From Dr. Thurow:
I hope you will pardon my offering just a few half-baked thoughts this week about St. Joseph, whose feast day we celebrated on Thursday. Students baked up a storm, created lovely decorations and artwork, and prayed for all the fathers in the community. I confess that I particularly enjoyed the beautiful art and plentiful fresh-baked bread! But back to the musings…
We hear so little about St. Joseph in scripture and yet his presence cannot help but loom large. We know he is alive when Jesus is 12 years old, as Mary mentions him having also been searching when they find Him in the temple teaching the scribes. We can be fairly certain he is not alive at the crucifixion, as Jesus hands his mother over to John. He does not seem to be present at Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding at Cana. But lest we think St. Joseph’s relatively small presence in scripture to be a sign of his insignificance, we must remember that Christ spent all those hidden years, maybe almost 30 of them, in intimate community with Joseph and Mary. 30 years for/with them, unseen by the world, and 3 for us, in a sense. How can anyone think the domestic sphere does not matter as much as the public after the revelation of such a divine plan?
Yet, it may be that in the subtle nature of Joseph’s presence is an important revelation for us to recognize. What is it to be a proper man and a father? The Earthly father chosen by God is a man of few words and no vainglory. He is a humble craftsman. He is a pious man, dutiful, brave, and unconcerned with his own legacy. His deeds speak for themselves: Joseph protects Mary’s reputation with unasked gentleness when he intends to divorce her quietly; he accepts the message of the angel without question when the truth is revealed to him; he protects his family and his Lord like a good knight by shepherding Mary and Jesus into Egypt to escape the vicious jealousy of Herod; he lets Mary speak and seems to remain silent and patient after three days of fearfully searching Jerusalem for the 12-year-old Jesus; and he remains the chaste guardian of the Theotokos, the bearer of God, all the days of his life, even though he will not live to see the blessed day of the resurrection. Not that he did not experience what happened, however. Indeed, he and John the Forerunner must have been waiting just within when Jesus harrowed hell, trampling those dread gates beneath his feet once and for all. What a reunion that must have been!
What a great weight rests upon the shoulders of a father! How is a young person to conceive of God, Whom we are directly taught to call Our Father, save by the example of their own father? Where else would we really come to understand the definition of that word? Jesus was not his flesh and blood, but He surely carried St. Joseph with Him, in countless memories and His own earthly formation, all through his life. This is the great weight particularly of parents and, in a lesser sense, of all those who form the young: to have their virtues and vices immortalized in a young heart! The very same body St. Joseph protected all those years and the earthly heart he helped form sits now upon the throne of heaven! St. Joseph, pray for us!
March 20, 2026