Active Contemplation

Today, we remember St Martha, the sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany. Martha is one of those saints who is often remembered for falling short of the mark; St Thomas the apostle is another. He is often remembered for being the doubter of the resurrection, and she is often remembered as not choosing “the better part” (Luke 10:42). 

Many have taken this passage to mean that those who live a quiet contemplative life as a religious sister or brother are in some way better than those who don’t. Yet, this is not what Jesus implies. Rather, we may very well understand Jesus to mean that we can go about frantic in life wondering how we will serve the Lord (and be stressed by how we look before Him) or we can chose “the better part” and simply listen to him tell us what he desires to say. 

Joe, I believe, acted as Martha should have acted. Yes, serve the Lord. Provide food and shelter for Him. Yet, do so quietly—not seeking to have others conform to our own wishes. I have often wondered, when Joe and Jesus worked together, did one or the other speak, or did they simply work in silence—listening to that “light  silent sound” (1 Kings 19:12) within them? I have to believe that there was a mixture of speaking and silence, but I think Joe would have found great consolation in listening to Jesus while they worked. In other words, Joe is a model active contemplative.

Joe and Mary of Magdala

Today, the Church celebrates the memory of St Mary Magdalene, the woman who first saw Jesus risen from the dead (Mark 16:9). Tradition tells us that Mary of Magdala went to France to bring the Gospel to the people there. 

Centuries later, not far from where she landed, Joe appeared to a shepherd. Today, there remains the Benedictine Monastery of Saint-Joseph du Bessillon at the site. Check out the story, and if you find yourself in Southern France, be sure to stop and pray.

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.

Silence: from Isolation to Encounter

A couple weeks back, I came across an "e-retreat" offered by Archbishop Christopher Prowse entitled Silence: from Isolation to Encounter. When I started, my life seemed really "loud" and I felt the need to return once again to being silent with Joe. I really wasn't at all surprised to find that a stained-glass image of Joe was present there in the background of the first episode. He once again made a more quiet "appearance" in the final episode on Mary. 

As I went through the retreat (usually watching an episode about every other day), it began to become evident to me, that Joe is a model of moving from isolation to encounter in silence. I can only imagine how alone and isolated he must have felt when he was deciding to divorce Mary (Mt. 1:19), or how abandoned he must have felt when he had to flee his home country to a foreign land (Mt. 2:13), or how empty he must have felt when Jesus was nowhere to be found for three days (Lk. 2:48). In each of these occasions, Joe remains silent, and in this silence, he encounters God's Presence.

If you have time (and honestly, who actually doesn't have the time to devote 20 minutes every other evening), I encourage you to enter into this time of retreat. Whether you enter into one episode a day, or one every other day (or perhaps every two days), I don't think it will be a waste of time. Do not be afraid to enter the silence. God is waiting... go and meet him!

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. 

Joe’s Candles

Last Sunday, Catholic Churches celebrated the Feast of Pentecost and next Sunday the Orthodox Churches will do so. The image of fire always stands out to me when Pentecost comes around. Imagine one hundred and twenty people in a room with fire hanging over them. That truly must have been a sight! 

Yet, we know that while there was an external fire burning over them, there was a far longer lasting internal Fire burning within them. How true this must have been with Joe. How many times did he light a candle or a lamp to give light to the eyes? Yet, how brightly the Fire must have burned within him to give light to his heart! 

I am reminded of encountering online a group of Orthodox nuns who support themselves by making and selling beeswax candles, and they put their work under Joe’s patronage (link is below). I would recommend checking out their stock and consider buying a candle or two to assist your prayer—or perhaps to be prepared in case of an emergency. I’m sure Joe did both.

https://www.saintsmaryandmarthaorthodoxmonastery.org/candles.html

The Year of Joe

Did you know that the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina is in the midst of celebrating a year dedicated to Joe? In particular it is in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX declaring Joe to be the patron of the Universal Church. I highly recommend browsing through the website dedicated particularly to this year: https://yearofstjoseph.org/