A Reflection for the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Mt 1:24).
Pope Francis has a strong devotion to St. Joseph, whose solemnity we celebrate today in the middle of Lent. As part of that devotion, the pope keeps a peculiar statue of Joseph in his room: one of St. Joseph sleeping. Francis places written prayer intentions under the statue and trusts that Joseph watches over the church while he sleeps.
Joseph doesn’t get a ton of screen time in the Gospels, but when we do see him, he is usually sleeping (or having just slept). And it’s during his slumber where God speaks clearly to him. During a recent Wednesday audience, Pope Francis said that dreaming “symbolizes the spiritual life of each of us, that inner space that each of us is called to cultivate and guard, where God manifests himself and often speaks to us.” In other words, God does still speak to us in our dreams.
I love this idea because there really isn’t anything we can do while we sleep. We can’t say the right words or do the right things to curry God’s favor while we’re asleep. And yet he comes to us anyway.
This Lent and beyond, may we all look to Joseph’s example: To rest, to dream, to listen for God’s voice, to discern what it is telling us and to act with firm resolve when we wake up.
Without getting too Freudian, it’s also pretty obvious that not everything you dream about should be interpreted as the voice of God. Pope Francis also reminds us that we hear a cacophony while we sleep: “the voices of our fears, the voices of past experiences, the voices of hopes; and there is also the voice of the evil one who wants to deceive and confuse us.”
Here is our challenge today, which is the same one Joseph faced: Do we have a rich enough interior life to distinguish between those voices?
Of course, Joseph was not just a dreamer. He was a man of action. As the Gospel tells us, “When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” Joseph dreams, but he also does.
This Lent and beyond, may we all look to Joseph’s example: To rest, to dream, to listen for God’s voice, to discern what it is telling us and to act with firm resolve when we wake up.
Get to know Zac Davis, associate editor and co-host of Jesuitical.
What are you giving up for Lent?
Our friends from Unorthodox, the world’s leading Jewish podcast, always call my Jesuitical cohost and me to give us recommendations for Lenten penances. This year, they suggested we fast from 3 things: 1. The news, 2. Gossiping about work and coworkers, and 3. Our smartphones.
While number two is a given and something we shouldn’t do anyways, but giving up the news and our smartphones requires some Talmudic interpretation to make it work in our current lives. So, I’m working on refraining from doomscrolling, and I’ve cut out basically all push notifications from my phone to help me pick it up less than I need to.
Do you cheat on Sundays?
Of course! I could probably write a book defending this practice, but let’s be real: 1. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection and serves as a reminder that even during Lent we still worship a risen Lord. 2. Lent is not an ascetic competition. Give yourself a break. 3. It will actually make your penance more difficult, as you’re not able to get into a habit.
Favorite non-meat recipe
I love a good-ole-fashioned fish fry, whether it’s at the Knights of Columbus hall or ordered in from Long John Silvers.
Favorite Lent movie
