Page 71 - Reflections on St. Joseph

SAINT

JOSEPH

The Educator

Fr. Maximo Sevila, Jr., OSJ

Introduction

n a television interview with P. Tarcisio Stramare, OSJ by Tv2000it regarding the figure of
St. Joseph, our most eminent Oblate Josephologist explained that there are four most
important titles of St. Joseph which he alone has. They are namely, father of Jesus, spouse
of Mary, son of David, and a just man. At the end of the interview, he remarked, "With these
titles, what else do you like?”

Indeed, if there is a title that is attributed to St.
Joseph, like being called the patron of the
Universal Church or the model of all workers,
it must find its basis on those four attributes
of St. Joseph found in the scriptures. As P.
Stramare made emphasis, St. Joseph is
important not because he was the patron and
model of workers, but because, first of all, he
was chosen by God to be a father to Jesus. In
his most important magisterial teaching on
St. Joseph, the Redemptoris Custos, St. John
Paul II made it clear that St. Joseph’s
“fatherhood is not one that derives from
begetting offspring; but neither is it an
‘apparent’ or merely ‘substitute’ fatherhood.
Rather, it is one that fully shares in authentic
human fatherhood and the mission of a father
in the family (RC n. 21)” .
1

Reflections on st. joseph 47