40 Crosses for 40 Days: 29th Cross - The 'Swaddling Clothes' Cross

For several days last week, we focused on a great saint whose feast day we celebrate during the Lenten journey, St. Patrick. The crosses for today and tomorrow will help us think about the life of another great saint we encounter during these 40 days, St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus and spiritual father to all.

Scripture doesn't record a single word spoken by St. Joseph. This leads us to think that he was a man of quiet reflection, able to see and reflect profoundly on the events that took place in his life. He is a model of a contemplative in action, a person of prayer who is also ready to respond with concrete deeds to the directions of the Holy Spirit.

Many years before Joseph, Mary and Jesus walked the earth, the prophet Isaiah spoke these words to the Israelites:

Along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth (Is 42:16)

Isaiah is often the prophet we hear most during Advent, as we prepare for the birth of Jesus. Isaiah could have been speaking these words with St. Joseph in mind, given his role of protecting Mary and Jesus. Even before Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, Joseph had been chosen to be Jesus' foster father. He was there from the beginning; shepherding, protecting, guiding, and most likely, worrying, stressing and praying with all his might during the many events that threatened the Holy Family.

We can only imagine his emotions when he found out that Mary was unexpectedly pregnant. Then, after taking her into his home, he has to travel with her to Bethlehem, only to be rejected again and again when he tries to find them a simple place to stay. Then, he has to suddenly rise and flee into the night, knowing that soldiers are being sent to kill little Jesus, and that his family is in terrible danger.

Mary did not suffer the effects of Original Sin, but St. Joseph did.

Although Mary did not suffer the consequences of Original Sin, Joseph certainly did. Because of this, he must have been susceptible to despair and despondency, to fear and anxiety. Did he feel inadequate to the mission he was given? Probably. Did he wish he could do a better job of providing for his family? Maybe. Was he often surprised by and anxious about the commands God gave him? Almost certainly.

It was likely his proximity to Mary and Jesus that enabled Joseph to act in spite of his fear and believe in spite of his anxiety. After all, being close to Jesus and Mary, i.e. living with God and the saints, is ultimately the goal of us all. But in addition to all the fearful events, Joseph must also have had countless experiences of wonder and awe, of glimpses into the very heart of God.

That's why this cross, entitled 'Never Failing Love', is the cross for today. Two broad bands of cloth lash together the two arms of the cross. Joseph was privileged to see Mary wrap her infant son in swaddling clothes on the night of His birth. Those swaddling clothes that wrapped an infant who was placed in a manger, pointed forward to the cloths the man would be wrapped in years later, when he was laid in a tomb. Joseph was able to see the 'Never Failing Love" of Jesus up close and personal, the love that shone forth on Christmas Eve and sustained him through heart-pounding expereiences so that it could shine forth again on Easter Sunday, bursting out of the grave like supernova.

Let us pray: Holy Trinity, we thank You for the gift of St. Joseph. Help us to respond to Your promptings with the same urgency and dedication that he did and inspire us to call on our foster father for help frequently. And in all things, we praise You. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

St. Joseph, pray for us!