As the cold of snow in the time of
harvest, so is a faithful messenger
to him that sent him, for he refresheth his soul. — Proverbs 25:13
After Mary and Joseph
were betrothed to one another, the date of their marriage was set, according to
church tradition, for January 23. It was between the betrothal or quiddushin,
and the actual marriage ceremony, nissu’in, we believe, that the
Archangel Gabriel paid homage to the Virgin Mary:
St. Luke 1:28-36 –
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women!” When
she heard him she was troubled at his word, and kept pondering what manner of
greeting this was. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God.
Behold, you will conceive . . . and will bring forth a son; and you will call
his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David . . . and of His kingdom
there will be no end!. . . The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of
the Most High will overshadow you; and therefore the Holy One to be born will
be called the Son of God.”
THE AGONY OF ST. JOSEPH
During the period of
time between the engagement and the marriage, Joseph busied himself with his
work because soon he would be supporting his wife. As the time drew closer,
Joseph was even more earnest in his anticipation and all was going well for
him, until one day:
St. Matthew 1:18 – …before they came together, she was found to be with
child.
Yes, Joseph found out
that his virgin bride was with child. There is debate as to what St. Joseph
knew at this time concerning the conception. Some say that the Blessed Virgin
made the Annunciation known to him and the message of the angel concerning the
conception and nature of the child. Feeling unworthy of being the husband of
holy Mary, and the putative father of the Son of God, Joseph was deciding to
remove himself from this situation with the utmost humility.
Others argue that St.
Joseph simply believed Mary to have committed the sin of adultery – that she
carried another man’s child. Eastern Church tradition says that Joseph was
tempted by the devil, being told that Mary was indeed an adulteress and that
Joseph was a fool for believing her story. The Devil tries to convince Joseph
to abandon Mary thereby interfering with God’s ultimate plan of salvation. This
temptation of Joseph is depicted in many Eastern Nativity icons as he is shown
being approached by the Devil who is disguised as an elderly shepherd. On his
face is a look of anxiety and helplessness which is all too inviting to the
Devil as he feeds off human weakness.
And still others
believe that he was not made aware of the supernatural circumstances of Mary’s
pregnancy (conception by the Holy Spirit) nor did he suspect that she was an
adulteress: He simply did not know what to think – he was baffled by this
mystery.
The confusion and
anxiety that penetrated into St. Joseph’s heart is expressed by Venerable Maria
de Agreda:
The divine
pregnancy of Mary had advanced to its fifth month when the most chaste Joseph
commenced to notice the condition of the Virgin ... The man of God was wounded
to his inmost heart by an arrow of grief, unable to ward off the force of
evidence, which at the same time wounded his soul. The principal cause of his
grief was the... most intense love with which he cherished his most faithful
spouse... Besides
this, was the certainty of his not having any part in this pregnancy…
The most intimate cause of his sorrow, and
which gave him the deepest pain, was the dread of being obliged to deliver over
his Spouse to the authorities to be stoned (Leviticus 20:10), for this was the
punishment of an adulteress convicted of the crime:
Leviticus 20:10 – If a man commits
adultery with another man’s wife . . . both the adulterer and the adulteress
must be put to death.
The heart of Saint Joseph, filled with this
painful consideration, found itself,as it were, exposed to the thrusts of many
sharp–edged swords, without any other refuge than the full confidence which he
had in his spouse. But as all outward signs confirmed the correctness of his observations,
there was no escape from these tormenting thoughts, and as he did not dare to
communicate about his grievous affliction with anybody… - Venerable Maria de Agreda
It was time for St.
Joseph to make the hardest decision of his life: to leave Mary quietly and
without scene. Though he was a just observer of the law, he would not make the
accusation of adultery against her:
Saint Joseph was anxiously debating within
himself concerning the proper course or action, for he had borne his
tribulation already for two months; and now, overcome by the greatness of it,
he argued with himself:
Venerable Maria de Agreda: “I
do not find a better way out of these difficulties than to absent myself. I
confess that my spouse is most perfect and exhibits nothing but what shows her
a saint; but after all she is pregnant and of it I cannot fathom the mystery. I
do not wish to injure her reputation of holiness by involving her in the
punishment of the law; yet at the same time I cannot stand by and witness the
consequences of her pregnancy. I will leave her now, and commit myself to the
providence of the Lord, who governs me.”
St. Matthew 1:19 – Joseph
her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to expose her to reproach, was
minded to put her away privately.
No doubt this would
have caused both Joseph and Mary a lot of heartache and despair. Was their
marriage not ordained by God? What of the miracle that announced their
engagement? So many thoughts, full of confusion, must have swarmed through his
head as Joseph called out in anguish to the heavens. We hear him cry out to the
night sky:
Psalm 27:7-9 –“Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call! Have pity on me, and answer me! Of you my
heart speaks; you my glance seeks; your presence, O Lord, I seek. Hide not your
face from me! Do not in anger repel your servant. You are my Helper . . .
Forsake me not, O God, my Savior!”
THE ANNUNCIATION TO ST. JOSEPH
The Blessed Virgin
Mary must have wept at night as she gazed up at the same starry sky as her
husband, asking God to make things right, to take pity on Joseph, to enlighten
him, to ease his suffering. God Himself felt deep sorrow at seeing Joseph so
distraught and so the Lord, being full of mercy and compassion, sent the
Archangel Gabriel once again to deliver a message:
St. Matthew 1:20-22 – But while he
thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, “Do not be afraid, Joseph, son of David, to take to thee Mary
thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she
will bring forth a son, and you will call him Jesus; for He shall save His
people from their sins!”
Joseph too had seen
the angel and heard the message as he experienced the same event as his
beloved—his own Annunciation! With
this dream the angel not only confirmed to Joseph that Mary was indeed with
child by the Holy Spirit, but that this child would one day save people from
their sins. Also, Joseph is bestowed with the high honour of not only naming
the boy “Jesus,” which means “God Saves,” but also raising the Son of the Most
High as if He were his own son. God is telling him that he is worthy and has given him the grace necessary
to take on this important task. Joseph found favour with the Lord and God
Himself wants Joseph for a father! The angel tells Joseph to have no fear and
to take Mary as his wife, and assume the legitimate rights and position of true
father and true husband. God wants him specifically: Not the wealthy man on the
hill, not the noble warrior, but the humble son of the line of David.
In the Old Testament,
we are given a similar story involving the highly revered forefather Abraham.
The message is similar but the circumstances are different. Abraham is told
that his ninety-year-old wife will conceive and bear a child in her old age,
who was to become the great man Isaac. Also, in the New Testament, the
messenger Gabriel is sent to the Zechariah to announce that his elderly wife
Elizabeth will bear a son to be named John, the cousin of Jesus. Both Abraham
and Zechariah place doubt in the messages given to them, whereas Joseph
believes the angel completely:
Genesis 17:17 – And
as Abraham fell prostrate, he laughed and said to himself, “Shall a son be born
to the one who is a hundred years old? Shall Sara who is ninety bear a child?”
St. Luke 1:13-18 –
“. . . thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name
John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his
birth.” And Zacharias said unto the angel, “Whereby shall I know this? For I am
an old man and my wife well stricken in years.”
Just as unlikely that
a hundred year-old man and his ninety-year-old wife would conceive and have a
child born to them, so too was it impossible for a virgin to conceive. However,
unlike father Abraham who laughed at this notion and Zechariah who doubted,
Joseph the humble accepted the message that was entrusted to him. He might not
have completely understood how this was to be, but for him it did not matter.
What mattered was his complete trust in God and the utter surrender to His
Divine Will.
Deuteronomy 11:18 – Therefore, take these words of mine into your heart and
soul. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be a pendant on your
forehead.
As soon as the dream
was over, he got up and went straight to Mary to tell her the news. God had not
abandoned him after all! By getting up and acting as he did, St Joseph had
given his fiat – his “yes" to
cooperating in God’s mission and by doing this St Joseph’s emotional wounds
were healed, his confidence mended as he became a part of God’s redemptive
plan.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, March 18, 2009 – Joseph teaches us
that it is possible to love without possessing . . . In contemplating Joseph,
all men and women can, by God’s grace, come to experience healing from their
emotional wounds, if only they embrace the plan that God has begun to bring
about in those close to him, just as Joseph entered into the work of redemption
through Mary and as a result of what God had already done in her.
