Patient in Adversity
In our reflections on the primacy of prayer, we noted that Saint Paul and Saint Padre Pio, nearly two millennia apart, exhorted the faithful to exercise essentially the same three traits. We have already shown that Saint Joseph relied greatly upon prayer. Now, recall that Saint Paul called for early Christians in Rome to “Be joyful in hope, patient in adversity, and faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12), while Saint Padre Pio urged the faithful to “Pray, Hope, and Don’t worry.”
Authentic Charity
Anxiety is the typical response to the challenges this world presents, but Saint Joseph reminds us that in the face of incredible hostility, even the threat of a violent death, fatherly leadership demands a continued commitment to serve those nearest to you. It was his authentic charity, his commitment to action in direct service of the need at hand, that liberated him from fear-induced paralysis. Worrying not only doesn’t help (as it is often observed), but worrying actually interferes with true charity — that is, action in service to others.
Just as Saint Joseph focused his acts of charity, his service to others, on Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are likewise called to a charity that begins in the home. To the extent we are able to offer support to others still, our first and greatest responsibility vests in those with whom we are nearest proximity and in direct relationship. This principle invokes the traditional Church understanding of subsidiarity. Although it is often applied to calls for government action — wherein the most local and responsive level of government is best capable of serving the need to be addressed — subsidiarity also applies to private action. Fatherly leadership discerns priorities for civic and charitable engagement that, first and foremost, protect and nourish the family, including most especially the mutual commitment of the family to the pursuit of profound happiness, i.e., Truth. That is, eternal life with our Lord.
Authentic charity directly responds to a need at the nearest and most immediately responsive level of obligation. Our parents and our spouse, our children and our siblings, precede in obligation our friends and neighbors, who in turn precede those in neighboring communities, who in turn rank before neighboring nations. And authentic charity is never passive; the obligation cannot be delegated to a government merely by supporting some candidate promising to re-direct public spending to assist those in need. Saint Joseph did not satisfy his obligations to his family by enrolling Jesus in a Roman carpentry apprenticeship program, and he certainly didn’t save the Child Jesus from the murderous acts commanded by Herod simply by supporting Herod’s political rivals. Saint Joseph acted directly to assist those who were entrusted to his care.
Faithful Stewardship
One of the defining characteristics of authentic charity is to discern the existence and immediacy of dangers to the family, and then to determine an appropriate path that advances family goals while engaging with the world and assisting others in charity. As the public face of his family’s engagement in the world, Saint Joseph exercised authentic charity.
Other than preservation of the gifts from the Magi, we know very little about Saint Joseph’s stewardship of material resources, but we can presume he directed acts of charity inside the home and very near to the home. A man of limited material resources, Saint Joseph nonetheless was able to steward that which the Lord had entrusted to him, and that stewardship responsibility was more important than the world’s most precious gems. One might even say that God had entrusted to Saint Joseph a Pearl of Great Price. Saint Joseph responded to that stewardship obligation by serving as protector, teacher, and preparer to the Child Jesus.
Fatherly leadership was Saint Joseph’s greatest act of authentic charity, his greatest response to the most important obligation in his life, and God blessed the “faithful stewardship” of Saint Joseph, making it fruitful for all of eternity.
