Inspired by St Joseph

“…Joseph, being a man of honour…” (Mt 1:19)

If you had to give your only child to someone else to bring up, what kind of qualities would you be looking for in the person of your choice?  Today’s gospel describes Joseph as a man of honour, but the story it tells is perhaps a more potent illustration of why God’s choice fell on Joseph. 

First of all, in a situation where it is fair to assume that he would naturally have felt not just hurt but betrayed, he chose the merciful path of a private divorce.  In a culture where such infidelity was punishable by stoning, Joseph’s response shows that he, like his ancestor David, is a man after God’s own heart: tender and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy (c.f. Ex 34:6).

Secondly, Joseph’s dream and his response to his dream tell us that Joseph had a heart that was open to God, that he recognised the voice of God when he heard it, and that he was obedient to what God asked of him.  When I think about the seeming impossibility of what the angel told him in that dream, this tells me something quite profound about Joseph’s faith and relationship with God.

You and I may not be foster-parents of the Son of God.  But we have been entrusted with the Word of God, both to live and to share.  Joseph, then, provides us with a model of Christian living – one whose life reflects and is responsive to God’s living Word.

St Joseph, pray for me, that I might learn to respond to God and to love Jesus as you do!

Katherine Stone

This reflection was originally written for Compassio - the 2026 Lenten Program of the Diocese of Wollongong.