A Letter to St. Joseph

Dear Saint Joseph,

Today being your feast day, I thought of writing you a few lines mainly to show my gratitude for all you did for Jesus and Mary, and for us all. Very few people are greater than you are! Because being so close to Jesus and Mary, you are also the most blessed and full of grace.

Well, if you weren’t so special and blessed, God would not have trusted you with his two most priceless possessions, marrying Mary, in spite of all the gossiping that was going on before your engagement, and then taking the role of a foster father of Jesus, protecting him, educating him and raising him from infancy to adulthood. You are fairly unknown around the world, but at least at Christmas time your image explodes all around the world with the millions of religious Christmas cards exchanged between families and friends. And your image stands prominently in millions of nativities set up at Christmas time.

We read in the Gospels that God always conveyed his messages to you in dreams and during sleep. This doesn’t mean that He wanted you to be passive, as if you didn’t know what was going on. We never see you in dialogue with Mary, or giving your opinion in stressful situations. But you let Mary handle all situations, as she dialoged with the Angel Gabriel, at the wedding at Cana, or when Jesus was lost in the temple - she spoke, and you were silent. You stayed in the background. You receive the message, and made sure it was worked out and implemented. That was your divine mission and vocation - to be a silent instrument in the hands of God. I bet you enjoyed teaching Jesus the carpenter’s trade and other duties around the house at Nazareth. I always wonder what it was like to be in that house of yours at Nazareth. Did Jesus obey you and Mary? Did he play any tricks on you? Did he say his prayers daily? What were his favorite toys? And his favorite food? Did he keep his room nice and tidy? Did he have many friends visit him at home? Did he learn his carpenter’s tricks properly? Did he have any girlfriends growing up as a teenager?

Please Saint Joseph, just as you protected Mary and Jesus, I ask you to protect our church, of which you are its special patron saint. Give us more vocations because we need priests and nuns to continue the work entrusted to them. Give us good parents, responsible and loving, ready to sacrifice their lives for their children and families, just as you and Mary did. Please pray for all workers, that they may honestly give their share of labor and dedicated in their mission, always admiring you as their patron saint, another feast we celebrate on May 1. Be patient with us, dear St Joseph, because we tend to be hard-headed and spoiled at times. Remind us always to be grateful for all the blessings that you and your Son and wife give us, day by day.

                                                                                 Signed - a friend and an admirer