What does it look like to be completely free? Saint Joseph might not be the most obvious answer to that question. We might be tempted to overlook the quiet man beside our Lady in the Nativit scene. But look more closely at his life and you’ll find someone who made extraordinarily costly choices with remarkable inner calm. He was free the way we want to be: unafraid, unhurried, fully himself. And his freedom was rooted in incredible faith.

What is faith? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that it is “personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals Himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words” (no. 176). In other words, faith demands our total surrender to God.

The Bible gives us a series of men and women who are models of faith throughout salvation history, showing us how faith moves us to direct our whole existence towards God. In the Old Testament, the model of faith is Abraham, and in the New Testament, it’s the Blessed Virgin Mary. But the Gospel shows us a similar obedience of faith in Saint Joseph, in his own particular situation. Let’s review a few key aspects of his life.

Faith and listening

Saint Paul teaches that faith comes from listening, by hearing the Word, and Saint Joseph is the man who listens to the Word. The Gospel never shows him speaking, only listening. That has to mean something... but what? Well, it shows us Saint Joseph’s total openness to the divine message.

Think about how the angel appears to Joseph in a dream, rather than a dramatic vision. To receive that message and stake his whole future on it, Joseph needed to be the kind of person who paid attention to what most people brush off. He doesn’t judge by appearances, and he’s free from the need to perform.

Listening is countercultural freedom, and listening to God is one of the freest things we can do. It pulls us out of the prison of our own internal monologue. In societies like ours, where many people seem to have lost the habit of listening (not only to God, but to other people), Saint Joseph is good model of paying attention to the Word of God.

Faith and silence

There’s a step before listening: silence. Sacred Scripture shows how silence makes space for God’s saving action. Saint Joseph, as we’ve already pointed out, is a man of silence, and that’s what allows him to listen correctly to the Word of God. 

The constant noise and activity around us might cause a crisis of interiority in us: we’re not sure who we are or what we think and feel in the depths of our hearts. Silence might feel uncomfortable at first, because it confronts us with ourselves. Saint Joseph’s example reassures us that silence doesn’t mean emptiness or loneliness. It’s the path to welcoming the Word of God. 

Faith and obedience

Obedience (which also comes from a Latin word meaning listening) is a requirement of faith. The model of obedience is Christ Himself, who came not to do his own will but the will of the One who sent Him. Our Redemption comes through Christ’s obedience. And Saint Joseph joins all those just people in salvation history who collaborated in salvation through their obedience. 

Obedience is so important that Saint Paul calls it the “obedience of faith.” Saint Joseph always obeys what God asks of him, even when it means uprooting his whole life and all his plans to go in a different direction. It’s easy to read that Joseph “rose and took the child and his mother by night” and not think much of it, but try to sit with what that actually meant: packing up everything, waking a young mother and a small child, setting out in the dark for a country where you don’t speak the language, don’t have a job, don’t know anyone... because you trusted a dream. That is not blind compliance. That is the obedience of someone who has already decided, in the depths of his heart, who he belongs to. That decision made him free.

Saint Joseph is a model of total availability to God’s plans. He did what he thought was right no matter what. He wasn’t conditioned by fear, amibition, or peer pressure. Obedience to God, his holy law, and his inspirations and plans for our life is a sign of faith for us too.

Faith and fortitude

Fortitude is a cardinal virtue, and for believers, it is deeply rooted in his faith. Many passages in the Bible describe God as our rock, our stronghold, and our fortress. Only people with firm faith in God have true fortitude. Saint Joseph had a strong faith that allowed him to bear the difficulties of his journey through life. He knew he had to face those difficulties to be faithful to his vocation as adoptive father of the Saviour and guardian of Mary.

The fortitude that comes from faith is essential for fulfilling our martyrial vocation. We are constantly bombarded by ideologies that attack the dignity of human persons, especially the vulnerable, like Herod did. Saint Joseph teaches us to be strong in faith.

Faith and chastity

Saint Paul affirms that the believer must have the “good fragrance of Christ.” That comes from the virtue of chastity. If we have given our whole selves to God through faith, of course we will also give glory to God with our sexuality. Saint Joseph, Mary’s “most chaste spouse,” is a wonderful example.

Saint Joseph’s pure life and generous way of looking at others show us the value of chastity: it is the virtue that allows us to love others truly. It’s freedom from using people, freedom to love.

Faith and work

The apostle James tells us directly that if faith is not accompanied by works, it is dead. In other words, concrete works show living faith. And Saint Joseph’s faith unfolded existentially in his daily work. The Gospels note that he was a carpenter, and people knew Jesus as the carpenter’s son. Saint Joseph shows an active faith.

Carpentry in Joseph’s time was skilled but unglamorous work. He probably worked long days for modest pay, in a small town that would have offered him little social status. And yet he did it faithfully, providing for Jesus and Mary, modelling for Jesus what it means to give himself fully in ordinary life.

What makes Joseph such a compelling model for isn’t that he had an easy life, because he didn’t. It’s that he was free in the middle of a life full of uncertainty, displacement and unanswered questions. He didn’t need everything to be resolved to keep moving forward. That kind of freedom rooted in faith is available to all of us. Saint Josemaría called Saint Joseph “our father and lord, master of the interior life,” and if we pray to him, he will help us be truly free.