By Sister Mary Joseph, O.C.D.
“When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.’” To this man, God gave the power and the means to provide for and save the people. God raised Joseph up through suffering and a deep purification, so that he could be a means of the providential care of our Heavenly Father for the people.
Throughout my life, I have listened to these words given to the people of long ago, and though spoken for a specific purpose, they are at the same time ageless. “Go to Joseph.” And just as the people experienced Joseph’s generous bounty and care, so have I experienced the humble, protective, fatherly heart of Saint Joseph. I have felt his love in a way that, for me, has been deeply healing.
I was little when I first encountered him. I was looking at holy cards that my Mom had, and I found a picture of the Holy Family. My Mom had taught me that Jesus was God, and that His Mother Mary was perfect. As I looked, I saw Saint Joseph and I felt sorry for him because it seemed to me that he was the only “ordinary” one and that he was forgotten. I told Saint Joseph that I would be his friend. Little did I know what friend I had “chosen”! Repeatedly, in every circumstance of my life, I have known the sturdy, sure, silent, humble, protective, powerful presence of Saint Joseph, and through his close and tender love, I have come to know more deeply the Heart of Our Heavenly Father. Saint Joseph never lets go, and he never lets down. He has proven to be a lantern in the dark, a protection in vulnerability and hope in the journey. When I have asked him for a tangible sign of his presence, he revealed it to me in the humble, pure heart of a child to teach me how pleasing humility is to The Father.
Let us, then, “Go to Joseph” and know, through his heart, the Heart of Our Heavenly Father.
