Two Gospels are given for today. We have just heard St Luke’s account of the finding of Jesus in the Temple after being lost for three days (Luke 2:41-51). The other is from St Matthew – when Mary is found to be with child through the Holy Spirit and St Joseph receives the news of this through the message of an Angel in a dream (Matt 1:16, 18-21.24).
In both Gospels St Joseph experiences anxiety and perplexity: in Luke at the losing of the Son of God of whom he was the custodian; in Matthew at the mystery of Mary’s pregnancy, the truth of which he cannot fathom.
In both these Gospels St Joseph experiences great joy and consolation: in Luke at the finding of Jesus in the Temple; in Matthew when the truth about Mary and her child is revealed in a dream.
In both of these Gospels perplexity and anxiety are intermingled with great joy – suffering and consolation.
St Joseph’s perplexity at Mary’s pregnancy stands in sharp contrast to that of St Elizabeth’s knowledge. St Luke tells us that very soon after the Annunciation, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. “...Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country.” (Luke 1:39). At the Annunciation we are told Elizabeth was in her sixth month, pregnant with St John the Baptist. Mary stayed with Elizabeth three months and then returned home. Six plus three equals nine months. Elizabeth then gives birth
Mary left to see Elizabeth very soon after the Annunciation. St Elizabeth had not seen Mary, yet the mystery of Mary’s pregnancy was already known to her: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43)
So this begs a question: Why was St Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, granted such clarity by God and yet St Joseph, Mary’s spouse and the one who would be called father of Jesus, the Son of God, was left in such perplexity?
Commenting on St Matthew’s Gospel St Peter Chrysologus says of St Joseph: “He thought of putting her away [that is to say Mary], since he could neither reveal outside what had happened, nor keep it inside. He thought of putting her away, and he told it all to God, because he had nothing to tell men” (Sermon 145).
Here is perhaps the answer – St Joseph “told it all to God” for he had no one else to turn to. His perplexity led him to abandon himself to the heavenly Father.
This would be the pattern of St Joseph’s life. For Mary and Jesus, St Joseph was the conduit of the heavenly Father’s providence. St Joseph is left in perplexity, so that he casts himself upon, clings to, the heavenly Father for all things. Joseph’s perplexity is a condition for his exalted vocation. It would be a constant for his life. It would be the lesson he would teach Jesus – abandonment to the Father. This is why St Joseph is so hidden. St Joseph was the living icon of the heavenly Father from whom the Son, Incarnate in Jesus, was eternally begotten before the foundation of the world.
After receiving the angelic messenger in a dream Joseph will say “yes” to Mary and to her child. He will take Mary to his own home. His “yes” and Mary’s “yes” meet in the name that is revealed to them both. Jesus. God saves. (cf Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31).
Mary and Joseph’s “yes” to God’s plan, to God’s love and to their love for each other, intertwine and accompany the mysteries of the Incarnation. It is the grace we ask of St Joseph today that through his intercession the Church may “constantly watch over the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation”. (Collect for the Mass)
How fitting that the Solemnity of St Joseph always falls in Lent! Each year as we approach that great unfolding of the mystery that is Holy Week, the Church invokes his intercession to guide us through this. The glory of Calvary, revealed in the Transfiguration, casts its light over the marriage of Mary and St Joseph. Moses and Elijah on Tabor spoke with Jesus about his Exodus, his passing over, his Passion (cf Luke 9:31). What was revealed to Mary and St Joseph within the walls of the holy house in Nazareth?
Maybe we could offer a prayer to St Joseph for the protection of life from conception to natural death today; St Joseph took Mary pregnant with Jesus to his own home (cf Matt 1:24); St Joseph’s was a happy death – tradition teaches he died in the company of Jesus and Mary. St Joseph was not at the Cross. At Calvary we are told John the beloved disciple took Mary to His own home (cf John 19:27). In taking Mary to his own home and dying in the company of Jesus and Mary, St Joseph opened up the way for Jesus to entrust his Mother to St John and St John to Mary as his Mother. The death of Joseph opened up the way for Mary to be Mother of the Church, Mother of us all.
The Church invokes St Joseph as Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Guardian of the Redeemer recalling the great dignity of St Joseph’s vocation. But we know the marriage bond is dissolved at death. Jesus, risen from the dead, ascended into heaven and now seated at the right hand of the Father – of what need has he of an earthly guardian and father? Does this mean St Joseph’s role in the Church is now redundant?
Quite the opposite.
We heard St Bernadine teach us this morning at Vigils “...Christ does not now deny to St Joseph that intimacy, reverence and very high honour which he gave him on earth….rather...in heaven Christ completes and perfects all that he gave at Nazareth”.
In the communion of saints St Joseph’s loving union with the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, of whom he was the most chaste Spouse, is even more profound. His role as Guardian of the Redeemer, as his father, has now passed from Christ as Head to his Body the Church; St Joseph is Protector of the Universal Church. But more than this – as the love of Mary and Joseph intertwined to accompany the unfolding of the mystery of Christ, so now too they continue this task for each of us. The unfolding of the mystery of Christ within us does so under their watchful gaze and through their love and intercession.
So, in our perplexity and anxiety let us go to St Joseph (cf Gen 41:55). He knows all about it! With Mary he will teach us abandonment to the Father’s love, as he taught Jesus, in order to lead him to the Cross. At that great moment of our life, our death, that great unfolding and revealing, he will accompany us from here where we see only in a mirror dimly to heaven, to gaze on the One who called him “father”; he will escort us from the perplexities of this life to enter into joy in an eternal face to face with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Pluscarden Abbey - DJC