Celebrating St. Joseph

Editor:

The feast of St. Joseph is March 19 and as usual it will come and go with little or no notice in our country. In some European Countries it is a holy day of obligation and widely celebrated. It is most sad since he is the patron of the universal church.

I would like to call attention to some facts about St. Joseph that many Catholics probably do not know. His glories are almost without end. The only other in heaven who comes before him is his spouse the Blessed Virgin. God the Father and the Holy Spirit had selected him from the beginning of time to play a unique role in the Incarnation.

He was honored among all men for eternity to have been the husband to the Mother of God and earthly father of God the Son, protector of both and head of the Holy Family.

No other man held our Lord in his arms on a daily basis, taught Him to walk and no doubt carried Him on his shoulders as fathers do.

Indeed, Jesus was subject to him until He left his home. These are facts we do not often think about.
What most do not know is Joseph was about 18 when Jesus was born and Mary about 14. These were the normal ages for marriages at that time.

Obviously Joseph was not the old man with white hair often seen in paintings. It was only in the sixth century that some artists depicted him as such. Prior to that Joseph was always depicted as young and most often clean shaven.

The Holy Spirit in His wisdom picked a young strong earthly father to protect the Holy Family and undertake the rigors of the flight into Egypt.

Ernest J. Berger
Seabrook Island