The Silent Saint!

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Rom 4:13,16-18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24

Solemnity of St. Joseph!

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph!

Some time ago, I received an insightful quote from St. Joseph! 

It was an empty line within quotation marks: “____”.

I found it so insightful because that is what St. Joseph, the Silent Saint, said all his life! 

Why did St. Joseph not speak at all? 

When do we go silent? Either when we have little to say or much to say (so saying little won’t help). In other words, we are silent when we have no answer or when words fail us. 

St. Joseph was silent which may be because he spoke louder with his life. 

When words are not needed, they are mere decorations. That is what we witness in St. Joseph. 

He spoke everything from who he was. 

The gospels show him to be righteous, god-fearing, honest, and sensitive. St. Joseph was a caring husband, a responsible father, and a committed breadwinner. 

Moreover, we must never forget that silence has been a divine attribute and a form of divine communication in the Bible. Gen 1:2: ‘Wind from God swept over the face of the waters’; 1 Kings 19: 11-13: ‘God witnessed in a gentle whisper’; Lk 2:51: ‘Mary treasuring everything in her heart.’

In my view, Joseph’s silence was divine. He achieved such balance in life that words were never needed to prove who he was. A silent saint indeed!

What is St. Joseph’s message for our lives? 

We must honor this God-given life more with our deeds than with words. 

However, I need to distinguish between positive and negative silence. Positive silence is to avoid vainglory; negative silence is to be an accomplice to evil through silent admiration of it. 

Joseph’s positive silence can be explained by his subversive act. When his family was in danger from the King, he set out to save the family from the King himself. Joseph was proactive in the face of evil seeking to destroy the Holy Family. 

St. Joseph, the Silent Saint, could discern God’s will through his dreams. 

He showed us what it is to pursue and live out God’s dreams for us!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar