Today we celebrate in the Franciscan Order a life that was extraordinarily devoted to Christ, that of Saint Joseph. Saint John, Joseph of the cross, and the readings for his mass are taken from Philippians three and Matthew 19, as you will find on the printed version of our homily. And before we go into those readings, let me just give you a bit of a background as to who this beautiful saint was, some of his biographical details.
He was born Carlo Gaetano Carlo Cierto in 1654 on the beautiful island of Ischia in near Naples, near the beautiful island of Capri. I've been there, and I can tell you it is just unbelievably beautiful. He entered the Franciscans at the age of 16, but he entered a form of Franciscan life that was actually a reform of the observant order called the Alcantara, since it was founded by Saint Peter of Alcantara. And these friars really tried to live extraordinary austerity, penance, prayer, and obedience. And he took the name of John Joseph of the cross. He served as a guardian and then later as a provincial. And he was known especially for his deep humility. You'd never know he was the authority in the house. His strict poverty. He never had anything on him that could be called his own. His interior recollection. Always a man steeped in prayer, connection with God, and his miraculous gifts. Too numerous to mention. But his tender charity toward the poor. And then he died in 1734, which made him 80 years old at the end.
My brothers and sisters, he was not a famous public missionary preacher like Saint Bernardine or Saint Leonard of Port Maurizio, other friars that the order has produced throughout the generations. Rather, he was like a hidden reformer, a man of interior, how shall we describe it, crucifixion. Saint John Joseph really lived the words of Saint Paul in his letter to the Philippians, chapter three: “I consider everything loss” (Philippians 3). He literally embraced radical poverty, harsh penances, interior detachment, and what some would call obscurity. For him, Christ was everything. And when Christ becomes everything, when you deny the natural creature comforts that surround us day in and day out, you look obscure in the eyes of the world. Everything else was rubbish compared to union with the crucified.
Again, Lent asks us these questions: what do I still cling to? Not merely material things, but reputation, comfort, control, recognition. He teaches us that Franciscan poverty is not misery. It is freedom, freedom from being governed by these natural attachments.
The Gospel from Saint Matthew 19 fits him perfectly. As a young nobleman son, he renounced family expectations, security, comfort, advancement. And what did he receive? He received interior intimacy with Christ crucified. Priceless a treasure. A Franciscan Lenten preacher might say. Peter asks, what will there be for us? John Joseph answers with his life. There will be Christ. And that is enough.
My brothers and sisters, if preaching this memorial during Lent, we might want to think about these things in particular as inspired by this beautiful Franciscan saint. First of all, the cross is not just symbolic, it is personal. In fact, he took the cross into his name, Saint John Joseph of the cross. Poverty creates space for God, right when we hear in the Psalm, the 24th Psalm: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? The clean of heart” (Psalm 24). That's somebody who has created space for God by choosing to renounce everything else. Not easy.
And so we see that holiness can be hidden. He was not world famous. But you know who knew him? Heaven knew him. And that's what's important. What we are in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the saints, the angels who are good and devoted and loyal and pure, that's who I desire will know me and recognize me. As Jesus said: “Many will knock and he will say, I do not know you. Go away from me” (Matthew 7:23). What? But you preached on our streets. We cast out demons in your name. Get away from me, you evildoers! So to be known by Jesus, to be known by heaven, this is what's important, not to be known by the world and popular opinion and the fads that move in and out, and by the allurements of the evil one who hypnotizes people and gives them a distorted view of priorities and values.
Lent is about transformation, not performance. He did penance quietly, without drama. And our Franciscan identity, those of us who are Franciscan and Franciscan affiliated, and those who really admire the life and the ways of Saint Francis and his desire to conform to the image of Christ to be a friar, minors, not merely historical continuity with Saint Francis, it is conformity to Christ crucified.
My brothers and sisters, as you continue your Lenten journey, may Saint John Joseph of the cross bless you in a very special way this day, and try to read up on him. Try to get to know him a little bit better through the intercession of this saint. In union with the intercession of the Queen of All Saints, may God shower upon you today very special Lenten blessings in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace.
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