An Uncertain Saint for an Uncertain Time

Are these present times giving you pause on how to proceed with life?

The world is an uncertain place right now, and that uncertainty leads us to question some of our basic behaviors and assumptions:  Should we still date? Should we get married now or hold off until later? Should we try having a child now? As those uncertainties seem to compound and expand, layer upon layer as if there is no end in sight, stemming from the fallout due to COVID 19: lost jobs, relocating, moving back in with parents, maybe living on credit cards to make ends meet, St. Joseph serves as a model for us to follow.

For example, by the time St. Joseph had taken Mary and Jesus to Egypt, St. Joseph had lost (in no particular order) his:

• Home
• Employment 
• Normal place of worship
• Friends
• Relatives
• Community
• Normal routine 

Like us, St. Joseph also had no idea when life would return to normal; not to mention the added pressure of trying to provide for a young family in a foreign country without the support of a network of friends, family, and business colleagues (and with no Google, Facetime or internet banking to help.)  Therefore, it isn’t a stretch to call St. Joseph a saint of uncertainty, particularly for uncertain times.

And, this is only fitting as it The Year of St. Joseph in the Catholic Church!

The uncertainties of St. Joseph were undoubtedly many, however, the real test of St. Joseph's character lies in how he dealt with these uncertainties. In the few passages of Scripture where he appears, St. Joseph demonstrates a real resilience, a real grit; he never lets the fears brought on by the uncertainties overtake him.

Sure he may have been afraid, but he never lets the anxiety overcome him or stop him. Also, like Abraham in Genesis, Mathew's Gospel implies that Joseph acts quickly and without questioning when God calls him to act.

Though leaving home, family, and friends and fleeing to a different land may be fearful, and terrifying for some, St. Joseph approached these fears with faith, trust, obedience, and courage in a very ordinary way. Pope Francis, quoting Pope St. John Paul II, said "St. Joseph was called by God to serve the person and mission of Jesus directly through the exercise of his fatherhood."  

In other words, St. Joseph exercised his faith and obedience in a very ordinary way.  

Moreover, the Gospel writers draw the reader into the theo-drama of Joseph’s uncertainty and to the realization that being faithful to God's mission and calling will get us through a challenging situation. It might not make sense to us while we are in the middle of it, as I sometimes wonder how Joseph made sense of the angels who visited him with messages that seem nothing but unbelievable, but all will make sense in hindsight.

So, like Joseph, we continue doing the ordinary things in life as best we can do them. 

This includes having the courage to continue to discern and pursue God’s vocation for you—including with regards to relationships—even if you don’t have control over the things you would like to have control over.

I've heard it said that you don't choose your patron Saint, your patron Saint chooses you. I think St. Joseph chose us, through the Pope's Apostolic Letter, to be our patron during these uncertain times, for it takes an uncertain Saint to help us make sense of uncertain times.

Pope Francis writes in his Apostolic Letter on St. Joseph that "Popular trust in St. Joseph is seen in the expression 'Go to Joseph' which evokes the famine in Egypt, when the Egyptians begged Pharaoh for bread," referring to the Joseph of the Old Testament who foreshadows St. Joseph in the New Testament.

So, let us go to Joseph!

O St. Joseph, who God gave the vast, monumental, and seemingly impossible task of raising and loving the incarnate God, safeguarding and loving the Blessed Virgin Mary, and who responded to this great calling by doing humble and ordinary labour. O St. Joseph, pray for us so that we may approach difficulties in our life with the same trust, humility, and readiness that you did.