Last week, on 19th March, we had the feast of St. Joseph, and on that same day, there was a wedding in our Church. What a quite wonderful day to be married, and know that Joseph will be your special protector, all your married life. Truly, he was an amazing man, and, to him it falls to be the guardian of all Christians in the Church. The hymn at the Divine Office of Morning Prayer begins:
Joseph, wise ruler of God’s earthly household, nearest of all men to the heart of Jesus,
be still a father, lovingly providing for us, his brethren.
For the wedding homily, I put myself in Joseph’s shoes and wondered if I would have acted in the way he did. He was betrothed to Mary, who was, probably, a lot younger than he was; indeed some Christian tradition suggests Joseph was a widower, with a handful of young children. He was, surely, very fond of Mary, and Mary of him, because both were devout Jews of their time; it is significant that we find them among quite a few couples, mentioned in the Gospel narratives: Zechariah and Elisabeth, Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary; no doubt, there are others. My mother, on one day – not long before she died – confided in me, that she was attracted to my father, because she could see he was a ‘good, religious’ man!
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(1) St Joseph with the Child Jesus – Guido Reni (1635) (2) St Joseph the Carpenter – Georges de la Tour (1640)
Now, I must ask the question, what if I was betrothed – the word is stronger than engagement and means, essentially, she was destined to be my wife – to a beautiful, young girl, only to find out, after she had been away for three months, that she was pregnant? Before you rush to answer, please bear in mind that I live in an old-fashioned country, where such unexpected pregnancies are not, in any way to be countenanced, and could, according to law, lead to death. Would I have refused to expose my betrothed, to public disgrace, and therefore decide to, quietly, divorced her, with no fuss? That is what Joseph, described as a righteous man, decided to do (Mt. 1: 19). After that, God sent the angel, who appeared to him in a dream, and told him how Mary came to be pregnant, by the power of God himself, and that he should take Mary as his wife. Joseph did so, thus facing the public shame that must have been showered on him.
Once all this has been absorbed, it can be seen that Joseph was a man of deep faith! Faith entailed for him, as it does even for us today, a life of sacrifice and suffering. But, through all this, he became the man he was destined to be – a man who grew in his love, and knowledge, of God. Husband of Mary, and guardian and protector of Jesus, our saviour, Joseph became the great saint of all time, that he most surely is.
If I were to face the dilemma and make the decisions as Joseph did, then I, too, need to be a man of great faith. There is the calling and the challenge. In this there can be no ‘shilly-shallying’, no half-believing, no half-following God and his will. Only whole-hearted following will bring about the fullness of life that God wants to give, to each and every one of us.
St. Joseph, pray for us!
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