Mar. 19, St. Joseph

by Gerelyn Hollingsworth on Mar. 19, 2010

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

From the Gospels we know that Joseph had visits from angels in his dreams. We have two versions of his lineage, one in Matthew 1, and the other in Luke 3. Both agree that Joseph was of tribe of Judah, a descendant of Phares, one of the twin sons of Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Joseph was of the house of David.

We know from the Gospels that Joseph fulfilled four of the five traditional obligations of a father to his son: he had Jesus circumcised (Luke 2:21); he redeemed him (Luke 2:22-24); he taught him Torah (Luke 2:46-47); and he taught him a trade (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3); We do not know if Joseph lived long enough to arrange marriages for his sons and daughters.

Click here for a picture of Joseph and Jesus at work.

Interestingly Gerelyn closes

Submitted by frère charles du désert OSB OBLAT (Congrégation de Subiaco) (not verified) on Mar. 19, 2010.

Interestingly Gerelyn closes with, immediately following a semi-colon: "We do not know if Joseph lived long enough to arrange marriages for his sons and daughters."

Do we Roman Catholics now dare consider the presence of siblings to Our Lord?

i.e., Saint James the Great, and his great letter, ejected from the canon by Luther himself?

Where does that then leave our infallible dogma of the Virgin Mother?

Be that as it may, we more productively contemplate today the great mystery of this great and humble Saint (like Saint John the Baptist a proto-Christian saint) through the profound meditation by Friar Boff published in English one year ago with the title: Saint Joseph: The Father of Jesus in a Fatherless Society

This essential theological treatise may now be found quite favorably at:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keyw...

We know from Mark, the

Submitted by Gerelyn (not verified) on Mar. 20, 2010.

We know from Mark, the oldest Gospel, that Jesus had brothers and sisters. The brothers are named. (A shame we don't know the names of Jesus' sisters.)

http://www.newadvent.org/bible/mar006.htm

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? Are not also his sisters here with us?

And we know from Eusebius, the Father of Church History, of Jude, the brother of Jesus "according to the flesh". Church History, Book III, Chapters 19 and 20:

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm

As to whether or not St. Joseph lived long enough to fulfill the fifth traditional obligation of a father to his children? Even if he didn't, his wife Mary surely would have done so. If parents were unable to arrange marriages for their sons by the time they turned 18, the community would step in and take care of it.

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