This is the full transcript of the homily delivered by the Very Rev. Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P., Rector of the University of Santo Tomas, during the Paskuhan Mass last December 18, 2015.
Coming here, I observed that the music being played in the university is very, very joyful and loud. Students are all smiling, perhaps wearing their best. Stores are busy selling their wares, and when I arrived here, it’s almost dark, silent, and there’s no noise. And I thought that it is indeed fitting that today, our reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew. And the main character of our Gospel reading is Joseph. One Christmas character who seldom receives due attention is Joseph, the husband of Mary. Unlike Mary who asked the angel how it is possible for her to have a child, Joseph never raised a question. When he awoke, he took Mary as his wife and fulfilled his role as a husband and as a father to Jesus. No need for further explanations. No need for extra words. Joseph, an ordinary man, a few man of few words, a man of silence, fulfilled what God has commanded him to do.
Joseph is like a typical husband and father, seldom occupying the center stage. You know how fathers are. ‘Yung mga tatay ay mahihiyain ‘yan. Sila yung naging nasa tabi. Yung nanay ang laging nasa sentro. ‘Pag may honor yung anak, ‘yung nanay ang excited umakyat; yung tatay hindi. Basta gusto niyang naiiwan siya dun sa ibaba, titingin-tingin lang.
So Joseph prefers to be oblivious, satisfied with watching the scenario unfold before his very eyes. He is not fond of appearing in pictures. You can find many images and paintings of the Madonna and Child, but very few portraitures of Joseph appearing. Joseph must have been too shy to have his photo taken with Mary and Jesus.
In our Gospel today, Matthew invites us to focus our attention on Joseph. Matthew asks us to sharpen our lenses, look closely at him [Joseph] because through this quiet, unassuming, silent, ordinary man, God has accomplished extraordinary things. The modest, almost self-effacing Joseph reminds us that the story of Christmas is a narrative that teaches us to see the world with new eyes beyond the ordinary and the familiar.
The world believes that to be a man of substance, one has to be visible. In fact, visibility through technology is a must as part of business marketing and client-based development platforms. In today’s culture that reckons power, wealth, and influence as measures of becoming a man of substance, Joseph teaches us that one does not need to be high-profile to accomplish significant and important things in life (Stewart, 1997).
Joseph is a man of substance not because he is seen much but because he made the right decision, at the right time, in a very delicate and challenging situation. Guided by his conscience, he took Mary to be his wife. He could have asked Mary to abort the child. He could actually divorce Mary immediately. He has all the legal bases for doing that. Joseph made the right decision a true man should make.
As an author noted it, and I quote, “Joseph didn’t have high visibility in society, but he was a man of great stature in man’s eyes because of the decisions he made to be supportive of Mary during that anxious time” (Stewart, 1997).
When the world believes that others must notice your presence, you have to talk much. Joseph showed us that one does not need to say a lot to be much. Many people talk too much, but you hardly feel their presence. We tend to be very visible but rarely available. Joseph said nothing, but his presence reverberates and leaves an imprint in the hearts of those who chose to follow his son, Jesus (Ibid).
Despite his silence, Joseph was very much present when Mary and Jesus needed him, because for Joseph, to be present means to be available when someone needs you most.
In his homily to the families gathered at the MOA Arena, Pope Francis shared how his devotion to the sleeping St. Joseph helped him cope with his work as Pope by writing on small pieces of paper his petitions, and placing them under the image of St. Joseph, believing that even in his sleep, Joseph takes good care of his Church.
Pope Francis said, “I would like to tell you something very personal. I like St. Joseph very much. He’s a strong man of silence. On my desk, I have a statue of St. Joseph sleeping, and while sleeping, he looks after the Church. When I have a problem or a difficulty, I write on a piece of paper and I put it under his statue, so Joseph can dream about it.” And that means, please pray to St. Joseph about this problem.
We dream, too, but most of our dreams are about us. Joseph’s dream is different. Joseph’s dreams are about Jesus and Mary. Joseph’s dream requires that he should trust and believe Mary, and the very reason we have relationships is so we can have someone who believes in our dreams. The greatest gift to give one another this Christmas is to share with them our dreams, to believe in their dreams. God worked through Mary and Joseph, and believed in them.
My dear Thomasians, as we draw to a close the first term of our academic year, and we shall welcome another calendar year, we pray that we become like Joseph, that we have with us, weight not only in the words that we say, but in doing the things that God asked us to accomplished, and to have presence not in superfluous and superficial matters, but in all things necessary and life-giving.
It should be more important for us to thank God rather than worry about parties. We should worry whether there will be a Mass rather than fireworks. We should be more excited to thank God that we have surpassed the grueling semester and we are closing with a bang, rather than to be excited and take the best position, awaiting for the video mapping tonight. We should be more concerned of God rather than superficialities of ordinary life.
This Christmas, it’s good for us to experience this because it gives us the opportunity and chance to ask ourselves, “Where is my priority?” What is more important for us as a Thomasian community, as an institution, as children of God? Do we think more of ourselves or do we dream for others? Like Joseph, we should learn to dream for others, to see beyond the ordinary and to believe, as what St. Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians, “To believe in God, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. According to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations, forever and ever (Ephesians 3:20).” Merry Christmas!
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