By Albert Thyrniang
Last weekend the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Church and some in the Lutheran Church venerated Saint Joseph, the legal husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. Information on the first century Jewish saint is drawn from the first Gospel (Mathew), the third Gospel (Luke), the patristic writings and the ‘not be fully reliable’ apocryphal literatures. Popes’ encyclical letters and official Church’s document are also a source of reflection. Given the composition of population of the state the appearance of ‘Yosef’ (in Hebrew) could be appropriate.
The first virtue of Joseph is that he was a ‘just man’. This is the implicit quality stated by the Scripture. After marriage, which in all likelihood took place at Nazareth, before they came together, Mary was already with a child. In shock, “Joseph her husband, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to put her away quietly” (Mathew 1:19).
“Just’ means “righteous,” “upright,” “virtuous” or simply ‘good’. Because of his goodness he spared the shame on Mary and saved her from being stoned, as per the custom of the time, for having an ‘affair’ outside marriage. Many of us Church leaders were on the pulpit on March 19 last, the referred feast day, the significance of which supersedes the sobriety of Lenten Season and perhaps even delivered sermons thoughtful of implications. Perhaps, for listeners too the impact of the ‘protector of the universal Church’ ends once they step out of the Church doors. Do we deserve to be called “just’, “righteous,” “upright” and “virtuous”?
To be ‘just’ also means to be ‘honest’. The most visible challenge of honesty is concerning financial matters. Without a doubt, there is secrecy and non-transparency in its dealing. Money, much of which is cash, is handled by pastors, in many cases singly. Accountability is obscure. This is not a wild observation. Feedback comes from the public. Many concerned members wonder as to what to do with this anomaly. Should they choose to be whistle-blowers or should they continue to remain silent, suppressing their conscience? I was told that during a discussion on ‘Synodality of the Church’ lay people asked, “Why are we asked to be good? Look at priests! Are they there to do business?”
In the classical language, Latin ‘to be just’ is ‘suum cuique’ meaning “to each his/her own” or “may all get their due.” Joseph did justice to his work. He fulfilled his responsibilities of protecting Mary and Jesus and providing for them. In the same meeting participants observed, “Priests and nuns are mainly in schools. They no longer visit villages and homes. They even refuse to administer to the sick and the dying. Being in schools is lucrative. They don’t do justice to their calling.”
We have witnessed the exodus of 12 Congress MLAs. The five remaining Congress legislators have shifted to the ruling camp in open defiance of their party’s diktat. It is an acknowledgement of their failure to do justice as Opposition representatives. They claim that once they supported the MDA government, their constituencies have benefited. This means that the government is unfair to the Opposition. But should it be so? If the Opposition does not flag this injustice, then who will? Why were they mum for four years? For their failure to do justice to their role they chose the easy way out.
In one video Ampareen Lyngdoh was heard saying, “We are now (after joining the MDA government) in a better place. Officials (bureaucrats) look at us differently,” implying that more projects and schemes for their constituencies are allotted and cleared in offices. This is quite disturbing. Why should bureaucrats favour only MLAs of the ruling parties? Bureaucrats are meant to implement schemes across the state irrespective of whether the area falls within the jurisdiction of an MLA in the Ruling Party or the Opposition. Moreover, if bureaucrats are indifferent to the Opposition MLAs then what about the ordinary citizens? Bureaucrats cannot be dictated by politics. They are to serve the common people. If bureaucrats assist only the most powerful and influential individuals, then it is the duty of the Opposition to lodge complaints.
These days we watch the most blatant form of dishonesty – hypocrisy. The USA proclaims it is against Russia for invading Ukraine. But it is the US which pushed Russia and Ukraine to war. The most powerful nation has taken NATO to the doorsteps of the geographically largest country. Should the Russian leader watch while the West threatens its safety and security? Most importantly the US has gained tonnes of dollars out of the destruction in Ukraine. Even as Ukrainian children and citizens die American defence stocks have skyrocketed in the market. Public and private defence companies – manufacturing guns and bombs – will make windfall profits thanks to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Who says the US and the West want peace? War is good business.
The US and the western countries condemn Russia for the atrocities in Ukraine but they themselves perpetrated much bigger atrocities in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and elsewhere. FIFA and UEFA have banned all Russian sports. Why did the associations not exercise their authority against the serial invader and perpetrator of atrocities – the US? The same can be said on economic sanctions.
St. Joseph is a model for workers. He was a tekton, meaning a mechanic in general or a carpenter in particular. St. Justin chose the latter interpretation which has been accepted by the Church. Therefore, Jesus is called the ‘carpenter’s son’ in the Gospels. The Bethlehem-born saintly craftsman earned his living in the city of David via his profession. He provided for his family when he later moved to Nazareth, Egypt and finally back to Nazareth, with his trade. In 1955, in response to the communist sponsored “May Day” celebrations for workers, the church instituted the feast of St. Joseph to stress on the dignity of human labour and to teach that ‘Work is to develop our talents and abilities, to put it at the service of society …and the family.’
St. Joseph was a skilled carpenter. He imparted his skills to his son, Jesus. The need today is skills acquisition. Unemployment today is worsened due to the lack of skills in young people. Many educated unemployed are probably unskilled and untrained. They may be graduates or post-graduates in general disciplines holding BA, B.Com, B.Sc, MA, M.Com, M.Sc degrees but are out of job. Jobs for such categories are saturated. Even professionals who have cleared MBA, MBBS or nursing courses are struggling. So today there is no other way but to move to skill- based education.
We could also ask the jobless BA, B.Com, B. Sc, MA, M. Com, M. Sc passers whether they have mastered the general language and arithmetic skills, namely, speaking, reading, writing and calculating, sufficiently. In my limited experience, during interviews for teaching posts and other interactions these basic skills are acutely lacking. If youth have these necessary skills, I believe there is no dearth of jobs. Of course, I do not mean government jobs. The government cannot provide jobs for all its citizens. Even if the Reservation Policy is revamped little difference will be felt. Private undertakings, enterprises, online jobs, jobs in the social media bring more money than government jobs.
Speaking of communication skills we were embarrassed by some ministers during the budget session. The Urban Affairs minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar did not seem to understand the questions asked by Umroi MLA George Lyngdoh and kept on repeating the same answer over and over again. Worse was the Sports minister, Banteidor Lyngdoh’s answer, “The National Games won’t go anywhere from our state. If not this year, maybe next year or maybe the coming year but the state will definitely host the National Games.” It was a comedy! The minister was also clueless as to what do with the infrastructure (still to be built) after the games are over. Clearly some ministers lack the knowledge and the skill to be in the office. But we are helpless. Politics pre-requisites no special skill. It is not a profession.
St. Joseph was supposedly much older than Mary when they married. Unreliable sources suggest that Joseph was in his 80s or even 90s while Mary was about 15. The Catholic Church teaches the two had a chaste marriage. Mary had vowed to be a virgin. Joseph never violated her. He respected her dignity.
The rapes, abuses and exploitation today question the mentality towards women. Women are seen as sex objects. Abominable abuses are committed also by Church men against women and children. One of the trends today all over the world is the sugar-daddy sugar-baby relationships/services. Websites are available. Rich older men pay for college and university expenses of young women in exchange for sexual favours. Recently, a principal of a university told an assembly that there are a lot of sugar-daddies in Guwahati city. One is unaware of the situation in Shillong. There were reports some years ago of young girls who come to Shillong at the call of politicians. Though women are able to achieve their goals, sugar-daddy, sugar-baby activities are a form sexual exploitation.
Joseph can provide loads of inspiration but space constraint compels me to rest my case here today.
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