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Benedict Contemplates Joseph
BY POPE BENEDICT XVI
Dec. 23, 2007 - Jan. 5, 2008 Issue |
Posted 12/18/07 at 11:29 AM
Christmas is a favorite holiday of Pope Benedict XVI, and
his Christmas meditations are among the finest anywhere. Here we offer his take
on the silence of St. Joseph.
In these last days of Advent, the liturgy invites us to
contemplate in a special way the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, who lived with
unique intensity the period of expectation and preparation for Jesus’ birth.
I would like to turn my gaze to the figure of St. Joseph. In
the Gospel, St. Luke presents the Virgin Mary as “a virgin betrothed to a man
named Joseph, of the house of David” (see Luke 1:27). The Evangelist Matthew,
however, places a greater emphasis on the putative father of Jesus, stressing
that through him the Child belonged legally to the lineage of David and thus
fulfilled the Scriptural prophecy that the Messiah would be a “son of David.”
But Joseph’s role cannot be reduced to this legal aspect. He
was the model of a “just” man (Matthew 1:19) who, in perfect harmony with his
wife, welcomed the Son of God made man and watched over his human growth.
It is therefore particularly appropriate in the days that
precede Christmas to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St.
Joseph, so that he may help us live to the full this great mystery of faith.
Beloved Pope John Paul II, who was very devoted to St.
Joseph, left us a wonderful meditation dedicated to him in the apostolic
exhortation Redemptoris Custos (The Guardian of the Redeemer).
Among the many aspects on which this document sheds light,
the silence of St. Joseph is given a special emphasis. His silence is steeped
in contemplation of the mystery of God in an attitude of total availability to
the divine desires.
In other words, St. Joseph’s silence does not express an inner
emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart
and which guides his every thought and action.
It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary,
watches over the Word of God, known through the sacred Scriptures, continuously
comparing it with the events of the life of Jesus; a silence woven of constant
prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of his holy will and
of unreserved entrustment to his providence.
It is no exaggeration to think that it was precisely from
his “father” Joseph that Jesus learned — at the human level — that steadfast
interiority which is a presupposition of authentic justice, the “superior
justice” which he was one day to teach his disciples (see Matthew 5:20).
Let us allow ourselves to be “filled” with St. Joseph’s
silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither
recollection nor listening to God’s voice, we are in such deep need of it.
During this season of preparation for Christmas, let us
cultivate inner recollection in order to welcome and cherish Jesus in our own
lives.
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