There was an exciting story about the miracle of St. Joseph that Venerable Fr. Pietro Ucelli, SX, experienced. One day, the Xaverian seminary in Italy experienced a food shortage. By then, the seminarian's groceries were running low, and Fr. Ucelli thought about seeking groceries donation for the seminary. Long story short, Fr. Ucelli took a potato and placed the potato in front of the St. Joseph statue. He prayed and put those into God's hands through the intercession of St. Joseph. Thank God! The next day, the groceries donation came to the Xaverian seminary and provided their needs for quite a long time. Wonderful!
This simple experience is exciting, especially for the Xaverian missionaries devoted to St. Joseph. The Xaverian Missionaries' constitution states that St. Joseph became a model of faith and complete surrender to Providence (C.50). St. Joseph's faithfulness to God is manifested in his obedience to look after God's child as well as his son. Saint Joseph cares for Jesus with compassion, gives him enough food, and provides for Jesus' life necessities. Joseph always does all of this in silence, which means that the belief in God's love takes hold of him and allows him to work rather than talk a lot. Saint Joseph's spirituality of "Silence" is a miracle of faith, a total surrender to God, and a receiving that blessing with joy. I want to offer Joseph's spirit of faith to all of my friends. Whatever God acts in human life is a plan that has to be implemented even though sometimes it doesn't make sense. Miraculously, our faith that enables all of God's plans runs well.
" ... teach him to walk, holding him in his hands: To him he is like a father who raises a child to his cheek, bowing to him to feed him" (cf. Hos 11: 3-4 ).
There is one important belief that St. Joseph teaches us that having faith in God also includes trusting that he can also work through our fears, our vulnerabilities, and our weaknesses. These expressions and feelings for this experienced reality help us to ponder for a moment: finding time to be quiet and hearing God's voice in prayer. What is needed right now is a heart and ears to listen to the beautiful words from God, "I love you!" These words will be sent to God, who loves us without limits. In all the challenges, those words enable us to walk in the endless valley of sorrow. Those words move our hearts and minds to be grateful for everything.
Such as the Nazareth family experience, St. Joseph continues to experience the challenges in guarding Jesus, and God gives them a blessing to save them from Herod's hand. We need to imitate the living faith in these difficult times. The most important thing here is that God will bless everyone who expects His mercy. Venerable Ucelli's experience exemplifies faith in surrendering to God's will. From the faith of St. Joseph, we are increasingly convinced of God's will, which is far greater and has stronger power than our own. Let us imitate the spirit of St. Joseph, who believed in silence and gave all matters to a God who is merciful. Amen!
