What do We Know about Saint Joseph?
Quite frankly, we would know very little about Saint Joseph if we only relied on the Gospel narratives: St Mark does not talk about him at all and St John mentions him only twice (Jn 1:45, 6:42). We need to remember that these two evangelists begin their account (after a prologue) at the beginning of Jesus' public life. Matthew and Luke, on the other hand, tell us about the childhood of Jesus, and thus they will be our privileged sources. But the 25 passages found in Luke and the 17 in Matthew give very few elements. We ignore everything about the place and time of St Joseph's birth and no words from his mouth have been transmitted to us. "Joseph, the spouse of Mary, of whom Jesus was born" (Mt 1:16).
In God's plan, the name of Joseph is bound, in time and eternity, to those of Mary and Jesus. More than John the Baptist who announced the Lamb of God, Joseph is the silent steward of the Word, who is hidden behind the mission to which he is intimately united, down to his very name: "... the one who grows something, who watches over (the Son of God's) growth." He will perform this mission with an exemplary renouncement--Matthew's sober accounts of Jesus' childhood are better rendered than any theological commentary.
The one in whom the Father reflected Himself
Ater the Virgin Mary--St Joseph is undeniably the greatest saint in Heaven. St Gregory of Nazianzus wrote of him: "The Lord has arrayed Joseph, like with a sun, in all which the saints possess together in regard to light and splendor." No doubt St Joseph received all the necessary graces to exert this unique paternity which made up his special mission. So we are entitled to think that he was, among the sons of men and of course after Christ, the one in which the Father best reflected Himself.
Throughout the Church's History, from St Iraeneus, St Ephrem, St Basil, St Augustine and St Bernard to St Francis de Sales, St Teresa of Avila and St Vincent de Paul and many others, so great is the inspiration drawn from the humble carpenter become shadow of the Father by virtue of his mission in the mystery of the Incarnation. And the popes are not the last to sing the glory of St Joseph! From Pius IX to John XXIII and John Paul II (to quote only the most recent), confidences abound about their close intimacy with the protector of the Universal Church.
For, as Mary continues her ministry in the heart of the Church, of giving birth to the New Man, so St Joseph continues to watch over the growth of the mystical Body--from whom he received his paternal authority. Our western civilization is going through a crisis of paternity which shakes the very foundations of our society; psychologists and sociologists are searching for new models of fatherhood, but perhaps it would do us all some good to turn our eyes and our hearts to the man who embodied, in the midst of the world, divine fatherhood, "of whom all paternity draws its name in heaven and on earth" (Eph 3:15). Why not follow the example of the "good pope John XXIII" who, in talking about St Joseph, admitted with simplicity:
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Fr. Joseph-Marie Verlinde
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