Happy feast of St Joseph!! <3

this is from my Cali trip in 2010 and i got the honor of visiting the Shrine of St Joseph in Santa Cruz, Ca.

ancilladomini:

-The dude was HUMBLE. Seriously, picture this: you’re betrothed to a girl (and in your culture betrothal basically = marriage.) and she goes to visit her cousin and comes back pregnant. woah.

But Joseph’s a good guy. He knows she could be stoned for this, and he doesn’t want her to be exposed to shame. He’s just going to divorce her and let it all just fizzle out.

BAM. Dream. Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. The child is going to be the messiah Israel has been expecting for hundreds of years.

All of this is kind of a lot to handle at one time. But I imagine Joseph handled it pretty well.

-So he takes Mary into his home as his wife even though everybody probably thinks they are sinners. (ya know, she’s pregnant and all.) So that’s where the humility comes in. He knew the consequences. He knew people would talk. He knew that he and Mary would be hated.

But he also knew he had to do the will of God—to protect Mary and her child.

-So then he has to go all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem and take Mary with him. That’s about an 80 mile trip. On foot. And Mary was very pregnant. It was probably a difficult journey with many trials. But Joseph was the real deal.

-So they finally get to Bethlehem and Mary’s all like “BABY’S COMING” so if I were Joseph I would be freaking out because I have a hunch he never delivered a baby before this.

-So he’s trying to find a place for this baby to be born but there is no place and Mary is freaking out because from what I’ve heard labor is pretty dang painful.

-Then the only place he can provide for his wife to give birth is a nasty old cave where animals are kept. I bet there was poop in there.

-and I bet he was scared. and i think giving birth is bloody.

-and then Joseph DELIVERS THE BABY okay that’s why I love St. Joseph

the end

-oh, and I bet it would be kind of difficult to live with two perfect people. let’s be honest.

=]

with Father Paeng Lavilla. Oblates of Saint Joseph.

Santa Cruz, California