Auspice Maria: The Holy Family, Part Two
The Third Sunday of Advent is liturgically a "pivot point" in the season. As we draw ever closer to the Feast of Christmas, starting on December 17th, the Liturgy of the Church draws us more into the details of the story of Jesus’ birth. The daily Mass readings, the antiphons in the Liturgy of the Hours, and the prayer of the Church focus us more on the story of the first coming of Christ. As the story unfolds, we are brought to the focal point of Bethlehem, and the night Christ was born. There may have been animals in the manger, but there were definitely two humans, Mary and Joseph. In chapter two of his gospel, St. Luke tells us that shepherds visited later that night. Again, it is very significant to note that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, God in the Flesh, was born into a family. Through Mary’s womb, Jesus acquires his flesh. Through the school of Joseph and Mary, Jesus acquires his humanity; that is, Jesus learns to be human from the nurturing love and care of Joseph and Mary.
Our Church’s tradition has said and written much about Mary and her role in the Incarnation and the Holy Family. St. Joseph, the other important member of Jesus' family, is not spoken of as much. I would like to offer some thoughts on St. Joseph. These thoughts are not new insights, just some observations on the earthly father of the Savior.
Joseph’s role in the Holy Family was to be husband to Mary and earthly father to Jesus. Although Jesus was conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, he grew to be a man under the guidance and example of Joseph. As father and husband, Joseph provides his family with material subsistence, protection, and paternal love. Joseph is the head of the Holy Family, complementing Mary’s femininity with his masculinity. Joseph and Mary were both very different, yet the man Joseph and the woman Mary provided Jesus with the best example of spousal love. Through their gift of self to each other in married love, they show forth the image of God. Jesus grew up in the household of Nazareth. Here, the male-female differences between Joseph and Mary did not lead to either Joseph or Mary being devalued by the other. Also, Jesus grows in a household where the male-female differences of Joseph and Mary were not denied. The masculinity of Joseph was harmoniously united with the femininity of Mary. From this union of love, Jesus learns how to love and how human beings make themselves a gift to the other. Love is taught to love, and Joseph is essential to this.
Let’s take a moment to enter the heart and mind of Joseph, the father and husband. In a small book of 30 meditations by Fr. Mark Toups (In Saint Joseph’s Footsteps, Ascension Press, 2021), Fr. Toups reflects on the experiences of Joseph. Right after Jesus is born, Fr. Toups writes, “As Joseph takes the infant Jesus in his arms, he is the first person to see the face of God.” (p. 57) In Old Testament writings and times, it was believed that to look upon the "face" of God would mean death. God, the all-powerful, was beyond the gaze of man. Some were privileged to share in this mystery of gazing upon God, such as Moses, but it was not believed to be ordinarily possible. Joseph, as he gently receives Jesus during the birthing process, is the first to see the face of God, and he doesn’t die! He is most likely overcome by love. Joseph sees the God of the universe in the face of the newborn baby Jesus. Later, as Joseph looks upon the sleeping baby Jesus, Fr. Toups writes, “As Joseph watches Jesus sleep, he is astonished that God has chosen to make himself so vulnerable.” (p. 61) Later, as Jesus grows, he will learn from Joseph and Mary that authentic love, expressed through the self-gift of spouses, is vulnerable. As God makes himself vulnerable by being born into this world helpless and dependent, spouses make themselves vulnerable by giving themselves to each other in marriage.
Another thought about Joseph is the reality that among all men ever born and who lived on earth, God the Father chose Joseph to be the spouse of Mary and the earthly father of Jesus. Fr. Toups writes, “At this moment [gazing upon Jesus], Joseph is overwhelmed with awe. Of all the men ever born, God chose one – only one - to be the husband of the mother of God. Of all men, God chose one – only one - to reveal true fatherhood to the Son of God. God chose Joseph to protect and raise the child Jesus. God the Father is depending on Joseph.” (p. 62) Fr. Toups emphasizes the essential role of Joseph in the Incarnation. Joseph was not simply a functionary, someone to provide Mary with the means she needed to raise Jesus. Joseph’s role as husband and father was needed! God depended on Joseph!
In reflecting more on the Holy Family, it is important to notice the mutual importance of Mary and Joseph in the school of love, the family in which Jesus was born and raised in. Jesus learns how to love, be human, and be vulnerable from his earthly parents. Christmas is an important moment in the Story of Salvation. However, we cannot forget Good Friday and Easter. By dying on the cross and rising from the dead to defeat sin and death, Jesus allows us the privilege, again, of one day having the possibility of gazing on the face of God forever in Heaven. Joseph and Mary daily gazed upon the face of God in the child Jesus. Therefore, in many respects, their home in Nazareth was truly a foretaste of Heaven.
May you have a blessed third week of Advent. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” (Entrance Antiphon, 3rd Sunday of Advent; Philippians 4:4-5)
-Bishop James Ruggieri
