A MAN CALLED JOSEPH.
By Rev Henry Johnstone, S.J.
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY No. 504A (1927).
“A man whose name was Joseph.” Thus, almost casually, we might say, is Saint
Joseph introduced to us in the Gospel. Yet how much interest, almost romantic
interest, is gathered round that name! How many thoughts and scenes the name of
Joseph can conjure up! “A man whose name was Joseph” — that is, the man who was
husband of the Virgin Mother of God, and was called Father by the Son of God;
the man who received from heaven the revelation of what Israel had waited for
through thousands of years; the man who prepared the manger and adored the
new-born Saviour on the first Christmas night; the man who talked with the shepherds
and heard from their own lips the story we read in Saint Luke; the man who
redeemed the Redeemer with five pieces (shekels) of silver, and stood by in
wonder while Simeon and Anna uttered their prophecies; the man who was
interrupted in his daily toil by the arrival of distinguished strangers from
the East, and saw them worship and offer princely gifts; the man who, under
Divine Providence, cheated Herod of his prey and fled in the starlight from
Bethlehem; the man who, day after day, watched God made Man grow from babyhood
to childhood, from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to manhood, under his
very eyes; the man who taught a trade to the Creator of heaven and earth; the
man whom Mary loved, and Jesus trusted and obeyed — "a man called Joseph.”
When we first set out to glean
what we can about Saint Joseph in the pages of the Gospel, we seem to be told
very little. Of course, we cannot expect to find a complete biography of him
there. Even of Christ Himself, we do not get that. But we might expect many
details which are not given us. We know the story of the birth of John the
Baptist; we know who were his parents, where he was born, where he grew up; we
can discover his age; we are told what he ate, how he was dressed, many of the
things he said, where and how he died. In the case of Saint Joseph, we know not
a single one of these details (except the name of his father). Yet what we do
know is of great interest. We know some of the places where he lived, we know
the things he saw and some of the words he listened to, and we know a little of
what he thought and felt. The sketch of him which we get may be only an outline
drawing, but it is by a master hand. The Holy Spirit is Saint Joseph’s
biographer. The reason, perhaps, why there is such an air of unreality about Saint
Joseph in our minds, why even pictures and statues of him seem so un-lifelike,
is that we do not study him sufficiently in the only authentic record of him we
possess, the Gospels.
Let us take our Gospels, then, and see what we can learn about the real Saint
Joseph and his life. He is not mentioned by Saint Mark, and only indirectly by Saint
John. Most of our information about him comes from the first two chapters of Saint
Matthew and the first two chapters of Saint Luke. It would be well in reading
these pages to keep those chapters of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke at hand, as
well as a map of the Holy Land. We cannot expect that this short booklet will
exhaust the subject. It will be enough if it sends the reader back to read the
Gospels again with fresh interest and a more observant eye.
(Pope Benedict XV, in his Encyclical on Saint Jerome (15th September, 1920),
expresses the wish that the Gospels and Acts may be put in the hands of as many
people as possible, “so that every Christian family may have them and become
accustomed to reading them.”)
1. — NAZARETH.
We do not know whether Saint Joseph was a native of Nazareth or not, and, in
the absence of evidence, it is idle to speculate. His family, of course, came
originally from Bethlehem in the south, for he was of the house of David. Two
genealogies are given for Saint Joseph, one by Saint Matthew and the other by Saint
Luke, and the two do not agree. Into the question of their reconcilement, it is
not necessary to enter here. Needless to say, there cannot be any real
contradiction between them, but with the knowledge we at present possess we
cannot give a certain explanation of the apparent disagreement. The most likely
one is that Saint Matthew’s genealogy gives the natural descent of Saint
Joseph, and Saint Luke’s his legal descent, or vice versa. On the question of Saint
Joseph’s age, we are again without any evidence. The earliest representations
of him make him a young man; it is only later that he began to be portrayed as
an old man. Though this latter view has become the accepted one nowadays, it is
hard to see why it should be so, and there is no reason why we should not, if
we wish, imagine him at the time of his marriage with Our Lady as not far
advanced in years.
Though the language used by Saint Matthew admits of the other interpretation,
it is much more probable, all things considered, that when the Gospel story
opens, Saint Joseph was only betrothed to Our Lady, and that the marriage had
not yet been celebrated. Betrothal among the Jews was a very solemn contract,
practically as binding as marriage, and giving the same rights. During the time
of betrothal, the bride-to-be remained in her own home. We may take it,
therefore, that this was the state of affairs when that fateful message was
brought by Gabriel to Nazareth. Mary was still living with her parents or
guardians, and Joseph, the carpenter, who was betrothed to her, worked at his
trade, waiting till the time came to bring his bride to her future home. From
the reply that Mary made to the angel’s announcement of the birth of a son, we
can see that Mary and Joseph had agreed that in their case marriage was not to
involve the surrender of virginity. Were this not so, Mary’s reply would have
no meaning. When, after the Annunciation, Mary went off hurriedly to visit her
cousin Elizabeth in Judea, Joseph, as after events proved, knew nothing of the
wonderful event which had just taken place in Nazareth, a place which is here
mentioned for the first time in the Bible.
We may be inclined sometimes
to think of Nazareth as of places we see in our dreams or read of in fairy
tales. The Nazareth where Saint Joseph lived and worked is a real place, as
real today as it was in Saint Joseph’s time, and probably little changed in the
slowly changing East. It has been remarked by those who have travelled in the
Holy Land that its sights fill the silences of the sacred books. So it is
important for us when dealing with Saint Joseph’s life, where there are so many
silences in the inspired record, to form some picture of the scenes amid which
most of his life was passed.
Take the map of Palestine and
find the spot on the coast where Mount Carmel, of sacred memories, juts out
into the sea on the south side of the Bay of Acre. Follow the River Kishon, on
the north side of the Carmel range, upstream through the narrow gorge (100
yards wide) by which it enters the Plain of Acre, and you come out into the
Plain of Esdraelon. This is the only break in the long line of hills which run
like a backbone down the centre of the land, and affords the only level passage
east and west, from the Jordan to the sea, for the whole length of Palestine.
The whole plain swarms with historical memories — of Elias (Elijah) and the
priests of Baal, of Gedeon (Gideon) and the Madianites (Midianites), of Saul
and the Philistines, of Judith and Holofernes. It has been the battleground of
nations from the dawn of history down to the time of Napoleon, who fought a
battle there, and even to our own day. In shape, the Plain of Esdraelon is a
triangle, and the northern side, running east and west, is formed by the
southern edge of the hills of Galilee, which drop sharply into the plain. About
midway in the line of hills, a narrow valley cuts in, rises steeply, and opens
out into a high, flat basin. Here in this upland valley, 1160 feet above the
sea, overlooking the plain, Nazareth lies. A little amphitheatre of hills runs
round it behind, and two prominent bastions protrude into the plain, one on
each side of it. From these hills on which Nazareth is built you can look, as Saint
Joseph looked, over the whole land, from snow-clad Hermon in the north to the
hills of Judea in the south, and from the mountains of Gilead across the Jordan
to the waters of the Mediterranean.
It is altogether against the
evidence we possess, to suppose, as is often done, that Nazareth was a very
obscure, out-of-the-way place. It is always called a town or city in the
Gospels, and contained, as far as we can estimate, about 5,000 inhabitants.
Important trade routes passed, if not actually through it, as some maintain, at
all events quite close by. The capital of the province was in sight from the
hill above it. Flourishing cities on the coast and by the lake of Galilee were
within a few hours’ journey. It lay in the midst of a beautiful and fertile
country, with a teeming population and the hum of trade all about it. We must
not picture Saint Joseph, then, as the inhabitant of an isolated village. In
Nazareth, he was in touch with the manifold life of the Palestine of his day.
When Mary returned to Nazareth
after her three months’ sojourn with her cousin, and it was brought to Saint
Joseph’s knowledge that she was to be a mother, he received a cruel blow. He
could not believe that Mary was guilty of any sin; yet he could not shut his
eyes to the fact of her present condition. The mystery of the Incarnation was
beyond his imaginings. Whatever way his thoughts turned seeking a solution of
the problem, he was met by apparent impossibilities. One thing seemed clear — his
happiness was wrecked forever. Then, when he had taken the bitter resolution
which duty pointed out to him, to break the contract of betrothal with Mary, as
secretly as possible for her sake, the revelation of God came to him. An angel
told him not to be perturbed; it was the Holy Spirit Who had wrought the wonder
in Mary; “and you shall call her son Jesus, for He will save His people from
their sins.” Thus was the shadow lifted from his life, and — what had seemed
impossible — happiness is increased and in a larger measure is given back to
him. Then the marriage was celebrated with the rejoicings which were customary
at the time, and of which we find an echo elsewhere in the Gospels.
2. — BETHLEHEM.
Very few months passed and the quiet life of Joseph was broken into by an event
which threw the whole countryside into commotion. A decree was issued by the Roman
Emperor Augustus that a census was to be held of all the Jews, and that each
was to register in his family’s place of origin. It was a harsh reminder of the
foreign domination to which they were subjected, and which they hated with a
passionate but impotent hatred. The Son of God, too, at the very hour of His
birth, was to be Himself subject to that domination, and the place of His birth
determined, to all appearances, by the orders of a pagan emperor. Yet God, in
His unfathomable wisdom, was but using human plans for His own divine ends.
Thus, by chance, as we term it, by accident, by the whim or wilfulness of man,
God’s will in our regard is worked out. The prophets had foretold the birth of
Christ at Bethlehem; on the eve the Nativity, it was the decree of Augustus
that brought Mary and Joseph there.
As we shall see later, it is
highly probable that Joseph had no intention of returning to Nazareth. So he
would have settled up his affairs, disposed of some of his belongings, and
taken the remainder with him. This may suggest to us that the tradition which
puts an ox in the stable where Our Lord was born has historical probability
behind it. If Saint Joseph was transferring his home from Nazareth to the
neighbourhood of Bethlehem, he would have brought his beast with him. Mary and
Joseph, then, set out on their journey southwards. We can follow on the map the
route they took. Though at times caravans from Galilee on their way to
Jerusalem had to take the longer route by the Jordan valley, on account of the
hostility of the schismatical Samaritans, the ordinary way, as is clear from a
passage in the Jewish historian, Josephus, was the direct one through Samaria.
The distance in this case would be about 76 miles. Joseph would travel slowly,
necessarily, in the circumstances, and may have taken five or six days on the
way. He went down the steep track from Nazareth, crossed the Plain of
Esdraelon, past Tabor and all the familiar landmarks, then up through the
valleys of Dothan and the wooded hills of Samaria to the high, bleak ridge
which forms the centre of Judea. As tradition tells us it was the winter
season, the journey across those bare uplands would not have been an easy one.
Bethlehem, six miles south of Jerusalem, lay 2360 feet above the sea.
There is no need to rehearse
the well-known story of what happened when Joseph at length reached Bethlehem.
The inn — the khan of the East — was full. We can enter into Saint Joseph’s
feelings. Mary’s needs and his own love made him eager to do his very best for her.
The best was a stable, a rough shelter for beasts. There the Second Person of
the Blessed Trinity appeared among us, and Joseph worshipped in wonder the
little Baby Who was God. Meanwhile, in one of the valleys close by (Bethlehem
lies on a hill) the shepherds listened to angels singing, and were given the
strange sign by which they were to recognise Him Who had been foretold as
“Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty.” (Isaiah 9:6) — “an infant wrapped in
swaddling bands and laid in a manger.” “They came with haste, and they found
Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger.” And still in the thought
and devotion of Christendom, these three are inseparably linked. Saint Luke
tells us that Mary stored up in her heart all she saw and heard on that wonderful
night. It is hardly unwarranted to suppose that the same is true of Saint
Joseph. Eight days later he exercised the authority which had been conferred on
him, circumcised the Child, and gave Him His name. So it was through Saint
Joseph’s act we now have that Name which is above every name.
When forty days had passed
Mary and Joseph travelled the six miles northward to Jerusalem, to carry out a
twofold prescription of the law. The first-born male child of every Jewish
family belonged to God, and had to be presented in the Temple and bought back
with five shekels. (See Numbers 18:16.) On the same occasion, the mother
underwent legal purification, and offered a lamb. Those who could not afford a
lamb, however, offered two doves instead. Mary and Joseph, then, came like
other pious Jews to carry out what the law prescribed. It is worth noting that
the first time Jesus visited Jerusalem it was that He Himself might be redeemed
with five pieces of silver, but the last time He came there it was to redeem us,
“not with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of
Christ.” (1 Peter 1:18-19.) We learn from this portion of the Gospel that
Joseph was a poor man, for Mary made the offering of the poor.
Saint Luke tells the story of what followed: how Simeon saw the little group,
and, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, took the Child in his arms and blessed God
that he had lived to see with his own eyes Him Who was to be the Saviour of all
peoples, the light of the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. Then, while Mary
and Joseph were filled with astonishment at his words, he turned to them and
blessed them, as well he might; for if he was so highly favoured in seeing the
Promised One, how blessed was the family into which He had been born! But the
mystery of evil and the rejection of grace here presents itself, and to the
words of joy and blessing Simeon adds the solemn prophecy of the ruin that
would come to many through this very Saviour, and how the heart of His Mother
would be pierced with a sword. Joseph stood by and listened to these strange
words, and his own heart felt the prick of the sword that awaited Mary.
We do not know exactly how
long a time elapsed before the Magi came, but from indications in the Gospel,
we can form an opinion. Herod, we are told, enquired accurately of the Magi the
time the star had appeared to them. As he afterwards put to death the children
of two years and under, we have good reason for supposing that the Magi came to
Bethlehem when Our Lord was more than a year and less than two years old. The
custom which gives the Magi a place in the Christmas crib is thus not true to
historical facts. Indeed, the Gospel explicitly says they found Jesus in “a
house.” Neither have we any authentic information or even constant tradition
about the number of the Magi. It was a fresh surprise in the quiet life of Saint
Joseph at Bethlehem when these rich strangers suddenly arrived, entered the
little house, adored the Infant Child, and offered the products of their
country in sign of homage as to a king. Joseph’s name is not mentioned in the
story. We can imagine him in the background in silent wonder.
3. — EGYPT.
Joseph was not left long to ponder over the thoughts suggested by the visit of
the Wise Men. Straightway he is warned in sleep to take the Child and His
Mother and fly to Egypt, and stay there till he is told to return. Soon Herod
will be seeking the Child’s life. And so, while the Magi stole away eastward,
avoiding Jerusalem, Joseph took the road to Egypt before morning dawned. Egypt
had always been the ordinary place of refuge for those who had to fly from
Palestine. There was a numerous Jewish community all about the delta of the
Nile. Bethlehem was the usual starting point for caravans to Egypt, and in the
course of his sojourn in the former place Saint Joseph would have picked up
information about these caravans and the route they followed. So we can
understand how he was able to set out at once without even waiting for
daylight. There must have been a terrible fear gnawing at his heart till he
crossed the River of Egypt, 70 miles away, and passed out of the jurisdiction
of Herod. He knew enough of Herod to realise that anyone who incurred his
displeasure or excited his jealousy need expect no mercy. Once beyond the
boundary of the Holy Land the little party was comparatively safe, and the rest
of the journey might be made with less haste. Joseph may then have joined some
small caravan for greater security.
What were Saint Joseph’s
thoughts during this long journey of 260 miles? Wonder had followed on wonder.
Joy and sorrow had come one upon the other in quick succession. First his
trouble at Nazareth; then the consolation of the angel’s message, with the
wonderful forecast of the Child’s future; next the unwelcome bidding to go to
Bethlehem, and the cold welcome that awaited him in the home of his fathers;
and after that, in bewildering sequence, the birth of the Child, the marvellous
tales of the shepherds, the mingled joy and sorrow of Simeon’s prophecy, the
visit of the Wise Men from the East, and the sudden warning in the night. As
Joseph followed the desert route to Egypt and looked at the Child asleep in His
Mother’s arms, he could not foresee an incident in that Child’s later life when
another storm would rage around Him, and threatened to destroy Him and His
companions while He slept. But, then, He was to awake, and with a word quiet
the storm. Not so now. While behind them, the blood of the Innocents flowed and
their mothers’ cries rose to heaven like the lamentation of Rachel for her
children, it was left to Saint Joseph to guide Mary and her Child to safety in
a strange land.
We do not know from the
Gospels where the Holy Family took up its abode in Egypt. Tradition points to
Heliopolis, a few miles from Cairo, and, at all events, we can say that there
seems no reason why Saint Joseph should go further. He had been told by the
angel to expect a message bidding him return. But how long he had to wait for
that message we cannot say with certainty. We have only one fixed date in the
course of all these events, the death of Herod in B.C. 4. Then it was that
Joseph was told to return to his own land. We do not know, unfortunately, with
certainty, the year of Our Lord’s birth; but the date that has most authority,
perhaps, is B.C. 5, or perhaps 8 B.C. even. (Lest it may be puzzling to some
to find Our Lord’s birth assigned to a date before Christ, it may be recalled
that when, in the sixth century, the system of dating our era from the birth of
Christ was inaugurated, the date of the Nativity was wrongly calculated, and a
year was fixed on as the year 1 A.D., which was really several years later than
the actual year of Our Lord’s birth. So when we say Our Lord was born in 5
B.C., it only means He was born five years before the date which was originally
calculated as the year of His birth.)
We saw above that the flight
into Egypt took place probably more than a year and less than two years after
Our Lord’s birth. If we suppose, then, that Saint Joseph left Bethlehem for
Egypt in B.C. 6, this leaves an interval of two years, more or less, for the
stay in Egypt. (It is much less if 4 B.C. was the year of the flight into Egypt
and the later death of Herod.)
When Herod died, the angel
spoke again to Joseph in his sleep and Joseph left Egypt, its temples, its
pyramids, and its idolatrous worship behind, and set out for Palestine. The
visit of the Magi reveals to us that he had remained at Bethlehem after
Christ’s birth instead of returning to Nazareth. And now his intention was
again to settle in Judea. This shows he had definitely abandoned his former
home in Nazareth. But when he reached the confines of the Holy Land, he learned
that Archelaus, son of Herod, had succeeded his father. What was Joseph to do?
His intention had been to bring up the Child, Who was to inherit the throne of
David, in David’s town of Bethlehem. But he could not place Him again in the
danger from which He had before so narrowly escaped. Archelaus was fully as bad
as Herod. God came to Joseph’s assistance, and indicated Nazareth, or at least
Galilee, as the place to which he should go. The journey from the neighbourhood
of Cairo to Palestine and up along the coast to near Caesarea, the seat of
Roman government, then across a pass in the Carmel range to Nazareth would be
about 820 miles, a long distance to bring a Boy of four or five years old (or
less). It must have been with feelings of satisfaction that Mary and Joseph
reached once more the familiar scenes of fertile Galilee, and made their way
across the Plain of Esdraelon and up the steep road on its northern side, which
led into the pocket in the hills where Nazareth lay.
4. — NAZARETH AGAIN.
The rest of Saint Joseph’s life, so far as we know, was spent at Nazareth, amid
the scenes we have already described. The details of his life become still more
scanty, till his name disappears altogether from the Gospel record, like a
river lost in the sands. Three things, however, we learn about his life during
this period. The first is that he led the life of a poor carpenter. The Gospels
are quite clear on this point. He was known and remembered by the people of the
district as “Joseph the carpenter.” The word which we translate “carpenter” may
mean just as well “smith,” and it is not unlikely that Saint Joseph’s work was
a mixture of both trades. It was afterwards said of Our Lord, “How came this
man by this wisdom and miracles? Is not this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:54-55.)
We gather, then, that Joseph was a simple, uncultured artisan. Like all the
common folk of Galilee, he would have the rough accent of that province, the
accent which later betrayed Peter among the servants of the High Priest in
Jerusalem. As we have seen, Saint Joseph was a poor man, and it cannot have
improved his position that he had been obliged to move from one place to
another so often during the past few years. He had to bend himself to his work,
therefore, during the remainder of his life at Nazareth to provide for Mary and
the Child, as well as himself; any failure in his efforts would mean that they
would go hungry.
We learn from the Gospels, in
the second place, that Joseph led a religious life. We are told that he went
every year to Jerusalem at the solemn day of the Pasch. Though the Evangelist,
concerned only with an incident which occurred at a feast of the Pasch, makes
no mention of the other two yearly festivals, we may take it that Joseph went
to Jerusalem three times a year. We get confirmation of this in the seventh
chapter of Saint John, where we find the “brethren” of Jesus going up to
Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles. It was on the occasion of one of his
visits to Jerusalem that the event took place which is the sole one recorded at
length in Saint Joseph’s life after his return from Egypt. There is not
sufficient reason for thinking that this was Our Lord’s first visit to
Jerusalem for one of the festivals, as is commonly supposed.
It is more than likely that He had already accompanied Mary and Joseph
frequently on these pilgrimages. All the Gospel says on this occasion is that,
“When he was twelve years old, the Child Jesus remained in Jerusalem.” We can
suppose, therefore, that the Holy City and the ceremonies of the Pasch were already
familiar to Him when He reached His twelfth year. A good deal of mystery is
sometimes made of what is called the “loss” of the Child Jesus. We must
remember that Our Lord was twelve years old at the time, and was, even to the
view of those around Him, remarkable for His wisdom (Luke 2:40), and in
countries like Palestine, where development is so rapid, twelve would be
equivalent to a still greater age among us. So it was not a case of Our Lord
being “lost,” as we commonly understand the word. The Evangelist puts the
matter quite intelligibly when he says simply that Jesus remained behind in
Jerusalem without letting His parents know. It was Christ’s own action. Mary
and Joseph saw Him among the party when they were setting out for Jerusalem;
they knew that He, like any grown boy, was quite able to take care of Himself,
so they naturally felt no anxiety when they did not see Him in the course of
the first stage of the journey, until He failed to rejoin them at night. Then
they became alarmed, enquired fruitlessly among their friends, hurried back to
the city, searched all next day without success, and finally found Hun on the
third day among the doctors in the temple.
It had been a sore trial for Joseph; besides his own grief and anxiety, he had
to witness the anguish of the Holy Mother. She, too, was conscious of Saint
Joseph’s grief. “Your father and I have sought You sorrowing.” Then came the
Boy’s answer, a single flash in all these years lighting up His divine
character and mission. But Mary and Joseph could not fully understand what He
meant. The future, with all it contained, was still hidden. But the Mother
“kept all these things in her heart.” She must have talked over this incident
with Saint Joseph, too, for she was able to tell the Evangelist that he, like
her, did not understand. “They understood not the word that He spoke unto
them.”
The third fact which we learn from the Gospels about this period of Saint Joseph’s life is that he exercised the rights and duties of a father in regard to Jesus Christ. Jesus was known afterwards and commonly referred to as the Son of Joseph. From Mary’s spontaneous use of the word when she came upon her Son in the Temple, we see that “father” was the name Joseph ordinarily went by in the home at Nazareth. And Jesus, we are told, was subject to him. Joseph instructed Him in the precepts of the Mosaic law; he taught Him to read the inspired books of the Old Testament; as the Boy grew up and became strong, he taught Him his own trade. We can trace throughout the remainder of the Gospels how much more Jesus learned under Joseph’s roof. Where but at home in Nazareth did He first watch a hen gathering her chickens under her wings? Where did He get His knowledge of the patching of old garments? Where did He learn by experience that a good father will not offer his hungry son a stone when he asks for bread? Where did He first see a woman mix leaven with her measures of meal? Where did He find out that the lamp is not put under the bushel measure, or under the bed, but on the stand? We must not forget that Christ spent nearly all His life in Joseph’s house, and that His thought and speech, as revealed to us in the Gospels, reflect the experiences of all those years.
Exactly how long Saint Joseph lived after the last mention of him in the
Gospels, when Our Lord was twelve years old, is unknown. It is the common
opinion that he died some time before the beginning of Our Lord’s public life,
and for this opinion, there is good foundation. In several places later in the
Gospels, where we should reasonably expect some reference to Saint Joseph, we
find none. Then, when Jesus visited His own town of Nazareth, the people said:
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" and then follows a reference
to His brothers and sisters (that is, His cousins), who were living among them;
but not a word of Joseph. And so on other occasions. We find, too, during Our
Lord’s public life, that Mary had given up her home at Nazareth. This would
hardly have been had Saint Joseph still lived. And, finally, on the cross,
Jesus left His Mother to the care of Saint John. The death of one so loving and
devoted must have been a cause of deep grief to Jesus and Mary. But of this,
the Gospel tells us not a word. After his life of service, the “man called
Joseph,” the “just man,” passes away without a single sentence to chronicle the
event. Let it be enough for us to know that he died, as we all hope to die,
attended by Jesus and Mary.
5. — THE “JUST MAN”.
Considering the high office Saint Joseph was chosen to fill, we should suppose
that God prepared his soul in a fitting manner and bestowed on him those graces
and spiritual endowments which would render him worthy of the intimate
association he enjoyed with Jesus and Mary. If the lips of Isaiah were purified
with a burning coal before he prophesied of the Redeemer to come, if the
Precursor was cleansed from sin in his mother’s womb, if Mary was preserved
stainless from the first moment of her existence, surely the foster-father was
a man made worthy of his trust! When we reflect, too, that union with Jesus and
Mary is the road to, as well as the goal of, sanctity, we can imagine how the
soul of Joseph grew in grace and holiness, living as he did in constant daily
intercourse with God made Man and the Virgin Mother. But though we might thus
infer from the very nature of Saint Joseph’s position the height of his virtue
and sanctity, let us, however, keeping to the path we have followed so far, see
what the Gospels themselves reveal to us on this matter.
The only direct testimony we
have in the Gospel about Saint Joseph’s virtue is given in a parenthesis:
“Joseph her husband, being a just man. . . ." It may seem at first sight a
very small meed of praise this, but when we consider them attentively, these
few words are full of meaning. A just man is one who serves God and keeps His
law. The first utterance of Our Lord when He left Nazareth to begin His public
life shows us that His whole desire was “to fulfil all justice.” Let us note
that there is a great difference between a man who performs just actions and a
just man; just as there is a great difference between a person who does
charitable things and a charitable person, a person who does humble actions and
a humble person. Saint Matthew explains why Saint Joseph, at a time when his
heart was torn with anguish, was bent solely on doing God’s will — he was a
just man. His actions naturally were right because they came from a heart and
will devoted to God’s service. The tree was good; therefore, the fruits were
also good. The passing nature of the reference only emphasises Saint Joseph’s
virtue. It is as if it needed no insisting on. A hint is sufficient. And it is
in keeping with all we know of Saint Joseph’s life that his great sanctity
should be thus presented and veiled by a passing phrase. Volumes have been
written about Saint Joseph’s virtues, but it is no disparagement of them to say
that Saint Matthew’s two words are worth them all.
Better, too, than any
commentary on Saint Joseph’s life is the simple narrative of the inspired
writers. No more useful biography of any saint is left us than that which the
Gospel gives so briefly of Saint Joseph. We see there a sanctity which all can appreciate;
a humdrum life such as any man may have to live, accompanied by sorrow,
hardship, disappointment, and monotonous toil. We get a picture of a silent man
who carried out God’s will through obedience, amid trials, by faith, in
obscurity, in humble service. The outstanding feature of Saint Joseph’s life as
presented to us in the Gospels is service. We are told nothing about his
private life, no personal details about his birth, upbringing, or death.
Wherever he appears in the Gospel story, it is as the servant of Jesus and
Mary. Most of his life could be summed up in a few words, “He served Jesus and
Mary faithfully.” That was his occupation in life. Joined with this is his
obedience to God’s will, whether that will was intimated to him directly from
heaven or through the law of Israel and those who held authority over him. We
have only to recall the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the hasty flight to
Egypt, and his faithful compliance with the precepts of the Mosaic law.
His chosen position as husband of Mary and foster-father of the Redeemer of the world did not exempt Saint Joseph from sorrow and suffering. The very first incident related of him in the Gospel shows him tortured by a terrible perplexity, which must almost have torn his heart in two; and the last scene in which he appears shows him wandering about Jerusalem in bitter sorrow. Saint Joseph’s trials were just the trials that everyone in his own measure has to suffer, anguish of mind and physical hardship; and they came in the same way as all our trials come, from the inconsiderateness or malice of others, as when he had to break up his home and travel so inopportunely to Bethlehem, and when he fled with fear in his heart from the ferocity of Herod; or from the ordinary hazards of life, as when he found himself shelterless as the winter evening fell one day at Bethlehem, the one day of all his life he would have given anything for a comfortable lodging; or from God’s direct intervention, as when the words of Simeon’s prophecy fell on his ears, and left him with a burden of anxiety for Jesus and Mary which he carried till his death.
He had to live a life of faith. He often did not understand God’s workings. He
had to follow the path of God’s will in darkness. When he was most faithful, he
seemed deserted by Providence. Think of the situation when he arrived with Mary
at Bethlehem. Here were two beings indescribably dear to God, the Mother of the
Word made Flesh and His foster-father. It was in obedience to God’s will that they
had left their home. The supreme event in the history of the human race was
close at hand. Yet God to all appearances had forgotten them; so far from there
being any special preparations made for them, even God’s ordinary providence
seemed to have failed them. In many respects, this is the most striking scene
in the Gospels; it certainly carries an important lesson for us. Sickness,
sorrow, death, trials of various kinds may come into our lives and wreck our
happiness, while God seems indifferent and deaf to our prayers. He gave Mary
and Joseph no sign of His love and care that time at Bethlehem; and yet, was He
indifferent? Could He be indifferent?
Nor was this the only occasion on which Saint Joseph’s faith was tried. He had
been told by the angel that this Child that was to be born would be the Saviour
of His people. Yet less than two years later he was told to get up by night and
fly, in order to save this same Child’s life. What did it all mean? Joseph did
not understand. He saw none of the miracles of later days; he heard none of Our
Lord’s teaching; he only wondered at the words of Simeon, as he wondered twelve
years later again in the temple when he found Jesus among the doctors. Even
after those twelve years of intimacy, he did not understand the answer Christ
gave on that occasion. Without warning, and of course without fault on the part
of Mary and Joseph, Jesus — unnecessarily, we might be inclined to say —
plunged His parents into such aching grief as only His loss could cause. It
often happens that those who are trying to serve God best are abandoned
apparently by Him, and left to plod along alone, with no companion but the
signposts by the way. Well, Mary and Joseph experienced the same. Why should we
complain? Joseph did God’s will, he carried out the work that lay to his hand,
but he did not always understand God’s plans. Is it right that we expect always
to understand them?
If we study it thoughtfully, Saint
Joseph’s life has valuable lessons for us all. He was one of God’s greatest
servants, and yet his life was woven of the same warp and wool as ours. The
Gospels give us that life in its sober reality, not overlaid with any of the
conventionalities of pious biographies. We may learn from it that neither money
nor position nor talents nor special opportunities are needed to serve God with
the greatest perfection. We may learn to avoid the delusion that we could be
saints if we were somewhere else, or had some other employment, but not in
Egypt, or in a workshop, or amid worries and trials, or leading a busy life. We
may learn that high sanctity does not consist in pious sentiments or even in
lofty meditations, but in faithfully doing God’s will, day in, day out, in the
sphere in which He has placed us. This is the safe, practical, solid
spirituality we find in Saint Joseph’s life. May that life be an inspiration,
help, and encouragement to us, and, aided by Saint Joseph’s intercession, may
we follow the same path as courageously and as faithfully as we can.
PRAYERS TO SAINT JOSEPH.
Efficacious Prayer to Saint Joseph.
O Glorious Saint Joseph! faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you do we raise
our hearts and hands, to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from
the benign Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual
and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death and the special
favour we now implore (mention it).
(Then say the following
Versicle and Response seven times in honour of the seven joys and sorrows of Saint
Joseph.)
Versicle. O Glorious Saint Joseph! through the love you bear to Jesus Christ and for the glory of His Name.
Response.
Hear our prayers and obtain our
petitions.
Seven Sorrows
Seven Joys
The doubt of St. Joseph. (Matthew 1:19)
The message of the Angel. (Matthew 1:20)
The poverty of Jesus' birth. (Luke 2:7)
The birth of the Saviour. (Luke 2:10-11)
The Circumcision. (Luke 2:21)
The Holy Name of Jesus. (Matthew 1:25)
The prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34)
The effects of the Redemption and prophecy of Anna. (Luke 2:38)
The flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:14)
The overthrow of the idols of Egypt. (Isaiah 19:1)
The return from Egypt. (Matthew 2:22)
Life with Jesus and Mary at Nazareth. (Luke 2:39)
The loss of the Child Jesus. (Luke 2:45)
The finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. (Luke
2:46)
LITANY OF SAINT JOSEPH.
Approved by Pope (Saint) Pius X, March 18, 1909.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Pray for us.
Illustrious Son of David, Pray for us.
Splendour of Patriarchs, Pray for us.
Spouse of the Mother of God, Pray for us.
Chaste Guardian of the Virgin, Pray for us.
Foster-Father of the Son of God, Pray for us.
Watchful Defender of Christ, Pray for us.
Head of the Holy Family, Pray for us.
Joseph most just, Pray for us.
Joseph most pure, Pray for us.
Joseph most prudent, Pray for us.
Joseph most courageous, Pray for us.
Joseph most obedient, Pray for us.
Joseph most faithful, Pray for us.
Mirror of patience, Pray for us.
Lover of poverty, Pray for us.
Model of all who labour, Pray
for us.
Glory of family life, Pray for us.
Guardian of virgins, Pray for us.
Mainstay of families, Pray for us.
Solace of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Hope of the sick, Pray for us.
Patron of the dying, Pray for us.
Terror of demons, Pray for us.
Protector of Holy Church, Pray
for us.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away
the sins of the world, Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Versicle. He has made him master of His house.
Response. And ruler of
all His possessions.
Let Us Pray.
O God, Who in Your ineffable providence did vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph
to be the spouse of Your most holy Mother, grant, we beseech You, that we may
be worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven, whom on earth we venerate
as our Protector, O Lord, Who lives and reigns in a world without end. Amen.
300 days’ Indulgence once a day, applicable to the souls in Purgatory.
(Decree of Pius X, March 18, 1909.) [Since Vatican II, this is now a “Partial Indulgence”.]