4th Sunday of Advent Year A - St. Joseph

 

The Gospel today reveals, a most difficult marriage preparation for Joseph. At that time, Jews were betrothed one year before they were married. When a couple was betrothed to each other one year before marriage-- they were then legally united, but did not live together. A year later, the wedding ceremony took place and then the couple came to live together.

During the year before marriage, after they had been betrothed, Joseph learned Mary was pregnant. To say the least, he would have been shocked and dumbfounded. What suffering he must have endured. He didn’t believe Mary would have sinned, yet he knew he wasn’t the father of the child. What a terrible dilemma. In order to prevent Mary from being stoned to death (which was the punishment at that time for women, who committed such sin.) he believed he should quietly divorce Her.

During a dream Joseph received a visit from an angel asking him to agree to God’s plan for Mary. The angel reassured him it was by way of the Holy Spirit, Mary had conceived. “When Joseph awoke, he did what he angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.” Just as Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let be done unto me as you say”, Joseph also did likewise when he obeyed the angel.

Marriage and virginity are two signs of the love of God for us-- and we see both of these united in the first couple of the New Testament, Mary and Joseph. Joseph is a model of chastity. And we know Mary chose to dedicate herself exclusively to God in virginity.

Catholic tradition has always taught that Mary’s virginal love for God was so great, She consecrated Her body to God at an early age through a vow of perpetual virginity. Mary entrusted Her entire person to God and had absolute confidence in His play for Her life. She desired nothing in this life, other than to do God’s will. Her confidence was so great, She trusted Him to lead Her into marriage with a man, despite Her vow of virginity. She was certain God would give Her a man who would truly love both God and Her, and respect Her vow; a man who would be completely dedicated to God’s plan and protect Her virginity. She never doubted God.

There was never a man more in love with a woman, than St. Joseph was in love with Mary. What dignity and holiness were required of St. Joseph to be the husband of Mary. In Her feminine Heart, Mary knew She was secure in the manhood of St. Joseph. He was Her knight and warrior. Every wife desires such a husband—a gentleman, a protector, a good father. Having placed her trust in God, She delegated to a man the safeguarding of the greatest treasure. She who delegated Her flower of virginity to God earlier in a solemn ceremony- had no doubt She would have a virginal spouse.

In Joseph, Mary experienced a perfect reflection and mirror of God’s love for Her. When Mary met Joseph, She knew that God had chosen Him to be Her loving and beloved spouse. Trusting in God’s plan She fell in love with St. Joseph and gave him Her Heart. He was the only man who perfectly reflected the pure love of God. Mary and Joseph lived what was called a “Josephite marriage”, meaning they never had relations.

Although Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, he was a true father to Jesus. When Jesus was found in the temple, Mary said to Jesus, “Your father and I have been looking for you.”. We can imagine the love and affection between Joseph and Jesus, and between Joseph and Mary. We can imagine Joseph’s pain at the poor circumstances of Jesus’ birth. We can imagine the pain he must have suffered when Simeon told Mary, Jesus would be a sign that to be opposed and a sword would pierce Mary’s soul. We can imagine the pain Joseph suffered when he had to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt for safety to preserve their lives.

Sometimes we see Joseph pictured as an old man in statues and paintings, but it’s actually believed, he was just a few years older than the Virgin Mary. As Mother Angelica said, “Do you think an old man would have walked from Nazareth all the way to Egypt, during their flight into the desert?”

What gave Joseph the strength to endure all the trials his vocation brought him? It was obviously his life of prayer which gave him the strength to be obedient to God’s call to him. He was a just man, a man of honor. He had to have been a man of deep faith to fulfill his high calling.

It is believed, he died before Jesus began His public ministry and that Jesus and Mary were present with him, as he died. That is the way all people of faith would like to die, in the company of Jesus and Mary. And this is why St. Joseph is the patron of a happy death.

In 1870 Pope Pius IX declared St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church. He said, “in the same way that he once kept unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so now, does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ.”

Pope Leo XIII prayed to Joseph in this way, “Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin...graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness...and just as once you saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity.”

In Joseph’s role as Patron of the Church he is indeed defending her from the snares of her enemies. Now more than ever we need to turn to St. Joseph to help the Church in these turbulent times in which the devil seems to be attacking the Church even from within.

Today, let us “go to Joseph”—“ita ad Joseph” in all our needs, especially seeking his fatherly care. He will help us to pray, to grow in our faith, to be obedient and to be just. He will help us love Our Blessed Mother and the Divine Child.

And so we pray, “O Joseph, patron of the universal Church, protect the Church from the harms of the devil, foster father of the Child Jesus, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, man of faith, watch over and protect us, keep us close to Jesus and intercede for us. Grant us perfect chastity, and especially the grace of a happy death. And when I draw my dying breath, may my last words be: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in last agony and take me to paradise.”