The Passivity of St. Joseph: He Gives to His Beloved in Their Sleep

“If the Lord does not build the city, in vain is your rising so early, your going so late to rest; for he gives to his beloved in their sleep.” My new statue of St. Joseph sleeping reminds me that his most important work happened in passivity: when he was asleep. Four times he received heavenly messages in his sleep. He was passive, at rest, unconscious, in-deliberate and inactive. Not the passivity of an inert rock; his passivity was attentive, sensitive, alert, receptive! He was a man of action: he did indeed take Mary as his wife; he did protect his family by flight into Egypt; he did return at the proper time and provide for and protect Mary and Jesus. But all this steadiness in strength, determination and protectiveness sprang from a prior receptive passivity in sleep. So we see vividly in the case of St. Joseph that the Lord does indeed give to his beloved in their sleep. God’s grace works independent of and prior to our initiative: like the planted seed that is growing quietly in the ground. God’s love is sovereign: our primary task is to be still, to be quiet, and to know that God is God. It is in that quiet and peace that we receive the seed, the Word, and it is then that we are moved to act, out of a fullness of love and the Holy Spirit. All fruitful, joyful activity springs from a prior passivity. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of rest...physical, emotional, mental spiritual. 12-steppers are vigilant against becoming hungry, angry, lonely, tired...HALT...which trigger their addiction. For me tired is the worst by far: if I let myself become fatigued, physically or emotionally, I become another, dark person. My absolute number one priority...before prayer or work or relationships...is to get my rest! But interiourly, a spirit of rest...of confidence, trust, peace, steadiness...is absolutely essential. The original sin was one of activism: rather than trusting and resting in God’s peace, Eve took the advice of the serpent and acted on her own initiative, and then seduced Adam into the same. We Americans are disastrously prone to shallow activism with our pragmatism, technology, meritocracy and aversion to contemplation. Our age is not vulnerable to a quietism of lethargy and presumption; rather ours is a restlessness of hyperactivity, consumption and empty entertainment. Our action will be joyful, peaceful, fruitful and beautiful to the extent that we learn to rest in the Lord.