THE HOLY FAMILY: JESUS, MARY & JOSPEH

Colossians 3:18-20 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  

POPE FRANCIS: Jesus, Mary and Joseph to you, Holy Family of Nazareth, do we turn our gaze with admiration… Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we pray to you with confidence, we entrust ourselves to you with joy!

Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Gardens, 5 July 2010: The Gospel, as we know, has not kept any word from Joseph, who carries out his activity in silence. It is the style that characterizes his whole existence, both before finding himself before the mystery of God's action in his spouse, as well as when - conscious of this mystery - he is with Mary in the Nativity. On that holy night, in Bethlehem, with Mary and the Child, is Joseph, to whom the Heavenly Father entrusted the daily care of his Son on earth, a care carried out with humility and in silence.

Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos: At the circumcision Joseph names the child "Jesus." This is the only name in which there is salvation (Acts 4:12). Its significance had been revealed to Joseph at the moment of his "annunciation": "You shall call the child Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). In conferring the name, Joseph declares his own legal fatherhood over Jesus, and in speaking the name he proclaims the child's mission as Savior.

Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, 19 March 2006: The Gospel of Matthew highlights in a special way the messianic prophecies which found their fulfillment through St. Joseph’s role: the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (2:13-15); the byname "Nazarene" (2:22-23). In all this he showed himself, as his spouse Mary, authentic heir of Abraham’s faith: faith in God who guides the events of history according to His mysterious salvific plan. Joseph’s greatness, like Mary’s, stands out even more because his mission was developed in humility and in the hiddenness of the house of Nazareth. Moreover, God himself, in the person of His incarnate Son, chose this way and style of life in His earthly existence. From the example of St. Joseph we all receive a strong invitation to develop with fidelity, simplicity and modesty, the task that providence has assigned to us. I am thinking above all of fathers and mothers of families, and I pray that they will always be able to appreciate the beauty of a simple and industrious life, cultivating the conjugal relationship with care and fulfilling with enthusiasm the great and not easy educational mission.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 19 March 2009: Each and every one of us has a role to play in the plan of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph, that descendant of Abraham who hoped against hope; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love for Him.

Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries: St. Joseph set himself to protect, with a mighty love and a daily solicitude, his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitterness of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus.

St. Bernardino of Siena: He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of His greatest treasures, namely, His divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s spouse. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying ‘Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.’

St. Josemaria Escrivá: There are many good reasons to honor Saint Joseph, and to learn from his life. He was a man of strong faith. He earned a living for his family - Jesus and Mary - with his own hard work... He guarded the purity of the Blessed Virgin, who was his Spouse. And he respected - he loved! - God’s freedom, when God made His choice: not only His choice of Our Lady the Virgin as His Mother, but also His choice of Saint Joseph as the Husband of Holy Mary.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 19 March, 2009: I wish to extend a particular word of encouragement to fathers so that they may take Saint Joseph as their model. He who kept watch over the Son of Man is able to teach them the deepest meaning of their own fatherhood. In the same way, each father receives his children from God, and they are created in God’s own image and likeness. Saint Joseph was the spouse of Mary. In the same way, each father sees himself entrusted with the mystery of womanhood through his own wife. Dear fathers, like Saint Joseph, respect and love your spouse; and by your love and your wise presence, lead your children to God where they must be (Lk 2:49.)

Venerable Pope Paul VI, Homily, 27 March 1969: St. Joseph was a "committed" man, as we might say nowadays. And what commitment! He had total commitment to Mary, the elect of all the women of the earth and of history, always his virgin spouse… and total commitment to Jesus, who was his offspring only by legal descendance, not by the flesh. His were the burdens, the responsibilities, the risks and the labors surrounding the Holy Family. His was the service, the work and the sacrifices, in the shadows of that Gospel picture in which we love to meditate on him; and we are certainly not mistaken, for we all know him now and call him blessed.

St. Josemaria Escrivá: In human life, Joseph was Jesus' master in their daily contact, full of refined affection, glad to deny himself to take better care of Jesus. Isn't that reason enough for us to consider this just man, this holy patriarch, in whom the faith of the old covenant bears fruit, as a master of interior life? Interior life is nothing but continual and direct conversation with Christ, so as to become one with him. And Joseph can tell us many things about Jesus. Therefore, never neglect devotion to him - Ite ad Ioseph: "Go to Joseph" - as Christian tradition puts it in the words of the Old Testament (Genesis 41:55.)

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Quemadmodum Deus: As almighty God appointed Joseph, son of the patriarch Jacob, over all the land of Egypt to save grain for the people, so when the fullness of time had come and He was about to send to earth His only-begotten Son, the Savior of the world, He chose another Joseph, of whom the first had been the type, and He made him the lord and chief of His household and possessions, the guardian of His choicest treasures.

Pope Francis, Audience, 1 May 2013: In the silence of his daily activity, St. Joseph shared with Mary a single, common focal point of attention: Jesus. They accompany and guard, with dedication and tenderness, the growth of the Son of God made man for us, reflecting on everything that happens. In the Gospels, Luke points out twice the attitude of Mary, which is also that of St. Joseph: "She treasured all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (2:19.51).

Pope St. John Paul II, Homily, 19 March 1987: The Church admires the simplicity and the depth of St Joseph’s faith. She admires and venerates his rectitude, his humility, his courage. How many values God entrusted to Joseph in his humble and hidden life as an artisan of Nazareth! He entrusted to him his own eternal Son, who in the house of Joseph embraced all that constitutes the truth of the Son of man. To Joseph God entrusted Mary, her virginity and her maternity – her virginal maternity. He entrusted to him the Holy Family. God entrusted to Joseph what is most holy in the whole history of creation, and that humble man, that carpenter, did not disappoint God’s trust. To the very end he showed himself faithful, thoughtful, provident, solicitous–after the model of the eternal Father Himself.

Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Gardens, 5 July 2010: Later in the Gospel, Joseph appears in only one more episode, when he goes to Jerusalem and lives the anguish of losing the Son Jesus. St. Luke describes the anxious search and the wonder at finding him in the Temple, but even greater is the astonishment at hearing the mysterious words: "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (St. Luke 2:49). This twofold question of the Son of God helps us to understand the mystery of Joseph's paternity. Reminding his own parents of the primacy of the One he calls "my Father," Jesus affirms the primacy of the will of God over every other will, and reveals to Joseph the profound truth of his role: He too is called to be a disciple of Jesus, dedicating his existence to the service of the Son of God and of the Virgin Mother, in obedience to the Heavenly Father.

Pope Francis, Inaugural Mass, 19 March 2013: In the Gospel of Matthew we hear that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church… How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.

St. Alphonsus Liguori: The two disciples, going to Emmaus, (Lk. 24:13-31) were inflamed with divine love by the few moments which they spent in company with our Savior, and by His words. What flames of holy love must not, then, have been enkindled in the heart of St. Joseph, who for thirty years conversed with Jesus Christ, and listened to His words of eternal life; who observed the perfect example which Jesus gave of humility and patience, and saw the promptness with which He obeyed and helped him in his labors, and all that was needed for the household!