Joseph the Husband of Mary

 

Every husband should protect the honour of his wife. 

Reflection on Today’s Readings, the Solemnity of Joseph the Husband of Mary, March 19th, 2024
Texts: 2 Sam. 7:4-5a,12-14a,16; Psalm 89:2-5,27,29; Rom. 4: 13-16.18-22; Matt. 1:16.18-21.24 

Today we celebrate Joseph under the title of Husband of Virgin Mary. This day should be Husband world day, a day to reflect on being good husband. Joseph, as an husband, prioritised the feelings of Virgin Mary. This is clear in today’s gospel reading: “Before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away.” 

Joseph is also a man who made sacrifices for his wife. He did not think of what people we say about him. He did not think of how Mary’s pregnancy outside wedlock affected his personality. What people will say does not bother him. He offered them on the Altar of protecting the honour of his wife. Every husband should protect the honour of his wife.  

He is also charitable

Joseph is a just man. Being a just man, he is faithful to the law of Moses. He is not just faithful to the law, he is also charitable. It is charity that made him place his wife’s feelings above his own. It would certainly be a disappointment to him finding his wife being pregnant outside wedlock. He teaches every husband to be charitable in dealing with their wives.  

Joseph is also a man of faith. It is faith that can make him believe what the angel told him in his dream. The angel says, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”. It is beyond human reasoning how a woman could conceive by the Holy Spirit without a man. He is truly a descendant of Abraham to believe the message of the angel. 

Joseph is just based on his faith in God

Being a descendant of Abraham by his faith, he fulfilled the plan of God and also gain righteousness. St. Paul speaks of it in today’s second reading: “The promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Joseph is just based on his faith in God.  

Joseph is a builder of house of God. He fulfilled the words of God for David: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name”. The house, here, is not that of physical edifice but a home where God is present. Joseph made his home a domestic Church where God’s plan is fulfilled. He supported his wife in fulfilling God’s plan for her.  

Prayer 

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that by Saint Joseph’s intercession your Church may constantly watch over the unfolding of the mysteries of human salvation, whose beginnings you entrusted to his faithful care. Amen (Collect) 

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke