Decision fatigue is real, and it is no less the case when it comes to asking for heavenly help. When praying for a particular intention, the possibilities are endless for saintly intercessors. But when we hear people say things like, “St. Joseph is the greatest male saint who ever lived,” this is certainly enough to stop us in our tracks.
Opus Dei priest Father Peter Armenio writes that Joseph was central in the “social and intellectual formation of Jesus.” Jesus looked to Joseph for everything from learning proper social etiquette to honing carpentry as a craft. In short, he learned how to be a man and how to enter into the hearts of men by studying Joseph’s every move.
From his earthly father, Jesus learned how to fully embrace his humanity in order to become fully available to all of us. This magnanimity was no doubt observed in Joseph in some of Jesus’ earliest childhood memories.
Jesus, the toddler, fleeing Nazareth for Egypt, was kept safe by Joseph’s watchful eye and his exhaustive protection. Jesus, the child, no doubt spent hours watching Joseph at work; he would have innocently observed Joseph’s quiet commitment to doing little things well so that their little family would have the things they needed to thrive. Jesus, the pre-teen, would have closely watched the relieved Joseph’s face upon finding his beloved boy safe and sound in “his Father’s house.” Our Lord likely felt a pang of wistfulness at the obvious close of his childhood. In fact, this scene is Joseph’s last act in the Scriptures. Having perfectly fulfilled God’s plan for his life, Joseph’s last days are left to our imagination.
St. Andre Bessette of Montreal, who was often called “the Miracle Man of Montreal,” was constantly referring people to St. Joseph. He knew the “sway” that Jesus’ earthly father has in heaven. “St. Joseph is very powerful over the heart of God and of his holy Mother, the Virgin Mary,” St. Andre said. We read in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians that because of his obedience, Jesus was “exalted to the highest place” and that at the name of Jesus “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” We can therefore assume that the perfectly obedient man in whose charge God placed his son must have significant honour and respect in heaven.
“This greatest male saint who ever lived was not a deacon, not a priest, not a bishop, not a Pope, not a hermit, not a monk … he was a husband, father, and a worker,” Father Armenio writes. St. Joseph had the unsurpassing honour of having the Son of God submit to him in obedience. His fatherhood and authority over Jesus was not an opportunity for Joseph to “shine,” but rather, it was an opportunity to become worthy of the call. His silence in the Gospels, rather than presenting us with a void of information, tells us all we need to know about his devotion and his unwavering, immediate obedience to God.
Joseph’s attentiveness to God’s voice leaves us with a visceral feeling of profound recognition; we see in Joseph what we hope to find in our fathers. We see in him a husband we can fully trust. In him, we see a single-minded commitment to chasing virtue with vigilance. We see an unbroken silence that is consecrated to hearing and promptly responding to God’s voice. “The external trappings of St. Joseph are quite pedestrian,” Father Armenio writes, “but interiorly he cannot be surpassed.”
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