), and in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the Church acclaims, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life...” In this we find yet another parallel between Joe and the Holy Spirit—both are lords and givers of life (albeit by nature in the Holy Spirit and by Grace in Joe).

Tradition has regularly applied the words spoken of the Old Testament Joseph, “he made lord over his household, ruler over all his possessions.” (Psalm 105:21), to Joe. Joe was called upon by God the Father to be in a certain way, the “lord of Life”.

So what about “giver of Life”? Consider this, had Joe not believed Mary’s marital fidelity to him, he could very well of had her stoned to death, which also would have meant the death of her Son as well. He chose, rather, to give physical life to Life. Further, when Joe enrolled Jesus in the Abrahamic Covenant through circumcision, he chose to give spiritual life to Life (cf. Deut. 30:15-20). And further still, by giving life to Life, Who gives us His own Life, Joe has given Life to us. 

So yes, Joe, like the Holy Spirit is the lord and giver of Life.

Joe and the Holy Spirit: A Spirit of Adoption

St Paul says to us in his letter to the Romans: 

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" [to God]. (Romans 8:15)

It was through Joe that Jesus was legally adopted into the royal household of David (True Husband and Father). We could very well re-word St. Paul's words regarding Jesus and Joe:

For Jesus did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but He received a spirit of adoption, through which He cries, "abba, father!" [to David].

Some time ago, I shared a portion of St Augustine's reflection on the lineage of Jesus, in which he reflected on the linage of Mary as being a daughter of Aaron (One Mother, Two Roots). Hence, Mary with Joe form Jesus as both a king and a priest of the Old Covenant (albeit the fulfillment of the Old Covenant kings and priests). If we are made members of Christ (CCC, 1213), then we too are brought into the fulfillment of the Old Testament kings and priests. I wonder, therefore, if this gives any support to what St. Peter says to us:

But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own..." (1 Peter 2:9)

Providentially, I am writing this post on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and it just really occurred to me that I have referred to both of them. Perhaps, yet another movement of the Holy Spirit and Joe together!

Joe and the Holy Spirit: The Desert

We're all familiar with Matthew's quote of the prophet Hosea, "Out of Egypt I called my son." (Mt. 2:15, Hos. 11:1). He very well could have said, "Out of the desert I called my son." Even though not all of Egypt was desert-like, in order to get from Egypt to Israel, one needed to pass through the desert wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. 

God sent the angel to Joe in the dream to "take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt..." and so it was Joe who "rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt", and again, it was Joe who led them back away from Egypt. It was Joe who led Jesus into the desert, a prefigurement of the time after Jesus was baptized and He "was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil." (Mt. 4:1)

Throughout our lives, God calls us into spiritual deserts, when prayer feels dry and God seems distant. He does this in order to test the quality of our faith to see if we go to Him to feel good or because we love Him. But if we go into the desert not recognizing our identity as beloved children of the Father, we will not be able to withstand the temptations of the enemy. 

When we are in these desert periods of prayer, do we call on the Holy Spirit and Joe to lead us through it? Do we believe that they will provide for our needs? Do we trust that they will bring us out? Perhaps right now, you are in the desert. Call out to the Holy Spirit and Joe. They will journey through this time with you.

Joe and the Holy Spirit: The Incarnation

So, what started my intrigue into considering Joe as an icon of the Holy Spirit is the scene of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38). The Archangel Gabriel said to Mary "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Isn’t this what Joe was called to do - to come to Mary and overshadow her in his protective mantle? Just as the Holy Spirit is not the Father of the Son yet remains intrinsic to the mystery of the Incarnation, so is Joe as well. I believe that we all are invited to receive the Joe's protection just as we are invited to receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and all just like Mary received. In this way, Mary can rightly be said to be Joe's spouse as well as the spouse of the Holy Spirit. May the same be mystically said about us!

Modeling the Trinity

A couple weeks ago, the thought occurred to me that Joe models in a number of ways the Person of the Holy Spirit. To be honest, I really haven’t completely thought it through, so I’m sure that as I continue to reflect on this and share, there will be some retractions.

Let me begin, not with the Holy Spirit, but rather, with the Father and the Son. Jesus once told His disciples "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father... Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me...” (John 14:9,11). Thus, to see either the Father or the Son is to see the other as well, and to model one is to model the other as well. So, when we say that Joe models well the Father,1 we can say that he models well Jesus, too. This explains why there are so many parallel images between Jesus and Joe: righteousness, called out of Egypt, etc. Yet, the Trinity consists in three Persons, not too.

Jesus also said of the Holy Spirit, "He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15). So, to model the Son is also to model the Holy Spirit. 

The Greeks have a good word for this mystery of the Trinity: perichoresis. It refers to the Divine “dance” of the Trinity as if They are always twirling about making it impossible to fully distinguish one from the other. This idea is captured well in Andrei Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity (or The Hospitality of Abraham). Each of the angels depicted has the same face as the other two. To see the face of one is to see the face of the other two. So, too with Joe (indeed anyone who faithfully remains in God). To be like one is to be like all Three. In the weeks ahead, I’ll be sharing some reflections on the perichoris of the earthly trinity as the mirror of the Heavenly Trinity.