St Joseph on Christmas Day

Can you imagine what was going on in St Joseph’s mind when he was helping Our Lady to give birth to the Son of God in a manger? We have already noticed, in our journey with St Joseph, that St Joseph was only interested to do what God had asked him to do, even when he did not understand. We have also observed that St Joseph was also keen to obey both religious and also civil laws.

What led St Joseph to do this, though? We know that St Joseph’s trust in God led him to believe in God’s plans for him and for all human beings, even if at first these plans did not make sense to him. He must have questioned himself and God a number of times, but he did not led his doubts to stop him from what he had to do. St Joseph tried to accept, rather than to explain. 

This is one of our biggest challenges: to accept! Most of the time we only want to do things in our own way, but St Joseph teaches us that whenever we are willing to let go of our plans and perspectives, we come truly become better human beings who are more sensitive to the needs of others. When St Joseph was looking at baby Jesus in a manger on Christmas day, he must have surely thought: if the Son of God wanted to be born in an animals’ place for our sake, then we too should be willing to go out of our way in order to help others!

Accepting the will of God in our lives does not mean doing nothing and being indifferent to what is going on around us. It is quite the opposite! St Joseph teaches us that we can only learn to accept God’s will in our lives if we are hopeful and courageous: we are hopeful because we believe that God is with us, and we are courageous because we must also try to see things as others see them.

St Joseph’s attitude encourages us, therefore, to accept and welcome others as they are, without exception!