Pope St. John Paul II, Homily, 19 March 1987, on God’s Trust in St Joseph: 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 St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, on the Holy Espousals: In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as
"united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal
love." There are really two kinds of love here, both of which together represent the mystery of the
Church -virgin and spouse - as symbolized in the marriage of Mary and Joseph.
“Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not
contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage
and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the
Covenant of God with his people,” the Covenant which is a communion of love
between God and human beings.
Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, on the Circumcision
of Christ: 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 St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, on the Return from Exile: And so Jesus' way back to Nazareth from Bethlehem
passed through Egypt. Just as Israel had followed the path of the exodus
"from the condition of slavery" in order to begin the Old Covenant,
so Joseph, guardian and cooperator in the providential mystery of God, even in
exile watched over the one who brings about the New Covenant.
Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, on St. Joseph the Worker: Work was the daily expression of love in the life
of the Family of Nazareth. The Gospel specifies the kind of work Joseph did in
order to support his family: he was a carpenter. This simple word sums up
Joseph's entire life. For Jesus, these were hidden years, the years to which
Luke refers after recounting the episode that occurred in the Temple: "And
he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them"
(Luke 2:51). This "submission" or obedience of Jesus in the house of
Nazareth should be understood as a sharing in the work of Joseph. Having
learned the work of his presumed father, he was known as "the carpenter's
son." If the Family of Nazareth is an example and model for human
families, in the order of salvation and holiness, so too, by analogy, is Jesus'
work at the side of Joseph the carpenter… At the workbench where he plied his
trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of
the Redemption.
Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos, on the Patronage of
St. Joseph: The patronage of St. Joseph must be invoked, and it is
always necessary for the Church, not only to defend it against dangers
ceaselessly cropping up, but also and above all to support it in those fearful
efforts at evangelizing the world, and spreading the new evangelization among
nations where the Christian religion and life were formerly the most
flourishing, but are now put to a difficult test…. May St. Joseph become for
all a singular master in the service of the saving mission of Christ that is
incumbent on each and every one of us in the Church: To spouses, to parents, to
those who live by the work of their hands or by any other work, to persons
called to the contemplative life as well as to those called to the apostolate.
