St Joseph
Saint1st century · Feast March 19
The just and faithful husband of Mary and earthly guardian of Jesus, St Joseph answered God’s call through courageous obedience, humble work and steadfast care for his family.
Foster father of Jesus
Israel
The story of their life
Mary was a Jewish woman associated with Nazareth in Galilee. The New Testament does not record her birthplace, birthday, age, physical appearance or the names of her parents. Later Christian traditions name her parents Joachim and Anne, but those names come from early writings outside the canonical Scriptures and should not be presented as details recorded in the Gospels. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, a man of the house of David. Luke’s Gospel begins its account of her public role when the angel Gabriel announces that she will conceive and bear a son who will be called Jesus, Son of the Most High. Mary asks how this will happen and is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her. Her response is neither mindless submission nor passive resignation. She receives a vocation whose full consequences she cannot yet see and freely places herself at God’s service: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.” Christian tradition calls this response her fiat, from the Latin expression meaning “let it be done.” Through the Holy Spirit, the eternal Son of God takes human nature in Mary’s womb. Because the child she conceives is truly the divine Son, the Church calls Mary Theotokos, Mother of God. The title refers to the identity of Jesus Christ: Mary is mother of the person who is God the Son made human. She is not the source of his divine nature and is not herself divine. After the Annunciation, Mary travels to the hill country of Judah to assist her relative Elizabeth, who is expecting John the Baptist. Elizabeth greets her as blessed among women and as the mother of her Lord. Mary responds with the Magnificat, praising God for looking upon her lowliness, showing mercy, scattering the proud, lifting the lowly and remembering the promises made to Israel. The Magnificat reveals that Mary’s spirituality is not private sentiment detached from the suffering of the world. Her praise announces God’s reversal of pride, oppression and false security. She identifies herself with the lowly and sees what God has done for her within the larger history of God’s mercy towards Israel. Matthew records that Joseph learns in a dream that Mary’s child has been conceived through the Holy Spirit and takes her into his home. Luke records Mary travelling with Joseph to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born. She wraps him in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger. When shepherds report the angelic announcement they have received, Mary keeps these events and reflects upon them in her heart. Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the Temple according to the Law. Simeon recognises the child as God’s salvation and tells Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul. The prophecy points towards the opposition Jesus will face and the suffering through which Mary’s discipleship will pass. Matthew recounts the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt after Joseph is warned that Herod intends to kill the child. Mary therefore belongs to a family that experiences political violence, hurried displacement, life in a foreign land and eventual return. After Herod’s death, the family settles in Nazareth. Luke next presents Mary when Jesus is twelve years old. After a Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph discover that he is not with their travelling group. They search for him anxiously for three days and find him in the Temple. They do not fully understand his response, but Mary continues to keep these things in her heart. The Gospels offer few details about the years that follow. Mary shared the hidden family life of Nazareth in which Jesus grew in wisdom and maturity. Her holiness was lived for many years through ordinary family responsibilities, work, prayer and the gradual acceptance of a mystery she did not always immediately understand. At the wedding feast at Cana, Mary notices that the wine has run out and brings the need to Jesus. She does not draw attention towards herself. Her instruction to the servants summarises authentic Marian discipleship: “Do whatever he tells you.” Jesus performs his first sign, and his disciples begin to believe in him. During Jesus’ public ministry, the Gospels occasionally mention his mother and relatives seeking him. Jesus teaches that those who hear the word of God and act upon it are his true family. Catholic tradition does not understand this as rejecting Mary. She is already the foremost example of the person who hears God’s word, receives it in faith and puts it into practice. John places Mary beside the Cross when many others have fled. She cannot prevent her Son’s suffering, but she remains present. Jesus entrusts the beloved disciple to her and entrusts her to the disciple. The Church has long understood this scene as revealing a wider spiritual motherhood rooted in Mary’s union with Christ and her care for his disciples. Mary’s presence at the Cross does not make her an additional redeemer. Jesus Christ alone accomplishes redemption. Mary’s cooperation is creaturely, maternal and entirely dependent upon grace. She participates through faith, obedience, love and suffering, while every saving gift originates in Christ. The final explicit New Testament reference to Mary appears in Acts. After Jesus’ Ascension, she is gathered in prayer with the apostles, the women and Jesus’ relatives as the community awaits the Holy Spirit. The woman overshadowed by the Spirit at the Annunciation is therefore present with the praying Church before Pentecost. Scripture does not describe the remainder of Mary’s earthly life. It does not state when or where she died. Catholic teaching holds that when the course of her earthly life was completed, she was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. The Church has not defined whether this occurred after death or without death. The Church also teaches that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception through a singular grace of God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the virginal conception of Jesus. It refers to God’s grace in Mary from the beginning of her own existence. Mary’s perpetual virginity, divine motherhood, Immaculate Conception and Assumption are not independent honours detached from Jesus. Each protects or illuminates part of the mystery of Christ and the transformation that his grace can accomplish in a human person. Mary is also called Mother of the Church. Her motherhood of Jesus and her relationship with his disciples are inseparable. She is a member of the Church, redeemed by Christ, while also standing within it as its pre-eminent model of faith, hope, charity and complete openness to the Holy Spirit. Catholics venerate Mary but do not worship her. Adoration belongs to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit alone. Marian prayer asks for the intercession of a fellow member of Christ’s Body who has been uniquely united with him. Authentic devotion to Mary leads towards Jesus, Scripture, the sacraments, charity and the worship of God. Across cultures, Christians have represented Mary with different languages, clothing, features and artistic traditions. These images express the nearness of the Mother of Christ to many peoples, but none is an authenticated portrait. The historical Mary was a Jewish woman of first-century Galilee. Mary’s greatness is not merely that extraordinary things happened to her. Jesus himself teaches that blessedness belongs to those who hear God’s word and keep it. Mary’s entire life embodies this listening faith: she receives the word, carries Christ, serves others, asks questions, ponders what she does not understand, points people towards Jesus, remains beside the Cross and prays with the Church.