Men's Conference Team: St. Joseph

Pope Francis proclaims this year “The Year of St. Joseph.”  What do we know about St. Joseph?

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, comes from Scripture.  We know he was a carpenter and a hardworking man.  He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves for those who could not afford a lamb.  Despite being silent, his humble work and means was what we read about Joseph.  Joseph came from a royal lineage.  Joseph's genealogy came from the descent of David, the greatest king of Israel.  Indeed, the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as "son of David," a royal title used also for Jesus.  But Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge of who he was "a righteous man.”

Joseph was a compassionate and caring man.  When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God.  He knew women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he resolved to send her away quietly to not expose her to shame or cruelty.  However, when an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins," he did as the angel told him and took Mary as his wife.”  When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby Jesus.  He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back.

We know Joseph loved Jesus.  His one concern was for the safety of this child that was entrusted to him by God.  Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life.  When Jesus stayed in the Temple, we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him.  Joseph treated Jesus as his own son.  Over and over the people of Nazareth said of Jesus, "Is this not the son of Joseph!"

We know Joseph respected God.  He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth.  We are also told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man. 

Joseph is also the patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers, travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.  We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and on May 1 for Joseph the Worker.  March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph, and it wasn't until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the Feast of "St. Joseph the Worker" to be celebrated on May 1.  This is also May Day (International Workers' Day) and believed to reflect Joseph's status as the patron of workers.

Many places and churches all over the world are named after St. Joseph, including the Spanish form, San Jose, which is the most commonly named place in the world.  Joseph is considered by many to also be the patron saint of the New World.  In art, Joseph is typically portrayed as an older man, with grey hair and a beard, often balding, sometimes appearing frail and a marginal figure next to Mary and Jesus, if not entirely in the background. 

Saint Joseph, patron of the universal Church, watch over the Church as carefully as you watched over Jesus, help protect it and guide it as you did with your adopted son.  Amen!

How are we like St. Joseph as men to our families?

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