Mount St. Sepulchre Fraternity

When an angel visited Joseph and told him to take Mary as his wife, Joseph obeyed, even though
he was initially inclined to do otherwise. This was not a comment from an elder or an official of
the synagogue; no, it was in a dream, which in Joseph’s culture was how the Almighty spoke to
you. Joseph obeyed readily.
How do we handle obedience? As Americans, as a culture we tend to rebel against obedience.
We obey laws, which are for the common good; we obey the Church’s teachings, which are for
our spiritual good. Of instructions from others of lesser authority, though, we are resistant,
especially when we disagree.
Article 10 of our Rule speaks to fulfillment of our duties proper to our various circumstances.
Virtue, says Augustine, “is a good habit consonant with our nature.” Obedience, then, is a virtue
when properly exercised to further the good in our nature. So when we as Secular Franciscans
obey a proper authority, we act out a virtue.
That Joseph was faithful is also beyond doubt. The word, though, has many connotations
depending on the object. To name just a few, one can be faithful to one’s spouse, to one’s ideals,
to the Church, and to God. Joseph was all of these.
We, as Secular Franciscan, are called to faithful as well, in each of the above senses, and many
more. We are also to be faithful to our fraternity, the Order, and our profession into that Order.
St. Francis embraced everyone and everything in the world that was good. In that spirit we, too,
are called to be faithful to our brothers and sisters in St. Francis, to our community, and to the
world, for we have a duty to care for them as well. So we thank St. Joseph for being an excellent
example of a Franciscan life