Today we reach the last eleven titles of St. Joseph. We are just 12 days from making our consecration, two thirds of the way there.
Mirror of Patience! Impatience is the most-often confessed sin, in my experience. Everybody feels terrible about their sins of impatience, and we long to remain calm under fire. Today technology and the delivery systems of our global economy have put almost every product in our mailboxes “same day service.” I can watch my choice of five million movies tonight with three clicks, because the whole universe is “on demand” for me.
The pandemic has slowed the economy down a bit (even Amazon is running a few days behind), but it will soon speed up again. St. Joseph shows us how to slow down. As Fr. Calloway says, “his mission required a lot of waiting.” In fact, he never saw his own Son begin his public mission. Patiently, quietly, and calmly did Joseph provide a home for Jesus over twenty-five years, waiting for him to begin his public ministry. Everyone was waiting for the Messiah to redeem Israel, but Joseph himself died before ever seeing it.
And us? We want to see results. In the workplace, in city traffic, in our families, we cannot tolerate delays or ineptitude. We must pray to St. Joseph for patience, which is love’s first characteristic. Life is not perfect, and we are all just poor, stumbling, weak creatures. But God is strong, and He will bring to perfection all who wait upon Him, because truly “the meek shall inherit the earth.”