8 Reasons Why Catholics love St. Joseph.
Matthew Chapter 1 & 2.
Why do Catholics love St. Joseph?
Catholics love St Joseph because they recognise his unique relationship to Jesus Christ. The Catholic faith is family orientated and firmly fixed in the foundations of the little home of Nazareth. Peppered in our spiritual language is the “Holy Family”. With Joseph as its protector.
God chose Joseph to be the foster father, on earth, of His Son Jesus Christ. This choice was made eons before Joseph was born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Almighty God who is omniscient and knows all things, knew the character of Joseph the carpenter. God knew that He could trust this holy man with the care of His, one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
The Character of Joseph.
We see in Holy Scripture that Joseph was a carpenter: Jesus is described as “the son of the carpenter.” Carpentry is a humble occupation and Joseph does not speak in Holy Scripture. Yet his strong, focused actions, have been a huge part of God’s plan of redemption for the whole human race.
Catholics love St Joseph because they recognise his holiness. A man who dreams of angels, and messages from God. A man who is comfortable following God’s instructions without question. He did the will of God totally.
St. Joseph lived his life protecting our Saviour.
From the moment the Bible introduces him, Catholics love St. Joseph as we see him take the ‘Woman’ to his heart and protect her. For a moment we feared for her future. Was She to be “put away”? What would happen to Jesus?” Every Catholic child first hearing the story catches its breath.
The protection of Jesus in the womb of Mary.
St. Joseph first protected Jesus when Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb. Joseph knew the great value of this child before God. When he had been told that the Blessed Virgin was with child he “had a mind to put her away privately” because he was not willing to expose her to the gossip and scandal.
“But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take onto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins.
St. Joseph protected Jesus in finding a safe place for him at the Nativity
Catholic children love St Joseph when they get to act out the Nativity story. The little boy who is privileged to play Joseph gets the star role. He is the one who must go from door to door asking for admittance. How many have seen this cameo in the old black and white film, “The Bells of Saint Mary’s”. The eyes of the audience shine with delight. And that is another reason why Catholics love St. Joseph. He makes their eyes shine, just thinking about him. When meditating on the life of this holy man our hearts are filled with gratitude and awe. That he held the hand of Mary. Into his arms he took the Christ child. Their eyes met. This strong man was saving a tiny baby who would some day save him.
St Joseph is loved by Catholics because he protected Jesus from Herod.
“… behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.”
Into Egypt they must flee. Just, as that first Joseph, saved the israelites from starvation by getting them to come down to Egypt 1800 years before, now this Joseph would take the Saviour into Egypt.
This dream must have been a nightmare for Joseph. That someone would want to kill this innocent child. He must have been filled with horror. Had Herod’s soldiers come to take the child there is no doubt that Joseph would have given his life to protect Jesus. The Blessed Virgin would have held on to her son and only through her own death could Jesus have been prised from her arms.
That did not happen for Joseph immediately did the Will of God. Joseph was not only foster father to Jesus he was also “mother, brother, and sister,” to Jesus. “For he who does the will of my father is my mother, sister and brother.”
Oh such deep piety, such holiness, such strength of character, such manliness – Joseph.
Our Love for St Joseph is in our gratitude that he brought Jesus back to Israel.
“But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt.
Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child.”
Joseph immediately “arose, and took the child and his mother”
So it was time to return to Israel “I will call my son out of Egypt”
God had called and Joseph, a man chosen by God out of all other men to care for His Divine Son, was quick to do the Will of God.
Catholics love St Joseph because St Joseph loved Jesus
Oh how much that man Joseph must have loved our Divine Lord. He loved Jesus before any of us. Our Blessed Mother tells Jesus, “Your father and I were sorrowing…”. She who spoke so little herself, told Jesus, that Joseph was heart broken when he thought he had lost Jesus.
That’s why Catholics love St. Joseph.
