Commentary on the Gospel of
I used to know a very pious lady who would never refer to St. Joseph by name, but as “The Holy Old Man.” Every time I heard it, I felt pain for the many men I know who have been weakened and faded – denatured – by an unreal spirituality. Why old? We make Joseph old in order to weaken him. It is as if we can not take the full presence of an adult man. Since we know so little about him, we have molded St. Joseph according to our image of what a holy man is. We need to restore his masculinity to him. Today’s feast could be a good beginning: he is not Joseph the Faded, the intellectual, the weak; he is Joseph the Worker.
