Homily for Solemnity of St. Joseph March 19, 2018
Fr. Albert Catholic High School, New Iberia
[Silence for 2.5 minutes] Did that make you uncomfortable? Are you afraid of the silence? Maybe it bothers you because you expect me to speak, to teach and preach and bring God to you. True, that is what I am called to do, but today is a fitting day to follow the example of a man much greater than I. What better day than this to quote St. Joseph, to let him speak first.And that’s just it. Not a single word of his was recorded for us. And yet he taught more than I ever could. His preaching is more eloquent than anything I can achieve. St. Joseph brought God to us in ways that none can match. He did more by his silence than by his words.
Joseph is the royal heir to David and David’s kingdom. He is the foster-Father of Jesus, one of two people in existence who got to be in charge of God Incarnate. And yet, there is not a single hint of him ever thinking that this made him important or powerful. His silent sermon is his humility and his obedience.
If you do not have peace in your life, you probably need more silence. If you have no idea what God would like you to do with your life, you probably need more silence. St. Joseph was disturbed and unsure of what to do with Mary. But in his humble silence, God spoke to him, gave him direction and peace. It’s significant that this all-important mission of protecting Mary and her child is given to Joseph while he is in that most silent and peaceful state, while he sleeps.
Scripture says that Abraham trusted God and that this trust – this faith – was counted as righteousness. Joseph too is called a righteous man and his trust is so profound that he can still sleep deeply even while wrestling with the immense question of marriage, fatherhood, and the possibility of divorce. In his silence, Joseph learned to trust and to rest in that trust.
So that’s what you should learn from him. If you do not yet trust God as you should – and you almost certainly don’t – then seek out silence. I don’t mean just the absence of noise. I mean choosing to be still, to be quiet, to listen. When you hear and feel nothing, keep listening. Pay attention to that nothing and you will realize there is something, someone behind the mystery of silence. And when you learn to hear the Word of God in His silence, when you learn how to rest with God in quiet trust, then you will know what it really means to pray. Then, perhaps, the silence won’t make you so uncomfortable.