{"id":722,"date":"2016-04-26T07:56:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T13:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/amormisericordioso\/?page_id=722"},"modified":"2021-01-22T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T19:11:10","slug":"saint-joseph","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.amormisericordioso.org\/en\/family-of-merciful-love\/saint-joseph\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Joseph"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Saint Joseph<\/h1>
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\u201cJoseph, son of David\u201d, this is how the angle calls him. The outstanding fact in the life of this\u00a0\u201cjust\u201d man<\/b>\u00a0is his marriage with Mary. The popular tradition imagines Saint Joseph competing with other young men for Mary\u2019s hand. He is chosen because, as the tradition also says, the stick he was holding miraculously blossomed whereas those of the others remained dry. This lovely tradition has a mystical meaning: from the trunk already dry of the Old Testament, grace blossomed under the new sun of the Redemption.<\/p>\n

The marriage of Joseph and Mary was a true, although virginal, marriage. Shortly after their engagement, Joseph became aware that Mary was expecting a child and, even though he did not have doubts about her integrity, he thought of \u201crepudiating her secretly.\u201d The Gospel adds that, being a \u201cjust man\u201d \u2014the adjective used in this dramatic situation is like a flash of lightening that illuminates the entire figure of this saint\u2014, he did not want to admit any suspicions, but neither did he sanction with his presence an inexplicable fact. The word of the angel clarifies the anguishing dilemma. And so, he\u00a0\u201ctook his wife with him\u201d<\/b>\u00a0and, with her, he went to Bethlehem for the census. It was there that the Eternal Word entered into the world, was received by the homage of humble shepherds and wise and rich Magi, but also by Herod\u2019s hostility, which forced the Holy Family to flee to Egypt. Later they returned to the tranquility of Nazareth, and stayed there until the boy was twelve years old, when the episode of Jesus\u2019 disappearance and discovery in the temple took place.<\/p>\n

After this event, the Gospel seems to leave Joseph aside with a suggestive image of the Holy Family: Jesus is obedient to Mary and Joseph and grows \u201cin wisdom and in stature, and in grace\u201d under their vigilant care. Saint Joseph lived\u00a0with humility<\/b>\u00a0the extraordinary privilege of being Jesus\u2019 putative father, and he probably died before the beginning of the Redeemer\u2019s public life.<\/p>\n

His image remains in the shadows even after his death. In fact, his cult only began in the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0century. In 1621, Gregory XV declared March 19th<\/sup>\u00a0a holyday of obligation (this celebration was maintained until the liturgical reform of Vatican II) and Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph\u00a0Patron of the Universal Church<\/b>. The last homage was rendered to him by Jean XXIII, who introduced his name into the Canon of the Mass.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

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