Page 172 - Reflections on St. Joseph

Incarnation. He was presumed to be the son of Joseph through the normal manner of
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conception. It is likely that Mary would not feel free to reveal the mystery of conception by the
Holy Spirit to anyone except Joseph, who accepted her word through faith and subsequently
had his own annunciation confirming that word. Only after the resurrection, the ascension,
and the coming of the same Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pentecost, would Mary share this
mystery with the apostles. This would be the source for the virginal conception being reported
in the infancy narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and nowhere else in the New
Testament. Mary and Joseph therefore provide the only lens through which to view firsthand
the mysteries of the Incarnation and hidden life of the Son of God.

The litany-like succession of the Holy Spouses prayer becomes “an unceasing praise of Christ,”
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who is the providential reason for their betrothal, the object of their respective annunciations, and
the center of their lives through their shared experience of his birth and growth. More completely
than the traditional five joyful mysteries of the rosary, the following ten mysteries of the Holy
Spouses Rosary prepare us for the relatively new luminous mysteries, and the traditional sorrowful
and glorious mysteries of the Marian rosary, in which Joseph is no longer present. For the Holy
Spouses Rosary, the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Hidden Life are as follows:

1. The Betrothal (Mt 1:18a, Lk 1:26-27, 2:4-5a). Before the Incarnation the immaculate
virgin and the just man are wedded to each other in true married love.
The mystery of the Savior’s coming into the world begins with a betrothed couple whose
relationship is based upon a desire to give themselves entirely to God’s love. In ways they
could not know, this betrothal “was part of the very plan of God.” 16

2. The Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:28-38). God chooses the virgin Mary, betrothed to
Joseph of the house of David, for the miracle of his coming in human flesh. The Son of God
becomes dependant on acceptance by a human mother, and thereupon takes the nature of a
tiny being in her womb.

3. The Annunciation to Joseph (Mt 1:18b-23). God’s design is for Mary’s husband, the just
man of the house of David, to continue with their plans to form a home together, and to
name and act as father to the child conceived by the Holy Spirit.

4. Joseph Takes Mary his Wife into his Home (Mt 1:24-25). The Son of God depends upon a
chosen human father, committed in a virginal marriage, to provide a loving, caring, and
wholesome home for him.

5. The Birth of Jesus (Lk 2:6-16). The Son of God is born in the poverty of a stable in the town
of David, received by the love of the humble Holy Spouses, and adored by poor shepherds.

6. The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus (Lk 2:21). The covenant of Abraham and the law
are brought to fulfillment with the circumcision of the Son of God on the eighth day. The
Holy Spouses give him the name they received from the angel, JESUS, indicating that the
fullness of salvation has arrived.

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Reflections on st. joseph