A FAITHFUL STEWARD


SAINT JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY   

2 Sam 7:4-5,12-14,16; Ps 89:2-5,27,29; Rom 4:13,16-18,22; Mt 1:16,18-21,24

Do not fear to take Mary Home

The Church celebrates a great saint today. Saint Joseph is celebrated by the universal Church today as the husband of Mary. Not much is known about this noble and quiet man. The scriptures tell us only of his silent devotion to God. His dignity is first revealed in the Gospel when it is said that the Blessed Virgin Mary was betrothed to him. That he was to be the husband of Mary was ordained by God. The dignity of Saint Joseph comes to the fore when we consider the fact that God chose him for the all-important role of taking charge of His new creation: the Woman and her Offspring. If we learn from Scripture that the Woman and her Offspring are archenemies of the ancient serpent and sin, then the man Joseph must be a holy man to live in the company of the woman and her offspring and take charge of them. In fact, the Church presents Joseph as the one who received the fulfillment of the promise God made to David. “Thus, the Lord speaks: 'When your days are ended, and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.’” The Church gives us this passage today to meditate on, so that we may understand that Joseph received the promise God made to David through the prophet Nathan.

The Son of Mary is not the son of Joseph in the real sense, for she conceived him through the power of the Holy Spirit. The angel reveals this in the Gospel and uses the title ‘son of David’ to address Joseph, to confirm his privilege as the foster father of Jesus Christ. “Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour 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.” Joseph believed what the angel said and took charge of the mother and child. Thus, Jesus is his son according to faith. He believed in the word God spoke to him and acted on it; he contained the mother and the child in his space. If Joseph accommodated Mary and Jesus, the Messiah who is to build a house for God, he has a share in the building of the house of God. This action truly shows him to be the son of David, who ruled the people of God because of his faithfulness to the word of God. Joseph took the mother and child home in faith.

The same faithful action stands him in the company of Abraham, the father of all the faithful. Joseph is a descendant of Abraham as a Jew. But above all, he is a son of Abraham due to his faith in the word of God and his steadfastness in the service of that word. So, his righteousness, just as that of Abraham’s righteousness, is attributed to him through faith. Saint Paul’s words explain this. “The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham and his descendants on account of any law but on account of the righteousness which consists in faith. That is why what fulfils the promise depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of Abraham’s descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us.” Therefore, Saint Joseph’s greatness rests on his faith, which he showed by taking Mary, who was found to be with a child, home; he took charge of the woman and her child. He was faithful to his role as the husband of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus Christ. Because the woman and her son are the mystical reality of the Church and her children, we celebrate Saint Joseph as the foster-father of the children of God redeemed in Jesus Christ. His faith, like that of Abraham, brought forth a multitude of children. “He will say to me: ‘You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me.’ ‘I will keep my love for him always; with him my covenant shall last.’”

Let us pray: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by Saint Joseph’s intercession your Church may constantly watch over the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation, whose beginning you entrusted to his faithful care. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.    

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