Happy St. Joseph's Day!

Well the day is nearly over, but Happy St. Joseph's Day, that is, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary.

A few brief thoughts about St. Joseph - and they'll have to be brief because it's after 10:00 and I don't like being up so late.

So often in the Bible it is the wife who, whether she is referred to by name or not, is mentioned only inasmuch as she is the "wife of so-and-so." Therefore, I find it notable that in Matthew's Gospel it is Joseph who is listed in that self-effacing manner: "the husband of Mary" (Mt 1:16). Now first off, I'm not condoning the practice of one spouse being known solely with reference to their husband or wife - though I'm not really judging the biblical writers either. It simply is what it is. Secondly, Joseph's name comes at the end of an impressive genealogy in Matthew's Gospel, so one could hardly accuse him of getting pushed under the shadow of Mary, his wife, when it is thanks to his pedigree that Jesus owes his lineage to David (at least in the theological mind of that Gospel writer). Furthermore, Matthew's Gospel depicts Joseph as taking a much more active role in the infancy narrative than in Luke's Gospel, so St. Joe ain't exactly a mere name attached to his wife. But the Gospels say very little about the man, and, as the homilist said today at mass, no words of Joseph are recorded in scripture. What then can be taken from such a unobtrusive, obscure character?

One thing we can learn from Joseph, like so many figures of the Bible worth emulating, is that he listened to God and followed God's command, even when it seemed strange, difficult, or different from the plan he already had in mind. Joseph was going to quietly divorce Mary because she was found with child before she was taken into his home. He was going to do this in such a way that would not expose her shame. A fine and respectable thing to do for one in that predicament in ancient Palestine, I take it. But God asked Joseph to go above and beyond what was expected of him and to take Mary and her to-be-born child into his home, and Joseph responds with trust in the will of God and does so.

I suppose I could go on about a number of attributes of Joseph: how he was the head of the holy family, the earthly father of the Son of God, the poor carpenter who earned his bread by the sweat of his brow, the one who had to lead his wife and son in their travels to and from Bethlehem and Egypt (according to the respective Gospel narratives), etc. But for all of that, and for the sake of getting some sleep soon, I'll simply sum up the two points I have attempted to make. Joseph simply was a man who did what was asked of him by God, and we celebrate a solemnity in his honor today - a solemnity in which he is humbly known in deference to his wife, Mary. And while that title may appear to feed the flames of a Mary-centric Catholicism or seem to be, dare I say, emasculating by sects of secular society, I don't think Joseph would care. The Church celebrates a day of great feasting in the midst of Lent because of a simple, unassuming, husband.
Praise God for that!


Shalom,
Ian