Be Still, Be Silent

Today, January 31, 2021, we start the seven Sundays of St. Joseph, that just and upright man that God entrusted Mary and Jesus to. We do this in the Year of St. Joseph. We meditate on the joys and sorrows of St. Joseph. Like when he saw Mary pregnant. He was going to divorce her privately to make it look like he was the problem. It was a difficult decision, but then he went to sleep. That’s when God spoke to him. He went from a great sorrow, to a great joy. Pope Francis has a statue of the sleeping Joseph, he uses it when he has to make an important decision. He places a piece of paper under the head of the sleeping Joseph. Joseph was truly a man of peace.  Yesterday we saw how Jesus was sleeping in the storm at sea. He rose and told the sea and the wind: Be quiet, be still. (Mk 4) But now today this expression, to be silent, to be quiet, comes back.  Mark 1, 21-28: It is in the synagogue, and it is not to the sea and the waves, but to the devil himself, possessing a man. It is early in the ministry. He has just chosen his collaborators. Mark, 1, 25:  “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” Et comminatus est ei Jesus, dicens: Obmutesce, et exi de homine. Lets see how we can have that calm, that serenity, that peace over the temptation of anxiety and worry. This is a meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai, at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto. For other meditations, see: https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall, Album Multiplicity 2017