Much is thrown up to our ceiling and against our wall

A reflection on the daily readings, for Solemnity of St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Father Perry.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

+ Now I did not know this, but here it comes —

There is an old saying: “Throw it against the wall and see what sticks.”

Here is the purported origin —

At one point in time, there was a cooking technique involving throwing pasta against the ceiling to determine if it was done.

If it was done, it would stick. Ceiling and wall both apply here.

And to put it into a different way of saying it, that is actually the intention behind the saying, it would go something like this: “Say anything and everything you can think of, and see if anyone accepts even a little of it.”

Surely, something will stick!

Well, today, on this beautiful feast of St. Joseph, a lot of biblical stuff is thrown up to the ceiling or against the wall.

Much is mentioned or referred to — gems of faith going back to the origins of faith, and promises over the ages revealed and eternally kept by God.

And so, such things would not be thorough without going back to our father in faith — Abraham.

He was the beginning. It was to him that the faith of Israel began; and as the scriptures say, he was given the gift and the promise that it “may be [would be] guaranteed to all his descendents.”

The line of descendents began with Abraham and was specifically to come to special fulfillment in David, and continued through the ages even through Joseph.

There is a legal line through Joseph and a bloodline through Mary.

But most important of all, there is a line that was the fulfillment of God’s promise.

And the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus the Christ gets expressed in two Gospels today — one from Matthew and one from Luke.

The Matthew story relates a catastrophic moment in the life of Joseph in which the whole thing could have unraveled; and that Davidic line could have, it would seem, fallen apart.

Joseph was ready to leave Mary; and all, it would seem, would have come to an end.

God’s promises were abolished! But that was not to be.

In typical grand biblical style, the day was saved through a dream.

The angel of the Lord came to Joseph and deflated Joseph’s fear, elevated this moment in time with an extraordinary presence and action of God’s Holy Spirit, and pointed to a salvific penetration of God into Joseph’s and our world which would be and is the redemptive and eternal saving of all people “from their sins.”

In Luke’s Gospel, we get something completely different and unique. It is, really, the only story in all of the Gospels about Jesus in his youth.

At 12, he gets separated and “lost” from his parents; they backtrack to find him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers.

A penetrating and disturbing question gets put to Jesus by Mary, his mother: “Son, why have you done this to us?”

And Mary states the extreme anxiety that she and Joseph went through because of Jesus’ action to stay behind and BE in God’s temple.

But Jesus’ answer says more than anyone could have expected — “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must BE in my Father’s house?”

Here, the true and deepest identity of Jesus, as Son of God, gets spoken aloud clearly to Joseph, and to Mary — and to you and me, and all.

And the drama swings into full motion. Oh yes!

He goes home with Joseph and Mary and remains obedient to them.

After all, that was the Father’s plan, right?

And there was to be much more. It’s all about Jesus; and yet Joseph and Mary have unique and special parts in the plan.

Today, honor one of the divine characters — Joseph!

We rejoice in his complete openness through marital and parental near-catastrophes and rejoice in Joseph’s faithful response to God.

He calls us to do and be the same in our relationship to God our Father, who fulfills all of his promises to and through us!

Much is thrown up to our ceiling and against our wall to see what sticks and what is fulfilled in and through us, too!

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Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.