Page 91 - Reflections on St. Joseph

of the Torah: the law of purification for his wife Mary who had become a mother and
the law of the firstborn child, his son.

c. Joseph by mean of the actions of the rite offers the body of the child and ransoms him,
even though in reality that Firstborn for his entire existence would remain an “offering”
to the Father and the “ransom” would not have substituted his belonging to the Father.

6. The flight to and residence in Egypt (Mt. 2:13-15) and the return from Egypt (Mt. 2:19-21).
Mt. 2:14-15a : “Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for
Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod”.
Mt. 2:21 : “He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel”.

Joseph is shown to be carrying out his duties and his rights as head of the Holy Family.

a. The Angel appears to him; speaks with him; communicates to him their destination;
reveals to him the time to return; orders him to return.

b. Joseph follows immediately and exactly God’s commando not as an executor in service of
someone superior to him in his house, but as the indisputable head of his family, which
is subject to him.

c. We add the consoling and always timely application of this “mystery” made by Leo XIII
in his Encyclical “Quamquam pluries”: St. Joseph over the course of time you always saved
your Son, who in the Church continues to be persecuted to the point of wishing him dead.

7. Jesus stays behind in the Temple (Lk. 2:41-50).
“his parents looked for him (v. 44)… After three days they found him in the temple (v.
46)… When his parents saw him, they were astonished (v. 48)... ‘Your father and I have
been looking for you with great anxiety.’ (v. 48)... But they did not understand what he
said to them (v. 50)”.

We would like to note the verbs which in this “mystery” Joseph lived, sharing in them with
Mary, and what they tell us.

a. To search for Jesus is in reality the permanent state of the Christian, even when we
anguished due to lack of satisfaction or failure.

b. It is always possible to find Jesus and to look upon him with astonishment.

c. Another constant position for the Christian is to welcome Jesus and to trust in him, even
while not understanding his words(“in verbo autem tuo”, Lk. 5:5).

8. The hidden life in Nazareth (Mt 2. 22b-23; Lk. 2:39-40,51-52).
Mt. 2:23 : “(Having returned from Egypt Joseph) departed for the region of Galilee. He
went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth”.

Reflections on st. joseph 67