Page 73 - Reflections on St. Joseph

theoretical study of the Torah. Since only the males are trained in the Torah study, the father
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has the sole obligation to educate his son in the knowledge and practice of the Jewish Law .

One will observe that the first three duties of a father to his sons, namely, circumcision,
the redemption of the firstborn son, and Torah study, are geared towards their spiritual
development. The other three, namely, arranging a marriage, providing swimming
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lessons, and teaching a trade are geared towards their physical well-being .

It is also interesting to note that the father, who has the sole duty to find a suitable wife
for his sons, should fulfill this task with a noble purpose of ensuring they will live a life of
holiness in the sacred bond of marriage. Thus, the word “Kiddushin” or the act of betrothal
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has its root from the word “Kadosh” which means holy .

It is also interesting to know why the father needed to provide swimming lessons to his sons.
Since traveling by boat and bathing in the river expose children to the dangers of drowning, the
father has an obligation to give his son tools for survival in such situations. In knowing how to
swim, the child must also learn to save life, which is said to be the command of the Torah that
"supersedes even the strongest commandment” .
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Lastly, the Rabbis insisted that to teach his son a trade is a grave task which the father must
never be negligent. A father failing to do this task is like driving his son to become a thief. He
is as guilty as his son, who has turned to robbery because he did not teach him any trade to
support himself .
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Jesus’ growth and development under Joseph’s watchful eyes

In saying that “Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man” (Luke 2:52),
the gospel touches on the fundamental Christian belief that Jesus is not only divine but also
human like us. The Fourth Eucharistic prayer contains this truth in proclaiming that Jesus “was
a man like us in all things but sin.” Luke’s gospel did not say that Jesus advanced in stature but
was already full of wisdom from birth. No, he also experienced growth in all his human
dimensions: body, mind, and spirit. It is, therefore, right to believe that like other children in
Nazareth, he learned to walk, to talk, to read, to work, and even to grow in his values and
character with the influence of his environment and with the help of the people around Him.

Reflecting on how Jesus learned to become a full-grown man, the bible scholar, Lucien Deiss, in
his scholarly work entitled, “Joseph, Mary, Jesus”, asserted that like any human being, his
intelligence and his heart remained subjected to the human law of growth. He adds, “The
development of his personality took place under the sun of heavenly grace, of course, in his
most intimate conversation with his Father, but also in the warmth of the home of his father
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Joseph and his mother Mary .” Thus, we also have a reason to believe that Jesus owed much of
his natural human development from the parental care of Joseph and Mary.

Pope Francis, in his catechesis during his papal audience in St. Peter’s Square on the solemnity
of St. Joseph (19 March 2014) 13 , asserted that St. Joseph played a pivotal role in the three areas

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