In the middle of Lent, March 19th, the Church interrupts its journey toward the Cross to remember a man who never speaks a word in the Gospels. Yet the quiet life of St Joseph may be one of the most radical testimonies to Gospel nonviolence in all of Scripture.
Joseph is not a prophet, priest, or preacher. He is a working man whose holiness is revealed in the small, dangerous decisions of everyday life. In a world obsessed with honour, control, and reputation, Joseph chooses nonviolent love.
The Gospel tells us that when Joseph discovered Mary’s unexpected pregnancy, he resolved to divorce her quietly. Under the social codes of the time, he could have exposed her to humiliation, violence, even death. Instead, Joseph refuses to weaponize the law. Even before the angel appears in a dream, he leans toward compassion. His silence is not weakness. It is resistance.
Joseph’s life continues as a series of disruptive calls from God. In the middle of the night, he rises to protect Mary and the child Jesus, fleeing the machinery of imperial violence unleashed by Herod. The Holy Family becomes a refugee family, crossing borders and surviving on the margins in Egypt. His nonviolence is not sentimental. It is practical, embodied, and risky.
Lent asks us hard questions:
How do we respond to fear?
What do we do when power threatens the vulnerable?
Do we reach for control, retaliation, and self-protection, or do we choose the costly path of nonviolent love?
Joseph shows us another way. His vocation as husband and father is expressed not through authority but through service, anticipating the servant leadership that Jesus will later proclaim and embody.
In recent years, Pope Francis has spoken of a “revolution of tenderness.” Joseph embodies that revolution as an antidote to the rise of ‘toxic masculinity’ in our culture.
As we journey through Lent toward the Cross, Joseph reminds us that nonviolence begins in the heart. It begins in the refusal to shame, to dominate, to retaliate. It begins with the daily decision to protect rather than wound, to trust rather than control, and to love without calculating the cost.
That may look small in the eyes of the world. But in the Gospel, it is revolutionary!
Sr Katrina Alton, National Chaplain to Pax Christi E&W
