Little do we know about St. Joseph from the Bible. But we
can make use of this little knowledge that we have of him in recovering his
character. In the Gospel of Matthew (1:18-24), it is said that Mary and Joseph were
engaged. Joseph chose Mary to be his wife. Yet in this same Gospel, it is said
that God has chosen Mary to be the mother of His son (Jesus Christ). Joseph
then upon realizing that Mary was chosen and called to be the mother of Jesus,
he decided to let go of Mary. He would protect Mary even from himself. He could
not afford to take Mary as his wife when he knew very well that she was
consecrated by God, and dedicated to God. He had a plan but he gave it up
because of God’s plan for Mary. It was on this moment that an angel appeared to
him in a dream. He was told to take Mary as his wife. St. Joseph’s plan to
marry Mary was confirmed that such was also part of God’s plan. And aside from
this, he was chosen to give a name to the son of God –Jesus. In the Bible, we
can notice that Judaism placed great importance in giving a name. The first
mention of naming is in Genesis 2 when God brought the animals to the man to
see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each of them would be its
name. Here the act of giving names is an exercise of power or dominion. At the
same time, God made Eve, and the man said, “This one shall be called woman, for
this one has been taken out of “her man”. In giving the woman her name, the man
exercises his power or dominion over her. But this power or dominion is not
that kind which a master exercises over his slaves. Rather, the woman put
herself under her man, to place herself in a lower position to
receive the care and protection of her husband. Now, going back to St.
Joseph, his act of giving name to Jesus was an exercise of power or dominion.
But such power or dominion is not that kind which a master exercises over his
slaves. Rather, such power or dominion means to put the other under one’s care
and protection. It means St. Joseph has to take care and protect the child Jesus.
St. Joseph was not called to protect only Mary but also Jesus –the son of God.
In the last scene where Joseph was mentioned in the Bible, particularly in Luke
2: 49-52, St. Joseph fulfilled what was expected of him. Jesus was twelve years
old then, when Joseph and Mary brought him to Jerusalem for the Festival of
Passover. (While Joseph and Mary were returning home, Jesus stayed behind in
Jerusalem. After three days of looking for him, Joseph and Mary found Jesus in
the temple courts. His mother said to him, “Son,
why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously
searching for you.” Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know
I had to be in my Father’s house?” Here Jesus revealed his essence.) This
particular Bible passage prepared its conclusion with, “And he went down with
them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject
unto them.” This reveals that Jesus was under the care and protection of
St. Joseph and Mary. St. Joseph took care and protected Jesus as a real father
so much so that Jesus was known in Nazareth as the son of the carpenter, the
son of Joseph. St. Joseph took care and protected Mary by making himself available
as her husband so as not to leave Mary alone as an unwed mother. St. Joseph
took care and protected both Mary and Jesus by living together as a family. If
St. Joseph could do this to his family, he could also do it for the good of our
own families. And today, we say St. Joseph is the protector of our family.
"St.
Joseph, protect our home. Pour forth heaven's blessing on our
family. Remain in our midst. Help us to live in love and harmony,
in peace and joy. May the wholesome fear of God strengthen us that virtue
may adorn what we do and our way may lead to heaven.
"To
you this day I give the key to our dwelling place. Lock out all things
that could do us harm. Lock my home and my loved ones with me in the
hearts of Jesus and Mary. This I beg of you that our days may be like
your days in the holy home at Nazareth. Amen."
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