Baby smiles are irresistible, especially when you are the object of the little one’s delight. We have a smiling 4-month-old in our home right now. His siblings and parents will do any number of antics to make him grin. But, more often than not, the most rewarding smiles are those that extend across his face when a person he knows merely walks into his field of vision and he recognizes them.
As we approach the Solemnity celebrating St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, I try to imagine what it must have been like to parent the Son of God. When the Christ Child’s face lit up in recognition of His earthly father, St. Joseph beheld both the delight of his son and, through that Son, the delight of the Heavenly Father for each of us. While other children Jesus’ age progressed out of that initial, innocent expression of pleasure, Jesus likely retained that purity of joy and love for His parents. Instead of being a saucily independent toddler, a petulant preteen or a cynical teenager, Jesus continued to greet His parents at every moment with the recognition of love and wholehearted delight.
The gaze of delighted love satisfies a deep, human longing to be known and cherished. That gaze is one of the best parts of a love story. We treasure early photographs from our romantic relationships that capture those fleeting and vulnerable moments.
Then, as babies join a family, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles experience the magical thrill of falling in love with another person all over again. A new baby learns to recognize something of home in his family members’ presence and to share that joy with them.
We want to present our best selves to those who greet us with delight. As we date someone and transition into marriage, we put every effort into responding to the beloved’s gift of self with our joy, service, kindness and respect. When a new baby challenges our capacity to give of ourselves more than we knew was possible, we find the strength to continue in their delight. A sleepless night is quickly forgiven when a sunny grin greets our half-shuttered eyes before daybreak.
The pleasure of love that St. Joseph first experienced in Mary’s pure affection was heightened by his paternal love for Jesus. What a stimulus he had to great holiness in their presence! When he looked up from his work, he saw the respect of the Creator learning to create anew under his instruction. On the road to Egypt and back again through sand and stone, the quiet, patient trust in the eyes of his wife and son must have helped the road feel smoother under Joseph’s feet.
Joseph was capable of failure and weakness, but the constancy of Mary and Jesus’ respect, forgiveness and joyful appreciation softened every hardship, consoled every fear and gave him the freedom to love God with his whole heart and strength at every moment.
Through our baptism, we are called to live our lives as Christ and His family did. Too often, I find my brows creased with worry, my voice firm with correction and my hands and eyes occupied with tasks and distractions. Some days, it takes significant effort to show the delight that I feel in my husband and children. In a wonderful Lenten read, “The Hidden Power of Kindness,” Father Lawrence Lovasik invites people to begin an “Apostolate of Smiling” to transform families. Discipline and duty have a place in every human home, but delight has a preeminent role, because love is both the motivation and the goal of every other task in the family.
Growing up in an Irish-American family, my father and his brothers had a penchant for dramatically concluding family prayers at large gatherings with some form of Irish blessing. Several of my favorites reference Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!”
St. Joseph knew what it was to have the Lord’s face shine upon him every day. I can only imagine that Joseph, like Moses after seeing God face to face on Mt. Sinai, turned to radiate some of that divine glory to each person he met.
My prayer for you and for me this Lent is that St. Joseph will teach us to recognize the smile of Christ in our lives and then to share that same delight with those we love in our own homes.
Kelly Henson is a Catholic writer and speaker who explores the art of integrating faith into daily life. She and her family are parishioners of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Greensboro. She blogs at www.kellyjhenson.com.