Preparatory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to you as a child approaches his father. With humility and love, I ask you to help me now as I reflect on your words and respond to you from my heart. I love you and want to know you more intimately. Teach me how to converse with you, through silence and reflection, and bring me to a better understanding of you and your love for me. 

Introduction: Nazareth 

"Nazareth is a kind of school where we may begin to discover what Christ's life was like and even to understand his Gospel. Here we can observe and ponder the simple appeal of the way God's Son came to be known - profound yet full of hidden meaning. And gradually, we may even learn to imitate him. Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs; in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel. 

"First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace and quiet, to reflect on the deeply spiritual, and to be open to the voice of God's inner wisdom and the counsel of his true teachers. Nazareth can teach us the value of study and preparation; of a well-ordered personal spiritual life, and of silent prayer that is known only to God." (Pope Paul VI speaking in Nazareth, January 5, 1964) 

1. Joseph's Fidelity 

Mary needed some one virtuous like herself to look after her. She was used to intimacy with the Holy Spirit and with the Word, so she needed the company of someone capable of helping her, but not disturbing her. That someone was Joseph. 

Mary was tested in her call during the Annunciation, but she remained as immaculate as before, because with an act of obedience she made herself the slave of God, and with an act of humility accepted the honor of becoming the Mother of God. Joseph, too, was tested and emerged victorious, as a real Israelite who respected God's law: he resolved to leave Mary, instead of respecting the law of his heart, which invited him to forgive Mary's maternity. 

God needed from Joseph a total fidelity to the Law of Moses in order to introduce the Messiah promised by that law, until Christ himself inaugurated the new law of love. 

God wanted Joseph to be a hard worker to help the "New Adam" to sanctify work. "In Nazareth, the home of a craftsman's son, we learn about work and the discipline it entails. I would especially like to recognize its value - demanding yet redeeming - and to give it proper respect. I would remind everyone that work has its own dignity. On the other hand, it is not an end in itself. Its value and free character, however, derive not only from its place in the economic system, as they say, but rather from the purpose it serves" (From an address by Paul VI. Nazareth, January 5, 1964). 

God wanted Joseph obedient to take upon himself the authority of the home in Nazareth, humble to become the father of Truth, and poor to possess a pure heart and speak the language of angels - just like the hearts of Jesus and Mary. 

Joseph left the world the moment God called him, when Jesus could take care of his Mother. He left, perhaps, momentarily sad, because he was leaving behind on earth what all of us will find in heaven: God and Mary. Nevertheless, he was immediately rewarded, because in his soul he carried the precious moments of Nazareth, knowing he awaited Good Friday. 

Joseph did not become a saint by virtue of the vocation he received, but by virtue of the way he lived that vocation. He still lives out his vocation today by caring for the Mother who is the Church. He is still the head of a family that honors him and asks for his protection. 

2. Joseph's Silence 

Joseph was a man of silence, not because he was shy or introverted, but because he had a lot to contemplate and converse with God about. 

He needed silence, because he was a contemplative soul. Silence characterizes people whose words or writings strike us by their wisdom, for it is in silence that they learn from the people and events around them. Joseph had extraordinary things to observe, though most of them appeared altogether ordinary; like Mary, he "...kept all the events in his heart." 

He loved silence because it is the language of God. In God, silence and speech coincide. God's silence brings a message that can usually only be understood after long waiting and patient contemplation. Only then does his plan, contemplated as a whole, make sense; only then do we discover in it his loving Providence. His silence is also a school of faith and trust. He speaks when the time is ripe. People become distressed because they fail to understand the silence of God. He remains silent for a long time to strengthen our faith. 

Joseph must have had long conversations with Mary. These were great moments of the day and inspiring consolations, because the best conversations are the ones in which people talk to each other of the things learned in times of silence. 

Silence, a virtue accompanied by humility and other good habits, such as purity and obedience, is the breeding-ground of saints. Joseph was a saint. Saints battle many temptations but overcome them because they watch and pray as the Lord recommended. No one can watch (be attentive), much less pray, if there is noise in the soul. Silence is a habit for those who love it. Silence invites silence. Noise invites noise. Silence engenders maturity, hope and joy. 

He was a saint because, in the sanctuary of his soul, conscience, his silent voice was plainly perceptible to them and a constant source of light. God talked to Joseph in dreams. Without silence it is impossible to sleep, without sleep it is impossible to dream. 

He was not born with the virtue of silence and contemplation. He obtained it by forming the good habit of imposing quiet on the world around him in order to talk to God and Mary. He lived in internal silence to talk more and more with God. 

Silence without God is empty; it scares us. It is the silence of the cemetery: the silence of dead souls where there is no faith. Joseph loved silence because God lived in them. Silence is the school where one learns to believe with a living faith. Silence is the beginning of any kind of prayer. In a certain way, prayer and silence coincide. 

Questionnaire: To help you to examine your life, in the light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you shared with him. 

1. Do I see my life, my vocation, as a link in God's plan of salvation for all, beginning with my own family and friends? 

2. Do I examine my conscience daily, because I want to become a saint by the way I live my vocation? 

3. Do I reduce my relations with God to a series of petitions with no time left to meditate and contemplate? 

4. Do I know how to keep silence during prayer so that I can listen to God, or do I do all the talking - praying more to a "mirror" than to God? 

5. Do I often take silent time-outs during the day to reflect? 

6. Do I imitate Mary, storing in my heart God's past and present blessings?