Anonymous Josephs

The Man Who Followed His Dreams
Copyright @ 2004 by Paulo Coelho
Warrior of Light Online #122

I was born in the Saint Joseph maternity in Rio de Janeiro. As it was a quite complicated childbirth, my mother consecrated me to the saint, praying to him to help me live. José became a reference in my life, and every year since 1987 - the year following my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela - I throw a party in his honor on March 19. I invite friends and hard-working, honest people, and before dinner we pray for all those who try to maintain their dignity in their actions. We also pray for those who are jobless and have no prospects for the future.

In the short introduction I give before the prayer, I usually recall that four of the five times that the word “dream” appears in the New Testament refer to Joseph the carpenter. In all the cases, an angel is always trying to convince him to do exactly the opposite of what he was planning to do.

The angel asks him not to abandon his wife, although she is pregnant. He could say things like “what are the neighbors to think?” But he returns home and believes in the revealed word.

The angel sends him to Egypt. And his answer could have been: “but I’m already established here as a carpenter, I have my clientele, I can’t just leave everything now.” Nevertheless he packs his things and sets out for the unknown.

The angel asks him to return from Egypt. And again Joseph could have thought: “now that I have managed to establish a new life for myself and have a family to support?”

Contrary to what common sense dictates, Joseph follows his dreams. He knows that he has a destiny to fulfill, the destiny of almost all men on this planet: to protect and support his family. Like millions of anonymous Josephs, he tries to see to the task, even having to do things that are far beyond his comprehension.

Later on, both his wife and one of his sons become the great references of Christianity. The third pillar of the family, the workman, is only remembered in the Nativity scenes at the end of the year….

For me, every man can change the task he is given by life into something sacred, and Jesus learned while the just man Joseph taught him to make tables, chairs and beds. In my imagination I like to think that the table where Christ consecrated the bread and wine was made by Joseph – because there was the hand of an anonymous carpenter who earned his living with the sweat of his brow, and precisely because of that allowed miracles to take place.
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My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, We offer our praise for the miracles that you create from anonymous lives, hidden acts of love, and ordinary events. We ask that we learn to follow the revealed word that we may find in your text, in our dreams, and in interactions with others. Everyone has the opportunity to be a conduit for change and for workings of miracles, through our common lives made holy by your grace. Be with us this week allowing our eyes to see the miracles of the common works of our fellow workers; allowing our ears to hear the miracles of conversation and laughter; allowing our hands to feel the miracle of touch of a hand in ours, the silk cloth of majesty, the splinters of the cross; allowing our noses to smell the miracle of roses in bloom; and allowing our mouths to taste the miracle of communion. Amen