So many saints are extreme ascetics. A whole lot of monks. So today is special — well, at least for me.
It’s not everyday that you get to commemorate a husband and father on the Church calendar, but today I get to remember St. Joseph. Protector of and provider for our Lord and his holy mother, the Theotokos. Righteous and humble man of heart. Also, a common laborer who worked with his hands. A righteous man at work with hands that pray as well as carve — I wonder if St. Benedict often thought of him.
Commemorating the extremely ascetic saints, the gargantuan figures like the Church Fathers and other keynote bishops and patriarchs of history is wonderful. I give thanks for these saints day after day, and I always discover new lessons to learn from their lives and teachings for the benefit of my soul. I implore their prayerful aid as I trek through this vale of misery. I know they are holy. I know they are precious in the sight of the Lord.
But it’s good to arrive at a day like today and remember that not all saints are bred in the wilderness, the monastery, or the cathedral. Saintliness can be forged within the enclosure of holy matrimony and the stability of family. Holiness befits fatherhood. Dads can be saints.
If St. Joseph was able to do it, then so can I.
Or at least I can dare to hope.
Here’s to a fruitful Lent.
There’s Joseph in the background, in the shadows, unobtrusively present at the fringes, reminding me the way toward the Kingdom. ‘Forget yourself,’ he seems to say to me, ‘Set your mind’s eye upon Christ and the love of his holy Mother.’ I see an imitation of this divine image daily in my own home: in my children and the love of their noble mother. They are — if I may be so bold to say — living icons of that healing love and saving grace, of Mother and Child.
Indeed! This is a profound message that needs to be put forth to all the zealous who think sainthood can only be attained by radical ascetical praxis. It is more "radical" to be attentive and holy in a mundane, ordinary place.