JOSEPH: HIS LIFE, HIS VIRTUES, HIS PRIVILEGES, HIS POWER by Very Reverend Archdeacon Kinane (1884)

As our readers have most probably remarked long before now, we have kept most strictly to the Gospel narrative in sketching the Life of our great Saint. After the return from Egypt, few are the facts recorded in the sacred text about our holy Patriarch. … The hidden life of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph – is a subject of deep reflection and useful meditation for the devout soul. The pious soul can meditate forever on the wonders of the Hidden Life of our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ.

At the Incarnation, Mary alone paid homage to the Word made flesh. St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and the unborn Baptist next recognized and adored “the desired of the eternal hills.” “The heavenly army” announced the “good tidings of great joy” to the shepherds, who worshipped “the infant lying in the manger.” The Wise Men laid their gifts of “gold, frankincense, and myrrh” at the feet of the Divine Babe. At the Presentation in the Temple, holy Simeon and Anna, the prophetess, by divine inspiration, recognized and adored the Saviour of the world; and for eighteen years, that is, from His twelfth to His thirtieth year, not even one word is mentioned in the Gospel on the Life of our Divine Redeemer. Well might the prophet say: “Verily, thou art a hidden God ” (Isaiah 45:15). The Evangelist writes: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:10). The Blessed Virgin, by her secret, hidden and exalted virtues, imitated Jesus, her Divine Son and Model.

With such shining lights before his eyes, with such models as Jesus and Mary ever in his presence, no wonder that the Life of St. Joseph was “hidden with Christ in God”; no wonder that few facts and fewer virtues of our Saint are recorded by the Evangelists; nor are we then to be surprised that, after the losing and finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple by his “parents,” a single word is not said in the Gospels on the life and death of our holy Patriarch. …

Three times in the year the men of Israel were bound by the Law of God to present themselves before the Almighty, and to worship Him in the Temple. “Three times in the year all the males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty Lord, the God of Israel” (Exodus 34:23). The three times are specified in Deuteronomy. “Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of the leavened bread, in the feast of the weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles ” (Deuteronomy 16:16).

We shall not here enter into the dispute among the learned whether St. Joseph went to worship in the Temple at the three appointed times according to the Law of Moses, or only once in the year. The Gospel of St. Luke, as we have seen, mentions only one visit. Children who had not attained the age of twelve years were not bound by this Law; hence, arises another controversy among commentators, whether the Child Jesus, before He attained the age of twelve, accompanied his parents to adore in the Temple. As males only came under the Law, theologians are divided in opinion whether the Blessed Virgin accompanied her holy Spouse to Jerusalem, or stayed at home at Nazareth with the Child Jesus.

What appears most reasonable, and in accordance with the habits of the Holy Family to “fulfill all justice” is that St. Joseph observed the Law of Moses to the letter, and that the Blessed Virgin, through piety and devotion, as well as to give holy example to the Jewish women, accompanied St. Joseph, and that at each visit they took with them the Child Jesus; for we could not think for a moment that they would leave behind them at Nazareth, to another’s care, a treasure they loved a thousand times dearer than their lives.

Be all this as it may, as the Gospel is silent, we are only certain that when our Divine Lord had attained the age of twelve years, the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, offered supreme homage to the Lord God of Israel at the Temple in Jerusalem. The distance from Nazareth to Jerusalem is about a hundred miles. Here again the world envies St. Joseph, and pronounces him thrice happy in being appointed and privileged by heaven to minister to the wants and comforts of Jesus and Mary, during a long journey of at least five days. When the solemn feast and devotions of the Pasch were over, Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem for their home at Nazareth, believing at the same time that the Child Jesus, in whose wisdom and prudence they had full confidence, was in the company of his relatives and townsmen.

On the evening of the first day’s journey the parents thought it time to look after the comforts of their Divine Son, and hence sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances; but to their unutterable grief could not find Him. In bitter anguish and sorrow, they sought the object of their love among the pilgrims from Nazareth, and not finding Him, they retraced their steps to Jerusalem. For the first time in her life, Mary felt the point of that sword of sorrow, which Simeon long before had prophesied, would pierce her soul. Inn after inn, house after house at Jerusalem was searched for the missing one; the hearts of Mary and Joseph were rent with the most bitter anguish, sorrow, and anxiety.

Though the absence of Jesus made each moment seem an age, yet it was God’s divine will, in order that Mary might taste the first drops of the hitter chalice, which she was to drink to the last drop at the foot of the Cross on Mount Calvary, that only after three days of sorrow and search, did Mary and Joseph find the object of their love in the Temple “in the midst of the doctors.” The first loving look of Jesus inundated, so to speak, the hearts and souls of Mary and Joseph with supreme joy and delight. They have found their Son, their God, their Lord, their Love, and their All. The Child Jesus, having done His “Father’s business,” returned to Mary and Joseph, and “went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.

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THE LOWLY LIFE AND BITTER PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Vol 1 by Anne Catherine Emmerich

At the age of eight years, Jesus went for the first time with His parents to Jerusalem for the Pasch, and every succeeding year He did the same. In those first visits, Jesus had already excited attention in Jerusalem among the friends with whom He and His parents stayed, also among the priests and doctors. They spoke of the pious, intelligent Child, of Joseph’s extraordinary Son, just as amongst us one might, at the annual pilgrimages, notice in particular this or that modest, holy-looking person, this or that clever peasant child, and recognize him again the next year.

So Jesus had already some acquaintances in the city when, in His twelfth year, with their friends and their sons, He accompanied His parents to Jerusalem. His parents were accustomed to walk with the people from their own part of the country, and they knew that Jesus, who now made the journey for the fifth time, always went with the other youths from Nazareth. But this time Jesus had, on the return journey not far from the Mount of Olives, separated from His companions, who all thought that He had joined His parents who were following. Jesus had, however, gone to that side of Jerusalem nearest to Bethlehem, to the inn at which the Holy Family before Mary’s Purification had put up. Mary and Joseph thought Him on ahead with the other Nazarenes, while these latter thought that He was following with His parents. When at last they all met at Gophna, the anxiety of Mary and Joseph at His absence was very great. They returned at once to Jerusalem, making inquiries after Him on the way and everywhere in the city itself. But they could not find Him, since He had not been where they usually stayed.

Jesus had slept at the inn before the Bethlehem gate, where the people knew Him and His parents. There He had joined several youths and gone with them to two schools of the city, the first day to one, the second to another. On the morning of the third day, He had gone to a third school at the Temple, and in the afternoon into the Temple itself where His parents found Him. These schools were all different, and not all exactly schools of the Law. Other branches were taught in them. The last mentioned was in the neighborhood of the Temple and from it the Levites and priests were chosen.

Jesus by His questions and answers so astonished and embarrassed the doctors and rabbis of all these schools that they resolved, on the afternoon of the third day, in the public lecture hall of the Temple and in presence of the rabbis most deeply versed in the various sciences “to humble the Boy Jesus.” The scribes and doctors had concerted the plan together; for, although pleased at first, they had in the end become vexed at Him. They met in the public lecture hall in the middle of the Temple porch in front of the Sanctuary, in the round place where later Jesus also taught. There I saw Jesus sitting in a large chair which He did not, by a great deal, fill. Around Him was a crowd of aged Jews in priestly robes. They were listening attentively, and appeared to be perfectly furious. I feared they would lay hands upon Him. …

As Jesus had in the schools illustrated His answers and explanations by all kinds of examples from nature, art, and science, the scribes and doctors had diligently gathered together masters in all these branches. They now began, one by one, to dispute with Him. He remarked that although, properly speaking, such subjects did not appear appropriate to the Temple, yet He would discuss them since such was His Father’s will. But they understood not that He referred to His Heavenly Father; they imagined that Joseph had commanded Him to show off His learning.

Jesus now answered and taught upon medicine. He described the whole human body in a way far beyond the reach of even the most learned. He discoursed with the same facility upon astronomy, architecture, agriculture, geometry, arithmetic, jurisprudence and, in fine, upon every subject proposed to Him. He applied all so skillfully to the Law and the Promise, to the Prophecies, to the Temple, to the mysteries of worship and sacrifice that His hearers, surprised and confounded, passed successively from astonishment and admiration to fury and shame. They were enraged at hearing some things that they never before knew, and at hearing others that they had never before understood.

Jesus had been teaching two hours, when Joseph and Mary entered the Temple. They inquired after their Child of the Levites whom they knew, and received for answer that He was with the doctors in the lecture hall. But as they were not at liberty to enter that hall, they sent one of the Levites in to call Jesus. Jesus sent them word that He must first finish what He was then about. Mary was very much troubled at His not obeying at once, for this was the first time He had given His parents to understand that He had other commands than theirs to fulfill. He continued to teach for another hour, and then He left the hall and joined His parents in the porch of Israel, the women’s porch, leaving His hearers confounded, confused, and enraged.

Joseph was quite awed and astonished, but he kept a humble silence. Mary, however, drawing near to Jesus, said, “Child, why hast Thou done this to us? Behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing!” But Jesus answered gravely, “Why have you sought Me? Do you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand. They at once began with Him their journey home. The bystanders gazed at them in astonishment, and I was in dread lest they should lay hands upon the Boy, for I saw that some of them were full of rage. I wondered at their allowing the Holy Family to depart so peaceably. Although the crowd was dense, yet a wide path was made to permit the Holy Family to pass. I saw all the details and heard almost the whole of Jesus’ teaching, but I cannot remember all. It made a great impression upon the scribes. Some recorded the affair as a notable event, while here and there it was whispered around, giving rise to all kinds of remarks and false reports. But the true statement, the scribes kept to themselves. They spoke of Jesus as of a very forward boy, possessed indeed of fine talents, but said those talents required to be cultivated.

I saw the Holy Family again leaving the city, outside of which they joined a party of about three men, two women, and some children. I did not know them, but they appeared to be from Nazareth. They went together to different places around Jerusalem, also to Mount Olivet. They wandered around the beautiful pleasure grounds there found, occasionally standing to pray, their hands crossed on their breast. I saw them also going over a bridge that spanned a brook. This walking around and praying of the little party reminded me forcibly of a pilgrimage.

When Jesus had returned to Nazareth, I saw a feast in Anne’s house, at which were gathered all the youths and maidens among their friends and relatives. I know not whether it was a feast of rejoicing at Jesus’ having been found, a feast solemnized upon the return from the Paschal journey, or a feast customary upon the completion of a son’s twelfth year. Whatever it may have been, Jesus appeared to be the object of it. …

During the whole feast, Jesus instructed the other boys, and explained to them a very wonderful parable which, however, was only imperfectly understood. It was of a marriage feast at which water could be turned into wine and the lukewarm guests into zealous friends; and again, of a marriage feast where the wine could be changed into Blood and the bread into Flesh, which Blood and Flesh would abide with the guests until the end of the world as strength and consolation, as a living bond of union. He said also to one of the youths, a relative of His own named Nathanael: “I shall be present at thy marriage.”

From His twelfth year, Jesus was always like a teacher among His companions. He often sat among them instructing them or walked about the country with them.