Saint Joseph

Saint (d. c. 1)
First appearing in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Saint
Joseph was the earthly father of Jesus Christ and the husband
of the Virgin Mary.

Who Was Saint Joseph?

Venerated as a saint in many Christian sects, Saint Joseph is a
biblical figure who is believed to have been the corporeal father
of Jesus Christ. Joseph first appears in the Bible in the gospels
of Matthew and Luke; in Matthew, Joseph's lineage is traced
back to King David. According to the Bible, Joseph was born
circa 100 B.C.E. and later wed the Virgin Mary, Jesus's mother.
He died in Israel circa 1 A.D.

Fact and Fiction

Everything we know about Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary
and the foster father of Jesus, comes from the Bible, and
mentions of him are underwhelming. The 13 New Testament
books written by Paul (the epistles) make no reference to him
at all, nor does the Gospel of Mark, the first of the Gospels.
Joseph first appears in the Bible in the gospels of Matthew and
Luke, one of which (Matthew) traces Joseph's lineage back to
King David.
To add to the problem of not knowing enough about Joseph,
some apocryphal writings—such as the second-century
Protevangelium of James and the fourth-century History of
Joseph the Carpenter—muddy the historical waters further,
presenting him as a widower with children when he met Mary
and claiming that he lived to the age of 111. These claims,
however, are spurious and are not accepted by the church.
 2 Lessons the Sleeping
St. Joseph Can Teach Us

"Joseph's rest revealed God's will to him. In this

moment of rest in the Lord, as we pause from our many
daily obligations and activities, God is also speaking to
us...But like Saint Joseph, once we have heard God's
voice, we must rise from our slumber; we must get up
and act." -Pope Francis to families in the Philippines
Based on this reflection, the Sleeping St. Joseph
devotion teaches us 2 valuable lessons:

While God doesn’t normally speak to us so

directly and dramatically, He very often speaks in
times when we silence both our outer and inner
worlds.

After Joseph’s three dreams, he immediately got

up each time and acted (even if it meant fleeing the
country in the middle of the night!) While we
certainly should strive to quiet ourselves to hear
those whispers of God in our hearts, we also need to
act on what God tells us in the silence.