Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - Joseph was about thirty years old when he took his cousin Mary aged 15, daughter of Anna and Joachim as his betrothed spouse. Both descendents of David, their marriage was probably arranged because Joachim had no male offspring and his heritage would have otherwise passed to another clan or tribe.
Now while still young, Mary consecrated herself body and soul to God renouncing the joys of motherhood and above all the desire of every daughter of the House of David to be the mother of the Messiah announced by the Prophets. Mary consecrated her virginity to God, as she tells the Angel: “'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?”,
When he accepted to marry Mary Joseph could not have known of her promise, which he later vowed to respect in chastity. The Litanies of St Joseph rightly invoke him in these terms: Custos pudice Virginis (Chaste Guardian of the Virgin), Joseph castissime (Joseph most chaste) and Custos virginum (Protector of Virgins).
It is easy to overlook the human drama lived by Saint Joseph. Six months after the conception of John the Baptist in the sterile womb of Elizabeth, Mary is visited by the Archangel Gabriel: he announces that she will give birth to a Son who will be called the Son of God Most High and that God will give him the throne of his father David (cf. Luke 1, 31-32). When Mary asks how this will happen the Angel explains: “'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.” (Luke 1, 35). And when she hears from the Angel that her elderly cousin Elizabeth known to be sterile was in her six months pregnant, “Mary went as quickly as she could into the hill country to a town in Judah. She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth” (Luke 1, 39). From Nazareth in Galilee, to the north Mary went south, in Judea, probably to Ain-Karim, six kilometres west of Jerusalem. Elisabeth must certainly have been the first confident of the wonders worked by the Lord in Mary who stayed three months with her cousin and then returned to Nazareth.
Three months later, nothing escapes the people in a small village … Joseph, aware of Mary’s state, was a “just man” St Matthew tells us. He felt it was not just to give his name to a child which was not his, but at the same time he had no doubts about the purity of Mary on the contrary he had full confidence in her.
God speaks to him through an Angel: “'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” (Matthew 1, 20b). So the last prophet of the Old Testament Joseph, who will see the fulfilment of God’s plan for salvation, a descendent of David, becomes adoptive father of the Son of David. He is the first to contemplate God whom no one has ever seen, before the shepherds, before the elderly Simeon, before the Wise Men, he contemplates the Son of God made man of whom he has adopted: No one has ever seen God “he who sees me sees the Father” (Jn14,9) Jesus tells Philip. Joseph is head of the Holy Family model and ideal of all families.
Domesticae vitae decus, Familiarum columen, Protector Sanctae Ecclesiae, ora pro nobis. Glory of Family Life, Pillar of Families, Protector of the Holy Church, pray for us! (Litanies of St Joseph). (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/12/2006; righe 41, parole 591)
