Saint of the Day: St. Joseph

Michie

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Today's Saint

March 19th, 2012

St. Joseph was the husband of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. What little we know of his life comes from the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. Joseph’s father was named Jacob, and he was a descendant of King David (Matthew 1:16). While working as a carpenter in Nazareth, Joseph became formally engaged to Mary, being willing to respect her vow of perpetual virginity.

When Mary was discovered to be pregnant, Joseph naturally assumed she had been unfaithful to him. He could have denounced her, thus sparing his reputation while ruining hers, but he didn’t want to hurt her — so he decided to combine mercy and justice by divorcing her quietly. It was after Joseph made this noble decision that the angel of the Lord revealed the truth to him (Matthew 1:18-25). Joseph believed this amazing message; he went ahead with his marriage to Mary, and then took her to Bethlehem for a census; while there, Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-7).

Because he was the head of the Holy Family, it was to Joseph that God sent an angel with a warning to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15); when it was safe, the Holy Family returned to Nazareth. As an upright and hard-working man, Joseph taught Jesus his own trade of carpentry, and faithfully guarded and served Him and Mary. Tradition states that St. Joseph died sometime before Jesus began His public ministry at the age of thirty; he is considered the Patron of the Universal Church and the Patron of a happy death.

Lessons
1. True greatness doesn’t depend on all the right “advantages”: wealth, a good education, and the proper social connections. St. Joseph had none of these things, but his humility and integrity allowed God to make him one of the greatest saints.

2. Genuine humility doesn’t excuse us from our responsibilities. Joseph knew he couldn’t compare in holiness to Jesus or Mary — but he nonetheless exercised authority over them in accord with God’s will.
 

Fran75

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Happy Father's day to all.
I have special devotion to him as an apdoptive parent, it was he who I asked for intercession during all the time we were waiting to be matched with our foster (and next month adoptive, yay!) son.
I pray esp, for Jack(TheCatholic) that he and his wife will soon again blessed with a foster child/children.
 
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ThePilgrim

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I know that recently, there have been some in the Catholic Church promoting the view that Joseph wasn't an old man, but rather a young man. The Tradition before, in both East and West, was that he was an old man chosen to care for Mary.

How wide spread in Catholicism is the view that Joseph was actually a young man?

In Christ,
Fr. John
 
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MKJ

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I know that recently, there have been some in the Catholic Church promoting the view that Joseph wasn't an old man, but rather a young man. The Tradition before, in both East and West, was that he was an old man chosen to care for Mary.

How wide spread in Catholicism is the view that Joseph was actually a young man?

In Christ,
Fr. John

Most Catholics in my experience have never heard of the idea that he was an older man. You might find more in a place like OBOB.
 
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Michie

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St. Joseph, a saint for an Age of Anxiety...
We tend to think of Joseph the way we see him in the manger scene outside our church, or on the cards we send, or the pageants that are staged. He is strong, stoic, patient – “righteous,” as Matthew describes him. But Tissot understood that the man betrothed to Mary was a man of worries, and apprehension, and even fear.
 
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Michie

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The Place of St. Joseph in Marian Devotion...
A careful reader will notice that St. Louis-Marie de Montfort makes no mention whatsoever of St. Joseph in either the “True Devotion to Mary” or the “Secret of Mary”. Indeed, it is quite common that books of Marian devotion have very little to say about the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin and Foster-father of our Savior. In this little post...
 
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Michie

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The Place of St. Joseph in Marian Devotion...
A careful reader will notice that St. Louis-Marie de Montfort makes no mention whatsoever of St. Joseph in either the “True Devotion to Mary” or the “Secret of Mary”. Indeed, it is quite common that books of Marian devotion have very little to say about the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin and Foster-father of our Savior. In this little post...
 
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