I have never really thought of the important woman, the mother of St. Joseph. Where did Joseph get his holiness and profound humility and purity? He had to have learned it from someone. Why do I hold up this character? To remind you that your office of Motherhood is very important. It is precisely the ordinary that God uses to bless and form little hearts to love and honor him. Rachel Hadbeeth, is no exception. Perhaps her silence in tradition is just like St. Joseph’s. A silence of holiness to show a greater reality. We know like the trio (Mary, St. Anne, and St. Elizabeth) she was barren for years and her heart was made ready for St. Joseph by an interior impulsion that God heard her prayers for a child and a visit of an angel while she was in the temple on a pilgrimage for this purpose. The angel further confirmed this spiritual intuition.
Different mystics point to her holiness and some accounts are very different in how she is portrayed. Others point to the opposite. The question begs to be asked, does her ambiguity point to the action of God in ordinary hiddeness? We all are called to seasons of this in our lives. These times are used to transform our lives into grace-filled temples of the Living God. The Holy Spirit can most move when we open our lives to His action and St. Joseph’s mother was no different. Lineage in religion was passed on by the mother in Jewish tradition. So Joseph was Jewish through his mother who is a descendant of David. We also know the name of his father, Jacob. Even less is known about him.
We must not be afraid of being forgotten in ambiguity because God sees the heart and we are not invisible in His eyes. He has a specific plan for each person and He in turn gives us the grace to complete this mission. The key is listening and being faithful. How? To carry out our little acts of holiness in love and hope. God is a God of abundance not scarcity and does not leave anyone forgotten in His plan and He keeps them under His foresight. There is no room for jealousy and comparison in God’s family and we must follow the example of these holy women to pass on the same legacy. St. Rachel Hadbeeth, Pray for us!