“All depends on faith; everything is a grace”

“We interrupt this Lenten Program to bring you a message from Joseph, the silent one.” Perhaps this feast of St. Joseph is not so much an interruption as it is a confirmation of what Lent is all about: carrying a cross as God speaks to us amidst life’s contradictions. Like Abraham, who left his country and possessions in response to an inner call, like Moses and the prophets whose acts and words came from God’s spirit, so too, Joseph pursued an unusual destiny.

St. Matthew reveals Joseph’s great anxiety. Joseph is presented with a situation he did not humanly create. He attempts to solve the problem on a human level – “I will divorce Mary. God’s word breaks through, “Have no fear.” This silent man listens to the word of God in the silence of his heart.
The words in Romans, “All depends on faith; everything is a grace,” gradually become Joseph’s prayer. Today, Joseph’s challenge is our Lenten challenge: to look beyond life’s seemingly contradictions, to listen, and in this silence of our prayer, go to Joseph, believing that the journey of the cross leads to life, for “all depends on faith: everything is a grace.”