Saint Joseph

December 23, 1997

Carolyn’s Description:

Mary is wearing a slate blue dress and a blue veil. There is a man with her. I saw Mary first and then suddenly Joseph was there. He genuflected before her and she reached her hands out to him. He is now standing next to her and is holding both of her hands.

Joseph is tall and older looking. He has a long face and dark brown eyes. He has a bushy beard that stands out quite far and he has black and silver hair. There is a white sash around the back of his neck and it comes over his head. The ends fall down to just below his waist. It looks knitted . . . it is not a solid fabric. . . and there is tasseling on the bottom of it. Joseph also has a gray cloak with sleeves over his shoulders. It doesn’t come around to the front of him, but hangs straight down like an open robe.

Mary has moved back her veil and she has a baby in her arms. She and Joseph are both looking down at the child. The baby has a bald head and is very beautiful and shines just like Mary does.

The Blessed Mother’s Words:

My dear children, today I bring to you my spouse, he who brought me much joy while on earth and who is still a great joy and comfort to me in heaven. Dear children, I wish for you to know him as you know me, for his love for you is great and he is a great warrior of prayer and an intercessor on your behalf.

St. Joseph’s Words:

Brothers . . . sisters . . . I present to you the Son of God, given to my wife and to me that we would care for Him and raise Him up to be great, to give glory to God. Be joyous, as this is the season of His birth, the season of the coming of the Lord, of His promise and the fulfilment of that promise . . . that promise made ages ago to our fathers. Be full of life, more alive than ever, as He is life and the love which you feel, and He is the greatest gift, the only gift. Bless and praise God for allowing me to be with you this day.

Sisters and brothers, I love and pray for you. You are truly sisters and brothers of mine in the family of God, in the Christ, He who came to save even those to whom God had given Him, His mother and I. What an awesome responsibility! What an honor! I myself was not worthy. In that season and in that day, Mary being with child . . . so joyous, so beautiful . . . and I so nervous, eagerly anticipating the birth of my son . . . though He was not of my seed, God blessed me with His life to raise as mine . . . and traveling with her to the city of my fathers and of her kin, I worried so! Why had God chosen me? Why had God asked this of me? What fears!

On that night, the night of His birth, the stars shone so brightly and the sky danced with angels that I and His mother were privileged to see. And as she held Him, such light! Such wondrous light! And she and I gazed upon Him . . . our son, the savior, the promised king of ages . . . and could not speak and could not move and could not breathe, for He was so beautiful and so perfect! And then I, knowing the prophesies, that which God had given to us His people, cried . . . for it is written that the Son of Man would come to suffer, to be mocked, and to be ridiculed, and that in His suffering man would be redeemed. Knowing this, I still felt such joy as only a parent can as he looks upon the life that God has given, even if it be for a short while, to raise, to love, to teach, to hold.

And I took my wife and my son home and into my house. And as He grew, I taught him many things. I taught Him the law of our fathers and the Jewish way, and I took Him to the synagogue where He was introduced to His true father. And I taught Him the scriptures, the words of the prophets, those words that were fulfilled as I stood on that crystal night and watched His miraculous birth. And I taught Him my trade and He was schooled, as all the young Jewish boys were at that time, and had many friends. And at the time, there would be no indication that He was the king of ages, save for the knowledge in His mother’s and my hearts. It was easy to forget. I would go about my business and she with hers, kept busy with all the responsibilities that parenting requires, and it was easy to forget that the Lord was in our home. Oftentimes, we looked upon our son and when the realization touched our hearts that we were seeing God in our form, it was overwhelming!

It is not different for you. You . . . each of you . . . have had such an experience as you kneel before the Holy Eucharist, for as I forgot, so too do you, as all people will. As I carried on with my daily business, I forgot that I was in the presence of the Lord. There are so many who forget, as they enter their churches and go to worship and to pray, that they are in the presence of the Lord in His spirit and in His body as He is sacrificed upon your altars. It is no different for you than it was for I, and you and I are blessed. My Jesus, such a sweet child! Such a wondrous child! And He grew. And it was difficult.

And then came the time of my passing and I left this world and I joined the heavenly Father. What a joy, what an honor to be in heaven with God, to know all that He knows, to see all creation from the beginning to the end. And it was only then that I could see the complete fulfilment of the promise given to God’s people through my son, and the ferocious beating of my heart ceased. For there were times when it raced as I thought of what must happen, of what would happen. He was so precious to us and the thought of His suffering, it broke our hearts. And yet, when I joined our Father, I saw the glory that was my son, the glory that He would give to the Father in the redemption of all people and I was so proud.

I did my best to raise Him to love God and to know God. And He, being divine, knew so much more than I and yet He was so obedient. For even in the scriptures as you have them it is written of His loss in the temple, and you know how His mother and I worried and how we sought Him out. And even though He did His father’s work there, at His mother’s request and mine, He left to journey home with us, obedient. Unfathomable, that God would obey His creature!

The fullness of this lesson did not fill my heart until my passing from this earth. For in Christ we were shown the way to live, to love, to die, and to glorify God. And in His obedience we were taught the greatest lesson: though we do not understand why it is that God does what He does and in His time, we must obey, for He is a loving father. And as Jesus obeyed me and learned, though He knew so much greater things than I, from me . . . a simple man, a tradesman . . . we must do the same, trusting that God knows what we cannot know, that the Father will reveal to us the truth in His time and in His way. The greatest lesson of Jesus was His obedience even until the time of His passion. “Take this cup from me,” He prayed, full of fear and yet He obeyed His father.

Obedience . . . trust . . . these things are great, but greater than these is love. Jesus Christ was the mark of God’s love on this earth. He was the proof of His love, the fulfilment of His love, the root and the ends of His love, the beginning and end, the everything. Jesus, He taught His mother and I much of love. Oh love through obedience, through submission to God’s will, through giving of oneself!

How difficult it was for I, to live in a home with the son of God and the virgin mother chosen by God and free of sin. You might know well that anything that occurred in our home that caused division and strife, well . . . it was certainly not the fault of my son nor my wife! But what joy! And what great things that God had done for me!

The love of a family is the greatest of love. The love that exists between husband and wife, parent and child, sister and brother, this is the model of God’s love and it is love as God truly intended it to be. Cherish one another, especially in these days, in this season. Your children, they are gifts, the greatest gifts to enter your lives, blessings to be cherished, treasured. Your spouses, gifts! Reflections of God. Reflections of His love. And this is why it is so important to free yourselves from pride, from anger, from jealousy, greed. These things are not of God and not part of His love, but it is only through the freedom that truth, generosity, peace, and joy bring that you can experience God in your lives through those who love you, whom you love.

I am full of joy in this season as now in my father’s kingdom, in our father’s kingdom, I can behold my baby son once again, that gift that God gave to me, that responsibility, that treasure that He entrusted me with. With Mary His mother, the queen of heaven and the angels, I too will sing praises to Him and celebrate the coming of the Christ to the earth. He is the redeemer of all and the bringer of peace, king of kings, and the lamb. Worship and adore Him in your lives, in your churches, through your family. Know that He is with you, as He promised His first disciples, each day. I thank you for inviting me to speak with you this day.

The Blessed Mother’s Words:

Dear children, may the Christ bless you this day and always, being ever at your side, close behind, and walking before, as I your mother am with my love, my guidance, and my intercession.