The summer months bring an increased flow of pilgrims to the Eucharistic and Marian Shine at Knock in Co. Mayo, one of the encouraging signs of Irish people’s enduring faith. Devotion to Our Lady in particular has always been a feature of Irish piety and a day in Knock is a means of revitalising that devotion.
Documented apparitions of St Joseph throughout the world are rare and his appearance at Knock has been the subject of much analysis by spiritual writers and theologians.
Pope Pius IX in 1870, by his decree Quemadmodum Deus had declared St Joseph to be the Patron of the Universal Church and a few years later in 1879, St Joseph appeared in Ireland with the Lamb of God, alongside his spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John.
St Joseph is unique; not just the guardian but the legal father of Jesus.
There is no doubt that while Jesus was growing up in Nazareth, Joseph was known as his father. This is underlined for all time in Mary’s words when she and Joseph were reunited with Jesus following his apparent loss in Jerusalem at the age of twelve. “Your father and I have sought you sorrowing…” (Lk. 1:48)
Role
No other Saint has or could ever have this role and there are other titles which only Joseph holds. St Joseph is invoked under many names including ‘Zealous Defender of Christ.’ In fact numerous saints and theologians have called Joseph “The saviour of the Saviour.” We see this in how Joseph was immediately obedient when in a dream he was urged to flee to Egypt with the Child and his mother as Herod was intent on finding and killing the new king he had heard of from the Magi.
The foster father of Jesus was instrumental in humanity’s salvation as he made possible the saving mission of the Lord. Joseph suffered exile, poverty, fatigue, ridicule and many other hardships. There is no record of the dangers of being an exile in Egypt or of the perilous journey undertaken but we can imagine the difficulties for Joseph and his family. “Without the sufferings of St Joseph, we would not have the Saviour to set us free from sin and death. This is why Jesus grants every desire and wish of his beloved virginal father.” (Fr Donald Calloway, Consecration to St Joseph).
When Jesus is forty days old it is time to bring him to the temple and present him to his father in heaven. Jewish law prescribed that the firstborn male child belonged to God and we must conclude that Mary was like other Jewish mothers who brought their babies to be presented to God in the temple. This is also the day of the mother’s purification in accordance with the Old Testament law, the feast day’s original title. It was then that Mary, the mother of Jesus heard from Simeon that her child was a sign that would be contradicted, causing a sword to pierce her own soul.
He lived under his direction and likely learned a trade from Joseph”
There is no doubt that Joseph, her loving husband suffered at this knowledge, the prophecy of Simeon traditionally being one of the sorrows of St Joseph. The feast of the Presentation anticipates the paschal mystery. Here is the Light that will be revealed to all nations.
Our Divine Lord submitted himself to the authority of Joseph, the carpenter. He lived under his direction and likely learned a trade from Joseph. We have no knowledge of how long this dutiful life lasted but it is clear from the gospel of Luke that following the finding of Jesus in the temple: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Lk. 2:51) There has never been and never can be another man to hold authority over the Son of God.
But did Joseph have other children? There are two ways of looking at this matter and both of them show that Joseph did not have other children, whether born to another woman before he married Mary, or if he fathered children with Mary. It is a dogma of the Church that Mary was a perpetual virgin, so that is not a question to be debated. The second way to look at this matter is practical; if Joseph had other children where were they when he travelled to Bethlehem and later when he, with Jesus and Mary spent some years in Egypt?
The difficulty appears to lie in misunderstanding the words from the Gospel of Matthew 1:24 “Joseph…took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.” These are words that numerous scripture scholars, saints, popes and theologians have claimed do not mean that Joseph had marital relations with his wife after her Son was born.
Until
There are many passages in scripture where the word ‘until’ is employed. St Thomas Aquinas addressed the issue in his Summa Theologiae: ‘until’ does not have a determined temporal sense. When the psalmist says: “Our eyes are turned to the Lord until he have mercy on us” (Ps. 122) does not mean that once we have obtained mercy from God, we shall take our eyes off him or that God will cease to have mercy when we turn our eyes away. Other passages in Scripture make it clear the word ‘until’ does not mean an action will necessarily follow. The following are two examples from the New Testament:
1 Cor 15:25 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Obviously this does not mean that the reign of Christ will end when his enemies have been vanquished.
1 Tim 4:13 “Until I come, attend to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” Paul does not mean that Timothy must stop his teaching when Paul arrives.
The Church’s constant tradition holds that St Joseph lived a life of consecrated chastity”
“The Church’s constant tradition holds that St Joseph lived a life of consecrated chastity. Some of the apocryphal gospels picture him as an old man, even a widower. This is not the Church’s teaching. We are rather to believe that he was a virgin, who entered into a virginal marriage with Mary.” (Servant of God, John A. Hardon.)
When Mary met Joseph she knew that God had chosen him to be her loving and beloved husband. Trusting in God’s plan, she fell in love with Joseph and gave him her heart. Mary’s body was reserved for God, but she had the freedom to give her heart to Joseph, the only man worthy of her, the only man reflecting the pure love of God.
Joseph was the least of the holy family but he was its head. He is the one with authority and it is through him that God revealed the course of action necessary to protect his only Son. It was to Joseph that the angel gave direction addressing him as “Son of David” and assuring him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife and later to instruct him to escape with Jesus and Mary to Egypt due to Herod’s jealousy and heinous plan.
“St Joseph’s dignity springs from his privilege of being the legal father of the Incarnate Son of God. Here then, is a man the Son of God calls father, one whom he serves and obeys and before whom he kneels for a paternal blessing.” (St Peter Julian Eymard.)
Mary’s body was reserved for God, but she had the freedom to give her heart to Joseph, the only man worthy of her, the only man reflecting the pure love of God
There has never been and never can be another man to hold authority over the Son of God”
