As we think about St. Joseph as a “model of hope” in our lives it becomes clearer that Christian hope, founded in Jesus Christ, has a much different grounding than hopefulness in the world. As I write to the St. Lucy community this penultimate letter as your pastor, I ask you all to reflect on Christian hope modeled in and through St. Joseph.

I have been thinking a lot about hope these past two months after it was announced I was leaving St. Lucy for St. Lawrence the Martyr in July. There was hope looking back and hope looking forward as I reflected on the blessings shared for the past six years and the blessings to come in the mysterious design of God’s holy will.
Thinking about how St. Joseph lived his life as I pack my boxes, remove the pictures from the walls and put away the many memories, it is wonderful to know he did these same things in looking back in hope. Archbishop M. de Langalerie in his book “The Month of St. Joseph” shares this, “Christianity alone makes hope a virtue, for it alone teaches us the opposite excesses of defiance and presumption…To guard against presumption, we must rely on God alone, and distrust ourselves. Presumption caused St. Peter to deny his divine Master. Let us be penetrated with these thoughts, and dwell on them, and beg of God the virtue of hope through the intercession of St. Joseph, who practiced it in its perfection.” (p 51)
St. Joseph as a faithful and faith filled Jewish man knew the hope of tradition, the coming of the Messiah in the line of King David but he was also aware of the hope found in his pregnant bride, in the voices of the angels, the songs of the shepherds and the gifts of the Magi of the East. It is here St. Jospeh could look forward in a hope based on the lived experience of love.

Are we able to do the same? Yes, this is the example of all the saints but especially St. Joseph in the Christian gift of tradition.
As I pack and say goodbye, I too look back in wonder, see the blessings and the presence of God in the moments surrounding me now and the hope of new graces to come found in my blessed relationship with the community. It is a hope based in and on the lived gift of gratitude and generosity of God and his holy people.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not easy. There are moments of doubt, fear, frustration, anger, sadness at real losses. And yet we know this truth found in Mary’s husband, “Neither earthly joys nor human consolations mingled in the hope of St. Joseph. His future life on earth and in heaven was blended in the one same hope and love.” (p 52) The blending described is the continued searching for the presence of God knowing with certainty he is here with us. He is not playing hide and seek with us but rather helps us to lift the blindness from our eyes. When we, like St. Joseph, know Jesus intimately and are with him each day in prayerful conversation then he becomes a constant image in each and every person we encounter.

Once more, this is not easy and I fail at this so many times I stand in awe and wonder of how God continues to be patient, forgiving and loving with me. Finally St. Joseph reminds us, “We are not obliged to forego all pleasures and joys; but we should not allow our hearts to become attached to them, so that in the enjoyment of them we forget the desire of heaven. The more we seek for earthly happiness, the less we think of heaven; and the practice of hope.” (p 53) If our final destination is Heaven (we hope) then the blessings of earth become more precious not less because they no longer bind us but allow us to be lifted up in joy. There are many small and large blessings surrounding us daily and our challenge is to see them with God as gifts given and shared and not as prizes to be hidden away and placed in storage.
Thank you for your prayers and blessings.
God Bless
Fr. Mark