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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5312 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sat Mar 17th, 2007 12:50 am |
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Joseph was a carpenter, a member of the House of David, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus. He died of natural causes sometime before the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
Little is known about him except what is written in the Gospels. Apocryphal writings say that he was an elderly widower who married Mary, a consecrated temple virgin, so that she could take care of his household and his children. Because of these legends, Joseph is usually depicted as an old man holding the Infant Jesus. The Church tells us that Joseph remained chaste after he took Mary as his wife. Other than Mary, he is the only saint mentioned by name in the Divine Praises.
Joseph was a visionary who had dreams and responded to them immediately, as when he took his family into Egypt to protect Mary's infant Son. His name means "whom the Lord adds."
Joseph was declared patron of the Catholic Church in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. He has two feast days: March 19 (the Solemnity of St. Joseph), and May 1st (the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker). His feast day on March 19 is the only feast day of a saint other than Mary and the apostles that is celebrated as a Solemnity and a Holy Day of Obligation by the entire Church. The obligation to attend mass is supressed in the United States with Vatican approval. (See Canon 1246). The Vatican is officially closed for the Solemnity of St. Joseph.
Last edited on Sat Mar 17th, 2007 12:54 am by CajunRick
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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JimAroo
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Hawaiian Gardens, California USA |
| Posts: | 10 |
| First Name: | Jim | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Born Catholic, lapsed, 20 yr Revert |
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Posted: Sat Mar 17th, 2007 04:53 pm |
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St. Joseph - Terror of Demons! Pray for us.
He is a powerful patron for all fathers to lead their families in the way of the Lord.
He was made head of the Holy Family - even though his wife was conceived immaculatley and his foster Son was the 2nd Person of the Trinity. God spoke to Mary once through the angel at the Annunciation the other three times God needed to direct the Holy Family, he spoke to Joseph. That is quite an endorsement!!!!
As men, we can invoke him to protect our marital chastity.
St Joseph - Protector of the Holy Church Pray for us.
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Viva Cristo Rey!
Jim
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 902 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Mar 22nd, 2007 12:46 pm |
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 Jim,
I agree with you about St. Joseph being "a powerful patron." In this age of the anti-hero, instant celebrities, especially male celebs flouting their prodigious ability to conceive kids, sans wedding rings, lifetime committments, and so forth, it'll never hurt anyone to stop and think of Joseph's pivotal role in world history, not to mention his exemplar display of real manly love and selflessness.
How many men today would be so traumatized as Joseph - was on behalf of Mary - when he learned that his fiance was going to have a child and he wasn't going to be the father? As we'd say today, Joseph (and Mary, of course!) was well-vetted. God knew full well the character of the man He chose to be Jesus' human foster father. Yet, God still made sure Joseph had to pass the test of faith, just as Mary did, when the angel appeared to her.
God doesn't create puppets. (So much for Calvin's notions of predestination.)
Yet, while we as loyal Catholics believe that Joseph and Mary didn't have any other children besides Jesus, and she remained virgin, it's also obvious that God never intended that Joseph's individual practice of marital celibacy should be the paradigm for other married men to follow to the letter. Good healthy sex relations are necessary to help cement permanency in marriage. (Besides, Ruth and I dearly love all our four children, two of each.)
However, that we should be loyal, and respect our wives when they say "not tonight, dear," and "no" means "no," is beyond question. Unfortunately, so many young men are badly misled today because manly control and selflessness is often sacrificed at the altar of instant gratification. St. Paul spoke about self-control, not dominance, when he admonished spouses to be equally submissive towards each other.
What we're seeing today with so many "men" absconding their permanent duties today really isn't all that new. What IS new, is the secularistic and voyeurestic, not to mention, lupine, media's obsesssive over-saturation over male celebs and their flouting of natural law, never mind higher social customs and religious standards commonly agreed to by all the major faiths from Christianity to Buddhism.
While I'm not sure if St. Joseph has already been named a special patron of foster children, foster dads, and other male guardians, he should be.
Perhaps somebody coming across this website might think we're putting too much attention on to a "relatively minor" figure in the Bible, all it takes is a quick reading of police logs in any newspaper. So many kids have been sexually abused, maimed, burned, mentally crippled and neglected in so many ways by live-in boyfriends!
Oft times I've heard the rationalist's excuse that in some cases the kids of divorced single moms would be better off even if the mom has a live-in shackup-mate than living in a "hellish" home wracked by a deteriorating marriage. Nonsense. Utter nonsense. While I'm aware that there are men who do give loving selfless care to their girl friends' children, and some of these men are shacking up with these moms; these are exceptions that still don't lend merited sanction to these irregular relationships. And, how many of our esteemed social engineers ever bother to ask what the long-range effects of these flawed and potentially dangerous relationships will have on future generations to come?
I can remember my "first Father's Day," even before our first-born son James was born the following September. Ruth wanted to reassure me of her confidence (and her nervous husband's in his Dad-to-be-abilities). So, she knitted a portrait of a father bear shouldering his cub who was holding a bundle of balloons, and the inscription read: Anyone can be a father, it takes someone special to be a Dad." Well, the same must be said about St. Joseph, because God knew full well, any of of His adult male children, could father a child; but it takes somebody special to be a real father, a real Dad to his children. Joseph "had it," God trusted it, and the Gospel and history settles it.
I just hope when my turn comes to stand before God, He won't have to express His disappointment for all my short-comings, character defects and sinful mistakes, especially when my record as a husband and father is "brought up for review." Whereas the buzzword of the day is "accountable" - every father should shoot for having a reputation before God as simply being a responsible man, true and through.
St. Joseph was! 
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For anybody interested in reading commentary from a Catholic's socially conservative/fiscally liberal viewpoint, go to my new blog at http://www.politicsramble.com/ .
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JimAroo
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Hawaiian Gardens, California USA |
| Posts: | 10 |
| First Name: | Jim | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Born Catholic, lapsed, 20 yr Revert |
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Posted: Thu Mar 22nd, 2007 01:34 pm |
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Great post, Stephen.
I figured someone would comment on my remark that we men could invoke St Joseph to protect OUR marital chastity. We are called to practice the virtue of chastity in marriage. Check out this definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Chastity is the virtue which excludes or moderates the indulgence of the sexual appetite. It is a form of the virtue on temperance, which controls baccording to right reason the desire for and the use of those things which afford the greatest sexual pleasure."
To moderate our desires for the good things of this life gives glory to God!
St. Jospeh help me be a chaste lover of my wife always.
____________________
Viva Cristo Rey!
Jim
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DrSharkey
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| Joined: | Wed Aug 22nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Jackson, Tennessee USA |
| Posts: | 38 |
| First Name: | John | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Agnostic, Southern Baptist (sorta), church of Christ, looking Romeward |
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 01:55 am |
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CajunRick wrote: Joseph was a carpenter, a member of the House of David, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus. He died of natural causes sometime before the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
This may be kinda sola scripturish of me, but where did the Church get the idea that Joseph died before the beginning of Jesus' public ministry? Is that just assumed, since he wasn't mentioned by name in the Gospels? Or is there other non-biblical reference to his death? And, yes, I know you said that there isn't much know about him, but I'm just curious. I always wondered why he didn't play a more prominent role in Jesus' ministry.
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http://sharkeysworld.blogspot.com/
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CajunRick
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| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5312 |
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Posted: Wed Nov 14th, 2007 08:40 am |
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DrSharkey wrote: CajunRick wrote: Joseph was a carpenter, a member of the House of David, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the adoptive father of Jesus. He died of natural causes sometime before the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.
This may be kinda sola scripturish of me, but where did the Church get the idea that Joseph died before the beginning of Jesus' public ministry? Is that just assumed, since he wasn't mentioned by name in the Gospels? Or is there other non-biblical reference to his death? And, yes, I know you said that there isn't much know about him, but I'm just curious. I always wondered why he didn't play a more prominent role in Jesus' ministry.
There are many writings by the early Fathers of the Church and others that tell us many things, but are not part of the inspired Deposit of Faith and so are not part of the Church's treasury of Doctrine. The Protoevangelium of James, for example, tells the story of the birth of Mary and the courtship of Mary and Joseph.
It is not considered inspired, but may well be an authoritative record of what it contains, and is the source of belief that Joseph was an older widower with children from a prior marriage.
The story of Joseph's peaceful passing in our Savior's arms is part of his being named the patron saint of a happy death. Also, under traditional Judaism, Jesus would not have left Mary to care for her husband alone, and so he would not have been free to leave for his itinerant ministry until after his death, and Mary and Jesus would not have been at the marriage feast at Cana without Mary's husband.
These are stories and legends. The Church does not teach them as fact. They were also disputed by some of the early Fathers, who taught that Joseph was a young man and himself a virgin who maintained his chastity throughout his life.
The Church tells us only that Joseph did not have relations with Mary. It does not claim he was without sin, or that his birth was special in any way (as in Mary's Immaculate Conception). The rest is the stuff of legend. And yes, a lot of the belief is based on the fact that Mary was present at the foot of the cross and in the upper room without her husband. That would not have been permitted had he still been alive.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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