Saint Joseph my Retreat Pal

I started noticing that when I go on retreat, a saint chooses me to accompany me throughout my weekend.  This time it was Saint Joseph, foster parent of our beloved Jesus.  When I arrived for my weekend stay at the Alhambra Retreat House, I went inside the chapel and sat in front of this beautiful sculpture of Saint Joseph standing with his protective hand over boy Jesus.  I sat there admiring the artwork thinking how Saint Joseph’s body language spoke so much of the great father he is.  It struck me that I don’t know much about him, so I headed to the library and found some books to learn more about his life during my weekend getaway.  Little is known about his life and what we do know comes from scripture.  Yet, some of the books I picked up were full of legends, stories of what he might have been like and some took the liberty of romanticizing the love between him and our blessed Mother.  I’ve always loved facts in terms of my spirituality so I didn’t find the books that I read very inspiring.  Instead I spent time in front of various images that I found during my weekend and I felt that through the artwork I got a better glimpse of him.   

The first image I came across was the one in the chapel, which gave me a warm welcome (smile).  I love to think of Joseph as a foster parent because  I've always had this strong desire to foster children and dogs.  Currently I have a little girl who I support through World Vision and I feel like she's my little girl in Bangladesh.  Saint Joseph gives us such a great testimony of fatherhood of taking a child and loving him unconditionally and perfectly.  The first time I heard him referred to as the "foster dad" it made me so happy that God has a place in His lineage for all of us.  

 I then spent sometime in his garden, with a sculpture that pays homage to his occupation, a carpenter.  Again, even though Joseph came from royal lineage he was a humble, ordinary man.  He wasn't rich when he took Jesus to the temple to be circumcised he offered a pair of pigeons because he couldn't afford a lamb.   

I found a few books on the library shelves, but all sounded like fairy tale bios.  Until I came across one citing Saint Teresa of Avila's devotion to Saint Joseph.  She encourages us to cultivate a deep devotion for Jesus' dad and to meditate on his virtuous life.  Having one saint recommend another is the highest tip of advice, so throughout the weekend I continued to seek him.

I went for a walk off the retreat grounds to a nearby parish and inside I saw him alone waiting for me.  

I lit a candle for my intentions and knelt in front of him. As I spoke to him I looked up and he seemed to be looking down at me- it felt very intimate and personal.  I lost track of time and would have spent my whole day there if we weren't interrupted by the Saturday Mass crowd (smile).  

On the last day of the retreat, I found this statue and I got to see a different side of Saint Joseph.  He was a compassionate caring father who raised Jesus in an honorable manner. When Jesus' was in danger he took drastic measures to lead his son to safety.  Though he speaks little in the Gospels, his actions reveal his holy character.         

I love words; yet, Saint Joseph is a man of few so I had to think of his actions of the character those actions reveal.  He was a man of great faith, one who trusted and loved God above all.  One who knew God so well that he recognized God's voice when the angels came to him.  His life on earth can teach us so much.  In this world full of noise I enjoyed the peaceful silence which I found in him.  It was a "pregnant" silence (smile).  In the silence, I realized that I need to learn to hold my tongue, to not respond emotionally to things, but wait until I can speak in truth.  That humility is learning to be silent when we want to respond to criticism.  So, am sharing with you the things I learned just by being still in the presence of Saint Joseph (smile).