Father Richard Lennan’s Homily
Transcribed by Kat Gunther

Joseph, as we know, doesn’t get to speak a single word in the gospel.

In Mark, something I read about him was how he’s the sort of person people mention by name only when they can’t avoid including him when they’re really interested in someone else. It actually fits pretty well with today’s gospel. It would seem that he is the center of it all, but in fact, Mary and Jesus are. Joseph happens to be the bloke who’s hanging around.

In a movie, he’d be an extra, and at the end of it, he’d be listed as detective number two, or hoodlum number three.

Given that, it’s really quite remarkable how Joseph is the patron of the universal church, a patron to so many congregations and works, that he’s mentioned by name in the Eucharistic Prayer, and that today we draw to a close this special year of St. Joseph, which was the explicit wish of Pope Francis. Pretty impressive for a bloke who’s an extra.

So, what is it that we can take from, say Joseph, and from this feast? I think there are a few things:

We already know our faith is not of superstars. What matters in Christian life is not becoming a star. It’s being faithful. And of course, we can attribute this to Joseph in a left-handed sort of way, who doesn’t ever tell us how he reacted to things. It simply tells us what he did, what he does, which is to always live out our faith.

Think about where we do hear of Joseph. He’s always in fairly extreme circumstances. And in those extreme circumstances, Joseph is depicted as responding fully and radically to what it is God sees.

Joseph is a model because you and I are called to live that same life. We don’t have to be stars. You don’t have to be successful. What we have to be is people who live out our faith. Who embody our faith. And we do that in the everyday life that is ours.

We don’t need a big theater in which to play.

We simply need the people who are part of our everyday life.