The Silent Carpenter

Advent’s coming. 

Time to set up the charming little figurines of Mary, St. Joseph, oxen and sheep and a simple empty wooden trough in which Jesus will be placed at Christmas. Your lips may curve in a smile at the “sweetness of the scene,” but you may not necessarily understand the deeper meaning or be challenged by the message of the Incarnation. 

The Year of St. Joseph urges Catholics to allow the “silent, carpenter man” lead us to the original Nativity scene and have a fresh and profound faith at Christmas.

“There is nothing ‘quaint’ about St. Joseph’s and the Holy Family’s journey to Bethlehem and flight into Egypt,” said Scott Smith, chairman of the Men of the Immaculata and co-author with Father Donald Calloway MIC of the book “St. Joseph Consecration for Children and Families,” which will be published in January. 

God chose a strong, sturdy man like St. Joseph to protect the Holy Family on this dangerous journey,” Smith added. 

Scripture tells us that the angel told St. Joseph in a dream to leave Bethlehem. St. Joseph got up immediately, packed up the family and left sometime during the night. 

“This means they did not travel to Egypt in the relative safety of a caravan, but alone,” Smith said. “How vulnerable was the newborn Christ on this journey. St. Joseph alone stood between Jesus and the darkness of Herod’s soldiers, robbers and whatever else the devil could muster.”

Father Al Davidson, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Pierre Part, said the best way to appreciate the role of St. Joseph in the Incarnation is to reflect on the role of Mary.  
“God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because they sinned. (To save mankind) it would take the perfect wife and mother,” Father Davidson said. “Wouldn’t God have had the perfect father in St. Joseph? Because who would eventually help teach Jesus to be the perfect son, especially in terms of humanity?”

Through his role as an earthly father St. Joseph taught Jesus things that shaped his life, ministry and teachings. Jesus then commissioned everyone to do the same.

We may think St. Joseph was suspicious when he planned to divorce Mary quietly after learning during his betrothal to her that she was pregnant with a child that was not his.

But Father Davidson and Smith shared a different perspective. When St. Joseph learned Mary conceived the child by the power of the Holy Spirit and was the son of God, he struggled with the immensity of the salvation plan and with his own feelings of unworthiness to be a part of it.

He and Smith pointed out that church fathers speak of St. Joseph being “stupefied” by finding Mary with child though still a virgin.

“He’s aware of the sins of the world and his own weakness,” said Father Davidson.

He highlighted the fact that when the angel appears to St. Joseph in a dream the angel does not say “do not be ashamed or embarrassed to take Mary as your wife,” but “do not be afraid,” which was an affirmation to take her into his home.

“The angel’s voice just confirms what he’s thinking,” Father Davidson said.

Smith said St. Joseph was stupefied “not because St. Joseph did not understand how this could happen but because he did understand.”

“His wife was the virgin prophesied in Genesis and the prophets. His wife was the new Ark of the Covenant,” Smith said. “His wife was the new holy of holies and Mary’s cousin Zechariah, a righteous man and priest, had just been struck dumb in the holy of holies. St. Joseph was ‘stupefied’ because he did not feel worthy of his wife. 

“I feel that way often, but what must St. Joseph have felt? St. Joseph’s fiat, his yes, required great courage. The angels, themselves, fortified his courage. St. Joseph, quite simply, was the most courageous of all husbands in human history.”

For Father Davidson, the Year of St. Joseph opened the door to a deeper devotion to Mary, who in turn points to her son Jesus. This is re-enforced by St. Joseph’s reverence, awe and obedience concerning mother and child in the unfolding of the incarnation.

Mary and St. Joseph had many things in common with mothers and fathers during a pregnancy, Father Davidson pointed out.

“A woman, in pregnancy usually has a joy on her face,” Father Davidson said. “There’s a happiness also with the father, but it’s not the same.

“The problems for a man are, ‘How am I going to support (the child)?’ ‘How am I going to keep him safe?’ Didn’t St. Joseph have all those same concerns? But he had absolute trust and faith in God. You see his perfection although he is of the world.”

It seems that St. Joseph is “overshadowed” by Mary when it comes to the Incarnation and events leading up to it. But Father Davidson said “that’s the beauty of simplicity.”

“(It’s) the absolute love of the gifts you’re given and the gifts that others are given and being thankful for what you’re given and being thankful for what they’re given.

“That’s the freedom of putting absolute faith and trust in God, loving everyone for who they are and what God created them to be,” said Father Davidson. “That they fulfill that role and accomplish God’s will should be our prayer for everyone.”

Smith emphasized that St. Joseph had one of the greatest missions in history. 

“The angels, themselves, conveyed this message to him,” Smith said. “How many of us would have been puffed up by such a high calling? God, the father, chose St. Joseph to image fatherhood to Jesus.”

Father Davidson and Smith challenged Catholics to follow St. Joseph’s example this Advent and take in the “awe and wonder” of the Incarnation through prayer, courage and humble obedience.

“Every moment and thought of every second of that first Advent, St. Joseph was preparing for Christ’s coming. If only we could do the same,” Smith said.