Ite ad Joseph Series | #1

358 Words / Read time: 2.5 Minutes

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St. Joseph’s Secrecy— The Key to Humility

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Summoned by God, the human father is to be a living reflection of God the Father (Mal 4:5-6; FC 25).

St. Joseph, the spiritual father of Jesus, reflected the Father to Him.
Silent, strong, St. Joseph is the archetype of masculinity and spiritual fatherhood.

He is the man who raised the God-man.
He is the father who imaged God the Father.

We “Go to Joseph” to learn to be a man;
to be a father on earth like the Father in Heaven.

St. Joseph discovers Mary, his betrothed pregnant.
Not being the father of the child, he decides to “put her away privately” (Mt 1:19).

The Greek word rendered privately is “lathra”, meaning secret.
St. Joseph secretly hid Mary.

He refused to expose her situation to others.

He rejected the inclination and temptation to complain.
In secret, he surrendered the situation to the Father “who is in secret” (Mt: 6:6-7).

Secrecy is the consequential characteristic of living for God alone;
Abandoning all human opinion and favor;
To be known by God rather than being noticed by men.

God the Father lives in secret, moves in secret, blesses in secret, for “He is in secret” (Mt:6:6).

St. Joseph enters the secret place where the Secret Father abides.
By doing so, Joseph interiorizes all of life.

He offers each moment to his Father as an act of secret homage.

As God the Father offers Himself to us in a secret, hidden manner, St. Joseph offers His own suffering, sacrifices, thanksgivings, and praises in the secret of his heart.

The secret father, like Joseph, refrains from boasting of his achievements.
St. Joseph never boasted of being God’s father.

The secret father refuses to complain about anything.
St. Joseph never utters a negative, doubting, discouraging word.
He simply does what he is commanded to do (Mt 1:24-25).

St. Joseph secretly hid Mary.
St. Joseph secretly hid Jesus from Herod.
Jesus reveals the secret of His hidden, humble, human father.

Paradoxically, the more secret you are, the more God will be manifest through you.
Light cannot help but to shine in darkness.

Blessed are the secret for they image the Father in Heaven.