Message of Abbot Paul - Saturday 19th March
Message from Fr Paul for Saturday, 19th March 2022
Today we celebrate the feast of St Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, Son of God. Joseph was the head of the family that welcomed the infant Jesus, God incarnate, into this world and afforded him protection and human fatherhood. It was at Joseph’s side that Jesus grew up to be a young man, who valued the importance of work and family life together with the virtues of integrity, justice and obedience to God’s law. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe Joseph as being a man of honour. Whereas Luke recounts the story of the Annunciation to Mary, Matthew tells us how the angel of the Lord appeared to of Joseph in a dream. Let’s read that Gospel passage, (Mt 1: 16, 18-21, 24).
“Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 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.’ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.”
---
Joseph is obviously a prudent man as well as a compassionate one, for he wants to spare Mary, his betrothed, any adverse comment or treatment on the part of her family and town community. His initial decision is simply to present her as quietly and discretely as possibly with a writ of divorce, so as not to cause any scandal. Mary had not been given the opportunity to explain to Joseph what had happened. They weren’t living together at that stage and probably had little possibility of direct contact. Marriages were arranged and it’s possible that Joseph was a widower with children, some of them grown up. Could these have been the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned later in the Gospels? Many women died in childbirth and it was common for men to have had several wives in the course of their lifetime. As Joseph doesn’t appear in the Gospel narrative after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years’ old, it’s possible that he died before Jesus reached adulthood. Anyway, when the angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream, everything changes and he immediately takes Mary home as his wife. He believes what the angel tells him and does exactly what the angel asks of him. His role in God’s plan is pivotal. He afforded Jesus a safe and loving home and the stability of family life in which to grow up and mature.
Because of the protection that Joseph gave both to Mary and to the infant Jesus, he is regarded as Protector of the Church. He is also the protector and patron of fatherhood and family life. In Catholic countries, Fathers’ Day is celebrated on the feast of St Joseph. Let us commend to his loving intercession our own families, fathers and grandfathers and let us thank God for the gift of the human family and that particular Christian family, which is the Church of Christ. And may we all be given the grace to follow the example of Joseph in his love for Jesus and Mary.
