Next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Blessed Joseph is the most blessed individual in the history of humanity. In an era in which chastity was a major consideration for marriage, Joseph as an eligible bachelor was suddenly confronted with a pregnant bride in Mary, suggestive of a rival suitor lurking around. 

Mary had said ‘yes’ to the strange message from God by Angel Gabriel for a Holy Ghost pregnancy, the first and the last in human history, but there was no way Joseph was going to believe that fairy tale, and he commenced a private process of halting the proposed marriage to save Mary the public embarrassment.

Even when the same Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to assure him that Mary was carrying a divine child, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to accept Mary as your wife. For what has been formed in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20), a man of lesser faith would have chosen to disregard the dream and still put Mary away. 

At a time when there was no precedence of that sort to go by, only a man of tremendous faith and unshakable courage could have taken the dream seriously. It should be noted that while Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in a powerful vision and engaged her in a facial dialogue, the same angel chose to communicate with Joseph in a dream, which is rather tenuous, less graphic, and less convincing than a vision.  

But Joseph displayed Abrahamic obedience and faithfully carried out the angel’s injunction, by accepting Mary as wife, and adopting the pregnancy. Although the Son of the Most High, the Baby Jesus needed an earthly step-father to guide and protect him, and nurture him to adulthood, as a woman, Mary also needed physical protection from a husband-figure which Joseph provided.

In conveying God’s message to Joseph, Angel Gabriel had said of Mary: “And she shall give birth to a son. And you shall call his name JESUS. For he shall accomplish the salvation of his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Although God’s plans will always be fulfilled no matter what, the course of the salvation of humanity would have taken an entirely different trajectory if Joseph had ignored the message of Angel Gabriel. Which other suitor would have readily accepted a pregnant bride? Jesus had to be incarnated into a human family and made to experience a normal growth into adulthood to be able to fulfil God’s divine plan of salvation for humanity. 

In order to save Mary the embarrassment of single motherhood, a step-father was also needed to complete the Holy Family. Joseph was the divine choice, and we are grateful that he took a positive action. This qualifies Mary to be both the Queen of Virgins and the Queen of Families, being a Virgin and a Mother at the same time, which no other woman in human history can ever claim to be.  

Joseph must have been pure and holy because God looks into the human heart before calling anybody to collaborate with Him.

Joseph has no recorded statement in the Bible, but his actions spoke louder than words. He was a humble carpenter dedicated to his work, adding dignity to labour. Hence, he is the Patron of all honest workers. Although St Joseph’s primary Feast Day as Mary’s husband is March 19, Pope Pius XII, in 1955, added a secondary Feast on May 1st as Saint Joseph the Worker, to celebrate the dignity of human labour.

This further underscored the humble background of Jesus who was born in a manger, and grew up as the son of a mere carpenter. Great men are usually of modest background. 

Joseph’s most crucial action in the life of Jesus was in shielding the Infant Jesus from the murderous sword of Herod the Great, the Roman King of Judea, by fleeing to Egypt with his family on being alerted in a dream of Herod’s bloody plan to wipe away all babies contemporaneous with the Infant Jesus.

Although the Baby Jesus might have otherwise been spiritually protected from the subsequent Massacre of the Innocents, it was safer to keep the Baby physically out of danger. 

The infant victims of that massacre are today celebrated as the Holy Innocents, the first set of martyrs to die for Christ, whose Feast comes up on December 28, three days after Christmas. The Holy Family remained in Egypt until the death of Herod, when the coast became clear for them to return.

Another significant incident was when Jesus got missing at the age of twelve. Joseph mounted a huge search for the missing child who was found in the temple on the third day, engaging the adults with amazing words of wisdom. This incident foreshadowed the later ‘disappearance’ of Jesus into the grave, and his being found alive after three days.

Of course, there must have been several other paternal actions of Joseph which have been left unrecorded, like many actions of Jesus himself which, if everything were to be recorded, “the world itself…would not be able to contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). 

Joseph proved himself a loving and dutiful husband and father but did not live to witness the horrendous crucifixion of his stepson which must have broken his heart as it did his mother’s, who bore the psychological agony of the judicial murder of Christ.

Although the joys of the Resurrection reversed the pains of the Crucifixion, thus turning Bad Friday to Good Friday, the brutal killing of Christ on that fateful day was nothing short of the premeditated murder of an innocent person. Joseph was saved the horror of witnessing it, having played a significant role in the birth and upbringing of the later Saviour of sinful mankind.

There are major lessons to learn from the life and career of Saint Joseph. Apart from his utmost humility and unquestioning faith, he represents the loving but strict and virtuous father in a respectable Holy Family. Like Joseph, we should learn to listen and respond to God when He communicates to us whether through dreams, visions, or intuitions. 

Joseph believed in his dreams because his heart is pure; it is only the filthy mind that attracts evil and misleading dreams. Let us endeavour to harbour pure and pious thoughts to make our minds be the temple of the Holy Spirit, like that of Saint Joseph, so as to attract pure and healthy dreams. Glory to Jesus, Honour to Mary and Joseph!