Everything we know about him comes from the Sacred Scriptures. We know he was a carpenter, a working man. He wasn’t rich for, when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified, he offered the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb.
Despite his humble work and means though, Joseph came from a royal lineage; in their Gospels both Luke and Matthew mark his descent from David, the greatest King of Israel.
Joseph was a compassionate and caring man; when he discovered that Mary was pregnant, he planned to divorce her, but he was concerned for her suffering and safety. He knew that women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he decided to divorce her quietly and not expose her to shame or cruelty.
He was a man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him, without knowing the outcome, and he loved Jesus as a father loves his son. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him.
Joseph had certainly an influence on the psychological and emotional development of Jesus. One of the things which he naturally taught him was his trade. The education of a child is the most grave obligation and the primary right of parents. Joseph certainly must have fulfilled this obligation and right.
The Sacred Scriptures are silent with regards to Joseph’s death, and many historians deduce that, since he is not included in the accounts of Jesus’ ministry and Passion, he must have passed away before that time.
Since marriage is the highest degree of association and friendship, involving by its very nature a communion of goods, it follows that God, by giving Joseph to the Virgin Mary, did not give him only a companion for life, a witness of her virginity and protector of her honour; he also gave him to Mary in order that he might share, through the marriage pact, in her own sublime greatness.
In last year’s Angelus delivered on the IV Sunday of Advent, Benedict XVI turned his spiritual gaze on Jesus’ foster father, “He was the model of a ‘just’ man (Mt 1: 19) who, in perfect harmony with his wife, welcomed the Son of God made man and watched over his human growth.”
Benedict then highlighted Joseph’s silence and his contemplative nature, and recalled how his predecessor, John Paul II, who was particularly devoted to this humble carpenter, had expressed this devotion in his Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos (The Guardian of the Redeemer).
“His silence,” Benedict explained while recalling John Paul’s Exhortation, “is steeped in contemplation of the mystery of God in an attitude of total availability to the divine desires. In other words, Saint Joseph’s silence does not express an inner emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart and which guides his every thought and action. It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, watches over the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, continuously comparing it with the events of the life of Jesus; a silence woven of constant prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of his holy will and of unreserved entrustment to his providence.”
The Holy Father concluded his address by indicating the practice of inner recollection as the best means for preparing oneself spiritually for the forthcoming celebration of the birth of Christ, “Let us allow ourselves to be ‘filled’ with Saint Joseph’s silence! In a world that is often too noisy, that encourages neither recollection nor listening to God’s voice, we are in such deep need of it.”
During this season of preparation for Christmas, let us cultivate inner recollection in order to welcome and cherish Jesus in our own lives.
Updated on October 06 2016