Page 127 - Reflections on St. Joseph

also the justice of St. Joseph is found in his obedience to the words of the Lord. In truth, Joseph
did not respond to the announcement of the angel of the Lord like Mary, but he did that which
the angel had ordered him to do and took his wife to himself. That which he did is pure obedience
of faith. One can say that that which Joseph did united him in a special way to Mary’s faith: he
accepted as truth coming from God that which she had accepted already in the Annunciation.
The Council teaches: the obedience of faith is due to God who reveals himself, making the full
submission of intellect and will to Him and willingly assenting to His revelation.

This perfectly applied to Joseph of Nazareth. That which Joseph did is recounted in the stories of
the Gospel, where the paternal role of Joseph toward Jesus is clearly presented. In fact, salvation
comes by means of Jesus’ humanity, it is realized in the gestures which are found in daily family
life. The Evangelists are very careful to show how in Jesus’ life nothing happens by chance, but
all proceeds according to the pre-established Divine plan: this happened in order to fulfill…

By the Incarnation the promises and figures of the Old Testament become reality: places and
events come together following precise divine orders.

St. Joseph’s mission is enclosed in the paradox of the absolute truth of his marriage with Mary
and of his fatherhood as regards Jesus, on the one hand, and the virginal conception of the Son of
God by the work of the Holy Spirit on the other. They are two rings of the chain which cannot be
unfastened.

The Davidic line has for the Jews a significance which it is difficult to understand today. The
genealogies of Matthew and Luke, which attest Jesus being of the Davidic line and so of his being
the Messiah, come through Joseph, though not seeking to hide that his fatherhood is not physical.
Also the imposition of the name is seen in a typically paternal function, a role of very high value
in the biblical and traditional world in general. But, Joseph’s fatherhood has an even more
elevated real foundation: he received this mission from God, who creates all the objective
conditions for its fulfilment.

Faced with the pregnancy, of which is he is not the cause, Joseph is disturbed such as to decide in
his heart to send his wife away. The Exhortation does not get into the exegetical question; still, it
underlines the disturbance connected to accepting humbly and generously the mission received
from God. Joseph’s disturbance is that of the just man who, at the threshold of a mystery which
is greater than he, of which it is difficult to believe he had not been made aware, does not know
how to decide without first having understood God’s will. Once his vocation is known, his life is
marked by silent and perseverant fidelity, a very pure model of the obedience of faith.

The truth of the marriage and fatherhood of Jesus has very important consequences for the
theology of marriage and love in general. They evidence a major fact: marriage, which is love
between a man and a woman, does not consist in sexuality, without taking anything away from
the importance and holiness of sexuality between spouses. A minimalist and false conception of
marriage has fatally favored the conviction that sexual relations are an essential element of
marriage; precisely the reflection on this point in the Christian mystery has led the best

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Reflections on st. joseph