Saint Joseph - A Strong and Humble Man

Gospel	Matthew 1:18-24

How Jesus Christ came to be born

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

Enter stage left a new character in our drama.  We see a man, his hands are the hands of a working man, he is proud of the work he does, which is that of a carpenter. While he is not old, he is not a wild-eyed youth either.  He has been around and knows life, both the good and the bad.  He is head over heels in love with a young girl named Mary and today she is returning from an out of town trip where she visited her kinswoman, Elizabeth.  He could hardly wait for her.  He was making great strides in preparing a home for his soon to be bride.  He would make her as comfortable as a carpenter could in this town. Then he saw her. He went up to her and he noticed that her figure was fuller than it was when she left three months ago. The joy in her heart was flowing over when she saw Joseph and he asked her if what he thought was true and she answered that it was, she was pregnant. Joseph's heart broke. He was betrothed to Mary and while that conveyed the rights of a husband over her, it was custom to wait until the wedding to consummate the marriage.  He had no knowledge of her.  He looked into her eyes and without another word, he walked away, tears forming in his eyes.  Mary did not run after him.  She turned and went into her family home and to the room where the angel had spoken to her three months earlier.  She prayed and was rewarded for her prayer as the Lord instilled a calmness into her and she knew in her heart that all would turn out well. 

Joseph, on the other hand, was in a stew. He was an honorable man with a keen sense of justice and he knew that he could not wed the girl since she had been unfaithful to him.  If he denounced her and swore that he had not had intercourse with her and if she was indeed found with child, there would be no choice but she would be condemned to death and would be stoned.  He could not see his way clear to do this to her.  She had broken his heart but he still loved her and would do nothing to harm her in spite of her betrayal.  He resolved to send her away to have her child and to stay out of his town and his life.  He would remain celibate and alone and in deep mourning for the foreseeable future.  His world, which was so beautiful when he opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them this morning had crashed and changed into a world of sorrow and woe.  He began to weep bitterly and he fell into a deep sleep.  As the night wore on, Joseph dreamed about the life he would now not enjoy.  Even in his dreams the pain of betrayal infiltrated and changed the joyful into the sorrowful. It was right before he woke up when the dream changed again.  This time he was in a beautiful forest, in a clearing.  The air was cool and crisp and he was looking up into a blue sky when the sun appeared overhead and he raised his arm to shield his eyes.  The glow penetrated his hand and dazzled him but did not cause any pain.  There was an angel in front of him with a kindly face and he carried a golden spear.  He looked lovingly at Joseph and Joseph heard inside his mind these words. "Do not scruple to take Mary as your wife.  The child she carries is holy and the offspring of the Holy Spirit.  Be a father to the boy, bring him up in righteousness and train him for He is the Messiah, the promised one.  You are a just man, Joseph, and God has chosen you for this mission."  Joseph immediately agreed and with that, he awoke to a new day, his heart as light as a feather.  He hastened to the house of Mary and on that day he took her into the home he had been preparing for them.  He told Mary that he now understood.

Joseph was a man of deep faith, he had to be.  No actual angel came to guide him, he just had dreams.  His faith in God and the love he had for Mary carried the day.  Very little is known about Joseph.  He is mentioned even less than Mary in the Gospels. But we know him to be the model father that brought up the child Jesus.  He was called home early in our story because he is not at the wedding feast at Cana when Jesus begins his ministry nor is he at the Cross when Jesus died because if he had been, it would have been his duty to bury his son and we know that his disciples took charge of the broken Body and laid it in a tomb.

Joseph is an example of trust.  Learn to trust in God and He will guide you along.  This honest and humble man descended from the family of David gave Jesus his name and taught Him the humble work of a carpenter.  Jesus was a son to Joseph and Joseph was a father to Jesus. 

Please, remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory during this Advent season.