the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. Matthew 1:20
Today is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and father of our saviour Jesus Christ. It always astounds me how Saint Joseph sought to protect Mary even when he was “cuckolded”. Most other men would have fed her to the wolves and it would have been well within their right. Yet, here he was, still solicitous of her situation until he received divine revelation that the child in Mary’s womb was the Messiah. Then ever obedient, he did as the Lord commanded him. What a noble man.
Pope Francis proclaimed this year as the Year of Saint Joseph as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the declaration by Pope Pius IX of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. In His Apostolic Letter Patris corde (With a Father’s Heart) Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”
Saint Joseph is truly an inspiration for all of us, of an ordinary man who took on the role of guardian of Jesus and Mary and shows us, as Pope Francis writes, how to be a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.
Not much is written about him in Scripture but the silence speaks volumes. We have much to learn from such a man who walked with God so intimately that he became the earthly father to Jesus, inculcating his own deep faith, his patience and his gentleness. Saint Joseph, show us how to love Jesus as you did, and teach us to be obedient to the Father as you were.
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