Day 4: Joseph and the Journey

The fourth day of the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena turns to the figure who is silent in the Gospel narratives but central to the events of the Nativity: Saint Joseph, the chaste husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster father of the Lord Jesus. Joseph carried the responsibility of bringing Mary safely from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the late stages of her pregnancy, and his care of her is the model of Catholic husbandhood and fatherhood.

Today's prayer (recite fifteen times)

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

Today's meditation

The Gospel of Saint Luke records the journey to Bethlehem in chapter two, verses 1 to 5. The Roman Emperor Augustus had decreed a census of the entire Empire. Joseph and Mary, being of the house of David, were required to register at Bethlehem, the city of David, ninety miles south of their home in Nazareth. The journey, in the late stages of Mary's pregnancy, would have been physically demanding for any couple; for a poor carpenter and a heavily pregnant young wife, it was a serious trial.

The Catholic devotional tradition has long meditated on the silent labor of Joseph during this journey. The Gospel does not record his words; it records only that he made the journey with Mary. He arranged the practical matters: the donkey, the food, the safe paths, the lodging at each stopping point. He bore the responsibilities silently and faithfully. When at last they arrived at Bethlehem and there was no place for them at the inn, it was Joseph who searched for a stable, prepared the manger, kept the watch through the cold of the December night.

Joseph's silence in the Gospel is the silence of the just man, treated more fully in the Saint Joseph entry. His care of Mary on the journey to Bethlehem, the most particular of the Catholic devotions to Saint Joseph during Advent, is a particular model for Catholic men: the husband who provides without seeking attention, the father who labors without complaint, the just man whose deeds carry the weight of his witness.

Today's intention

Today, in addition to your principal intention, ask Saint Joseph to bless the men in your life: husband, father, brother, son, friend. Saint Joseph, who cared for Mary on the journey to Bethlehem, intercede for the men in my family and circle. Give them your silent fidelity, your protective love, your provident labor.

If you yourself are a Catholic man (husband, father, single Catholic man), today is an appropriate day to bring your own life under the patronage of Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph, model of Catholic men, intercede for me. Where I have been impatient, distracted, or self-centered in my responsibilities, give me your example.

Reflection

The Catholic tradition has long observed that Saint Joseph's role in the Nativity is largely silent and largely unseen, but indispensable. Without Joseph's labor on the road from Nazareth, the Nativity might have happened in a roadside ditch instead of a stable. Without Joseph's protection at Bethlehem, the small family might not have survived the night. The Lord's coming into the world depended on the unsung daily labor of a poor man whose name appears in the Gospel only as a footnote.

The Catholic faithful in our own time, particularly Catholic men, are called to the same kind of unsung daily labor. The husband and father who keeps the household together with steady work, who shows up reliably for the children, who supports his wife in her own vocation, is participating in the same Catholic tradition that runs from Joseph at Bethlehem to the present day. The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena is, on this fourth day, a Catholic blessing on this kind of life.

Closing

Conclude with the prayer to Saint Joseph from the St Joseph Novena Day 1, or with a brief invocation:

Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus and chaste husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us.