Bishop Erik Varden reflects on St. Joseph quiet strength, faith under trial, and what his humility reveals about unselfish love this Christmas.
Newsroom (30/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) Bishop Varden: “St. Joseph Is the Patron Saint of Unselfishness”
In conversation with Bishop Erik Varden on the humility, faith, and hidden strength of St. Joseph.
The Pillar: What was that first Christmas like from St. Joseph’s point of view?
Bishop Erik Varden: Scripture gives us a glimpse of his turmoil. When Joseph discovered that Mary was with child, he resolved to divorce her quietly, not wishing to expose her to shame. From a human perspective, it must have felt like betrayal or confusion beyond words.
Then the angel appears: “Do not fear.” The message cuts to the root of Joseph’s anxiety — to trust that what seems incomprehensible is, in fact, divine intervention. This fearlessness runs through the New Testament, from Mary’s annunciation to the angel’s reassurance of Joseph.
Even the virtuous wrestle with grace when it upends their lives. In that sense, Joseph’s ordeal mirrors ours: learning to see our upheavals through the eyes of faith.
The Pillar: Some icons show Joseph apart from the manger, tempted by doubt. What does that image tell us?
Bishop Varden: It’s an extraordinary scene — Joseph seated alone, approached by a tempter disguised as a shepherd. The whispers would have been familiar: “Do you really believe your dream? Could God act this way?”
We all know those inner voices. Joseph’s victory was not in dramatic action but in steadfastness. He refused to let fear or cynicism divide him from Mary and the Child. That’s why his presence by the crib, though quiet, is heroic. He models perseverance in faith — the serenity that blooms from spiritual battle.
The Pillar: How would you describe Joseph’s attitude as he led Mary to Bethlehem and then into exile in Egypt?
Bishop Varden: Words like discretion and peace come to mind. He acted without fuss or complaint. Imagine what it meant for a working man of mature years to leave his home, trade, and security for an uncertain journey, all to safeguard a mystery he scarcely understood.
In doing so, Joseph reveals what true parenthood is. Not possession, but self-offering. We live in an age where children are sometimes treated as extensions of ambition — something to get, not someone to receive. Joseph turns that idea inside out. Parenthood, like faith, is kenotic; it empties itself in love for a purpose greater than the self. That’s why I call him the patron saint of unselfishness.
The Pillar: How did the Incarnation change Joseph’s life?
Bishop Varden: Think of what it’s like to be near a genuinely good person — their presence exposes your shadows yet invites hope. Now imagine living daily beside divine goodness itself.
Joseph’s transformation was not dramatic but deeply interior. Having done his providential duty — raising and protecting Christ — he steps back without fanfare. That quiet disappearance reflects profound grace: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
In a culture obsessed with visibility and self-display, Joseph’s contentment in obscurity is countercultural holiness. His invisibility is a form of worship.
The Pillar: Many Catholics are rediscovering St. Joseph through new devotions. What does this say about our times?
Bishop Varden: It suggests hunger for realism about the Incarnation. Digital life can make our relationships thin and abstract. St. Joseph grounds us again in the tangible — wood, tools, journeys, danger, bread. Through him, the sublime becomes near and human.
I recently saw an 18th-century Polish altarpiece in Kraków: Joseph working, Jesus imitating his gestures with eager devotion. It struck me that even the Word made flesh needed a model for growth. Joseph gave him that.
To contemplate Joseph is to resist faith’s drift into abstraction. He keeps the mystery real.
The Pillar: Finally, do you have a film recommendation that illuminates Christmas?
Bishop Varden: Three come to mind. First, an electrifying performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio by the Netherlands Bach Society — beauty freely given, like grace itself.
Then a documentary about the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, co-founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. It shows how dialogue and shared creation can become acts of peace amid division — a living parable of the angels’ message.
And a small gem: Mikhail Aldashin’s Christmas (1996). It’s childlike yet profound, brimming with wonder and biblical echoes. Films like that keep alive our capacity for astonishment — the heart of every true Christmas.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from The Pillar
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