Mary was chosen by the Lord to be the Mother of Jesus the Saviour and the ‘yes’ she proclaimed in awe and wonder to Angel Gabriel fulfilled the prophesies. Joseph betrothed to the beautiful Mary, waiting in anticipation to marry her, finds her conceived and in the very human circumstances this is unacceptable and shameful.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph lived a simple family life at Nazareth, thereby sanctifying the ordinary and giving it meaning.- Art 47
Obedience in Faith
Mary was chosen by the Lord to be the Mother of Jesus the Saviour and the ‘yes’ she proclaimed in awe and wonder to Angel Gabriel fulfilled the prophesies. Joseph betrothed to the beautiful Mary, waiting in anticipation to marry her, finds her conceived and in the very human circumstances this is unacceptable and shameful. When Angel Gabriel appeared and said “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” Mt.1:20, in ‘silence’ Joseph said the difficult ‘yes’ as John Paul II said “ what he did is the ‘clearest obedience in faith’ Rom, 1:5. When Joseph woke up, he did what the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home” Mt,1:24 This act of acceptance to be the instrument of God’s handiwork makes Joseph a unique actor in the God’s plan of salvation and this is the beginning of ‘sanctifying the ordinary and giving it meaning’.
Shared the value of Equality
In the Jewish community which harped patriarchal values, Joseph as the head of the family had to take up the responsibility of protecting and providing for Jesus and Mary and he has taken a humble job as a carpenter. It is right that he is raised to be the ‘model for workers’ because he made an ordinary the dignified. Though Joseph was the breadwinner yet Joseph and Mary shared the value of Equality in the right perspective. There was no lording over. Each respected the other and each maintained that respect at all cost. All the liberative feminist cries for equality could find a ready made answer from the lives of Mary and Joseph.
Showed ‘Fatherly Love’
A child expects love in abundance from its parents and in the normal sense, the love a ‘guardian’ could show a child would be considered to have its limitations but as we read in the Preface for the Mass of St. Joseph, “God placed him(Joseph) at the head of his family as a faithful and prudent servant so that, with fatherly care he might watch over his only begotten son” Roman Missal.
The long journeys the Holy Family had to undertake was borne by Joseph with fatherly care and went one step further of co-partnering with Mary in building up the kingdom, of course in his own way. In the present day context in which millions of people are displaced in their own countries or as refugees in another land, the ‘running to Egypt to protect the child/Saviour’ gives a kind of a solace that even the Holy Family had to undergo such difficulties in their life to prove the ‘fatherly care’.
Guardian of the vulnerable
Joseph’s ‘Guardianship’ gives a new angle to ‘the family life.’ In a world where living as a family is becoming more and more liquidated with divorces waiting in every door step, sacrificing yourself and building a beautiful relationship as a guardian is the need of the day. Women headed families are on the rise and orphaned children in plenty await ‘guardianship’. Will there be Josephs who could give a protected and loving ‘home’ for these vulnerable groups without expecting anything in return that creates ‘a new family order’?
A ‘Just man’
Joseph was a ‘just man’Mt.2:19. Knowing that Mary is already conceived he never wished to put her down in the society and hence decided to leave secretly. This could be interpreted in the sense of respecting the right of a person as well as respecting a person as a person and accepting him or her as he/she is. Being a just man, Joseph shone above other men of his time by being meek and humble and fair enough in his dealings with others and customers. At a time when we are plagued with corruption at all levels of our Government Institutions, Joseph shines out to be the example for what it means to be a person of clean hands and pure heart and steadfast spirit
Building relationship with God and Men
“Hidden and unknown, close to the people of their village and part of its everyday life and concerns, they entered in God’s redemptive plan to “restore all things in Christ Jesus” the Son – art.47 It is obvious that the Holy Family was mingling with the ordinary people and was all out to support them in times of need like the need for wine in the wedding in Cana. This episode is double edged ; the obedience of a Son to the parents that proves how both Joseph and Mary has disciplined the child and understanding the ‘speciality’ of the child in its full sense by the father and mother. There is a hue and cry in all the societies in the world today of the undisciplined acts of children especially the youth and the children/youth too are crying for the elders for understanding them and their needs. Let every mother and father learn from Mary and Joseph to bring up their children in a manner that could save them and save the world. .
Joseph is also the best Disciple who listened to the voice of God speaking to him in unknown ways. For our society that is getting drowned in Mass Media and fast moving technologies, Joseph becomes a Haven and an oasis where we are challenged to set aside time and space to be in relationship with God, to have a heart to heart talk with God, to sit at His feet and listen to Him.
Seeking God Alone in all things… in the ordinary daily events-art 48 is the ‘mantra’ of the Holy Family of Nazareth -Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the truth of the truth is without Joseph the ‘Family’ perception and the understanding of ‘relational God in the human sense would not have been possible”.
A stronghold for the dying
Joseph also is the one and only to whom we pray for ‘good death’; Oh how beautiful was the death of St.Joseph in the hands of Mary and the lap of Jesus! What else could a ‘father’ get as a gift for his fatherly care and concern to his family than this? Let’s cling on to St.Joseph to lead and guide us with fatherly affection towards our families and the PBN Family as well as the universe and specially for the gift of the best ending of our lives so that we may eternally live in God! Amen.
Regina Ramalingam