Saint Joseph is, besides Christ Himself, the best model of authentic masculinity for a man to emulate. Wanna be a True Man…? be like St. Joseph. After all, he raised Jesus! Quite obviously, St. Joseph knew what he was doing. Have you ever thought about his role in the days following Christ’s birth?
Picture this… Mary gives birth to Jesus. Joseph then sees shepherds, visitors and Magi from the east come to adorn his foster son. Then, angels appear and sing praises about this baby boy. What would be going through your mind, if in the hospital labor and delivery room, people come and sing songs praising your child? We can’t really fathom what was taking place before Joseph’s eyes, or what was going on in his head. Then, imagine that an angel comes to him, again, and tells him that someone (King Herod) wants to kill his newborn son.
If you’re anything like me, your first inclination in this situation would have been to grab the firearms and ammo and go on the offensive. Not Joseph. He heeded the warning from the angel, then he WALKED HIS FAMILY TO EGYPT! That would have been approx 300 miles, or more! They walked! A woman who had just given birth, a newborn and this holy, faithful, virtuous man called Joseph. He did this to protect his family and the salvation of all of us.
Now imagine being in Egypt. Joseph has no idea how long they’d be there. He left his carpenter shop, tools, projects, friends and home behind, back in Judea. What did he do for work in Egypt? How did they worship? Where did they live? How did he continually protect his family in this foreign land? What and where did they eat? Did you ever think of these things? Have you ever thought about how St. Joseph did all this? Have you ever thought how you would react in a situation like this? What you would do if your family was in danger? In need of shelter, food, protection?
St. Joseph did all of this, and quite handily. There are good reasons why St. Joseph is the patron saint of so many manly things, like workers, carpenters, fathers and holy death. His virtue was incredible. Learn about him, follow him to his son.
True Man up!
