By Sister Michelle, O.C.D.
In 7th grade at a Carmelite Catholic school, it was quite natural to learn about the saints. We dressed like saints for the Halloween parade and re-enacted their lives in classroom skits and parent-night performances. We even chose a particular saint’s name at Confirmation with whom we could identify and to whom we could pray for guidance and protection.
The sister who was my teacher at that time was a person who influenced my young life then and still does to this day. Her patron saint was one about whom I knew nothing except that she was a Carmelite saint. I asked Sister for a holy card of her saint. She told me that I would have to ask Mother Margarita Maria for this. I wrote a letter and mailed it to “far away” Duarte (35 miles in those days was a long way!).
The wait was not long, and the holy card arrived with the picture and the name of the saint. It even had a small piece of cloth sewn onto the back which had been touched to something belonging to the saint. We call that a relic.
I asked my teacher to inscribe the card with a message and her name. She wrote “Go to Joseph”. I did not know then the meaning of this. Not connecting it with the story of Joseph in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis, I thought it meant “Go to Saint Joseph”.
Two years later as I prepared to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, it was time to choose a saint as my new patron in addition to the saints of my Baptism. I chose Josepha thinking that, if I added an “a” to the end, it would be the feminine version.
Through this Sister who led me to St. Joseph, I have had a silent companion with me throughout these past fifty-seven years—one who listens, guides, and teaches how to have total trust in Divine Providence as he did. Although he speaks not a word in the Scriptures, I ponder over and over his actions and try to learn from him how to give up my way of solving problems and making decisions by seeking first to watch how he did it. He trusted to the “heights” every time! And he had some pretty big decisions to make. St. Joseph’s confidence in the Holy Spirit’s guidance was strong and quiet. He simply followed the Spirit’s lead. What a joy that the Church celebrates him with a special year in his honor! Truly, he had a “Father’s heart”.
Original watercolor paintings created by the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
