Page 90 - Reflections on St. Joseph

As said in the ancient liturgical hymn in honor of St. Joseph “Caelitum Joseph”, God allowed
Joseph to be a “minister” (assistance and instrument) of this “mystery of salvation”: “dedit (te)
et esse ministrum salutis”.

a. Joseph, even though he is not named since for the Evangelist Jesus is the protagonist, is
the father who provided this rite for Jesus,

b. Joseph as father ensured that everything was carried out “according to the Law” of the
people of the promise.

c. Joseph, by means of a personal experience unknown to us, lived directly all of the
particular aspects of that moment of salvation: the drops of blood, the cries of the baby,
his tears, his pleading eyes.

5. The presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lk. 2:22-38).
Lk. 2:22-24 : “When the days were completed for their purification according to the law
of Moses, they (his parents) took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as
it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every male that opens the womb shall be
consecrated to the Lord’, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young
pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord”.
Lk. 2:27 : “the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law”.
Lk. 2:33 : “The child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him”.

Jesus presented to the Father remains always the absolute protagonist. Mary and Joseph are the
executors of the rite established by the Law (Lv. 12:24; Ex. 13:2; 13:11; Lv. 5:7; 12:8).
Mary has an important role. Besides the fact that it is for her purification that the Holy Family
came to the Temple, the prophecy of Simeon,
though having Jesus as its central point Jesus
who is salvation, explicitly involves here, as
mother, in what is to happen to Jesus.

In this “mystery” as well, the participation of
Joseph, as father, is certain and of the first
order.

a. He is the one responsible for the child
and of the religious observances which regard
him. For the Hebrew people the principle
duties of a father toward the son was to
circumcise him, ransom him (for the
firstborn), instruct him in the Torah and in a
trade and to obtain for him a wife.
b. Joseph is directly and economically
interested in the observance of two precepts

66 Reflections on st. joseph