Who was this extraordinary man, from whose personality the Word Incarnate would draw something for His humanity? What was so precious in Joseph that God the Father wished to transmit to Jesus?
The tenuous and golden light of the slowly setting sun lingers in the interior of a modest home. Its rooms, despite their simplicity, are filled with serenity, blessings and sweetness, a discreet reflection of which can be noted in the scent of the flowers gathered by the lady of the house and tastefully displayed throughout.
Close to one of the windows can be seen a fine table and some chairs, notable not for their material, but for their perfection and craftsmanship. The carpenter who fashioned them is the owner of this poor house, and is seated near the table, with his small son on his lap. He is teaching him to read. With a scroll of the Scriptures open before him, the father imparts Sacred History to the little boy.
A mystery reserved for the future
The scene is uncommon for today’s world, where disordered customs are destroying every home. But in a society illuminated by the light of grace, it would be seen as natural, and would not awaken great admiration… That is, if we did not know that the inhabitants of this house were Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
“O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom 11:33). The Most High, Eternal and Omnipotent God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). The Infinite became small to embrace our weaknesses, while He was carried in the arms of Mary and Joseph.
Much has been said about the grandeurs of the relationship between Mary and her Divine Son. However, this does not make up even five per cent of all that will still be made explicit by the Church, for “de Maria nunquam satis,” St. Bernard affirms.
Nevertheless, across the two millennia Church history, very little has been set forth on the figure of St. Joseph. Like many of the mysteries of God, this was reserved for the future glories of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Sublime mission of instructing the Divine Infant
Although shrouded in a deep silence, St. Joseph had a lofty mission in the plan of the Incarnation. Among the Hebrew people, it was largely the fathers’ task to instruct the children, especially the sons, in the area of religion.
As much as Catholic piety may lead us, with the eyes of our soul, to imagine the Child Jesus in the arms of Mary being educated and formed in the sublime relationship between Mother and Son, we find in Scripture a divine determination, established by Moses, that the father teach his son everything related to the Law and worship: “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son…” (Dt 6:20).
Joseph was “a just man” (Mt 1:19). With this adjective – so simple, yet so profound – the Evangelist defines and reveals Mary’s spouse. Now, being just, Joseph must have been irreproachable in the observance of the Law and, therefore, it fell to him to teach the Divine Infant.
What a beautiful scene it must have been on that first Passover when the Child Jesus rose from the table, as the Law prescribed, and before eating the lamb – a prefigure of Himself! – asked His father: “What does this mean?”
With what tenderness and emotion St. Joseph must have explained the Judaic rite to Him! With what words would he have pointed out, in those prefigures, the image of those days which they had already begun to live in Nazareth!
Teacher and Counsellor of the Incarnate Word
Long before, the prophet had asked: “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counsellor has instructed Him? Whom did He consult for His enlightenment, and who taught Him the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?” (Is 40:13-14).
And the response was found in that humble house: Joseph! Only Joseph was found worthy before God to be the Counsellor of Eternal Wisdom.
He who had given the tablets of the Law to Moses, hears from Joseph what He ought, in His humanity, to do to please God! He, who had enlightened prophets, learns with Joseph how to interpret the words of the prophecies! He, who had engraved His image throughout the entire universe, is taught by Joseph to admire His own reflections in creation!
The consideration of this lofty mystery leads us to exclaim, for all eternity, with St. Paul: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor? Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?” (Rom 11:33-35). The Creator abandons Himself into the arms of Mary; Eternal Wisdom receives instruction from the lips of Joseph!
Example of virtue, serenity and confidence
“Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph” (Lk 3:23). Who was this extraordinary man, from whose personality the Word Incarnate would draw something for His humanity? What was so precious in Joseph that God the Father wished to transmit to Jesus? In contemplating the two, would it be possible not to see and sense a relationship that is profound, absolute and divine? Of all that Joseph transmitted to Jesus, what was most august? His trade? The Law? Education? Undoubtedly, none of these.
In Nazareth, the Man-God received the best of classes: good example. An example of virtue, of serenity, and of confidence. He who already knew St. Joseph from all eternity, could contemplate there, from within His human nature, that “divine” man whose abandonment into the hands of Providence touched His Sacred Heart.
Jesus learned with him to contemplate Mary
Nevertheless, of all the gifts and grandeurs God placed in the soul of St. Joseph, one stands out as substantially inseparable from his mission. Joseph was to transmit integrally to Jesus that to which he had applied his entire life: love and devotion to Mary Most Holy!
With Joseph, the Child Jesus also learned to consider the qualities and perfections of His Mother. The omniscient Word of God needed no mediation to contemplate Her who had begotten Him. But although he had no need, he desired to do this through the eyes of his virginal father. And Joseph, alter ego – another I – of the Divine Paraclete, living receptacle of the love of the Eternal Father for Mary, would betray his own mission if he did not use every means to draw souls to Her and make Her more loved. The mission of St. Joseph begins in the Holy Family, for Jesus was the first to be led by him to Our Lady.
“The Holy Patriarch was an authentic slave of love to his Spouse […]. He thoroughly analysed the gifts and virtues of Mary; eagerly sought to imitate Her in her dedication to Jesus Christ; and let not even one gesture or word pass without applying to it all his admiration.”1
Over the course of time and for all eternity, St. Joseph will always be “the perfect father, the powerful mediator, the wisest teacher, the untiring protector, and model of slavery to Jesus through the hands of Mary,”2 who uses the infinite resources God has placed in his hands to crown the Blessed Virgin within every heart! ◊
