Saint Joseph was declared patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870. Saint Joseph is also patron of several countries and regions.
Joseph was the husband of the Blessed Mary, mother of Jesus. Through marriage he became the legally recognised guardian of Jesus Christ. Taking the undertanding that we are born into a particular family for a specific purpose and this is known before we are born, God and Christ chose Joseph to be father and legally recognised guardian on earth. Jospeh has a purpose too.
Do not condemn the messenger - go set all your questions and arguments with God. He waits for your communication so He can show you the truth that you are unable to see and understand.
Christ was not born illigitmate. First he was miraculously concieved. This was an act of God for all humanity and His birth was anticipated before this time. The marriage of Joseph and Mary, has Christ being raised as a legitimate child. Christ is legally recognised as being the son of Joseph and the Son of God. He was born a human being with a Divine Spirit, as the Son of Mary.
Through the marriage of Mary to Joseph, he is regarded as father.
Any child, borm from a Royal lineage, even an illigtimate child, can be recognised as being legitimate by another Crowned Royal. We understand that in history, Christ was recognised and given legitimate status. We understand Joseph was recognised too.
Saints are usually sanctified with evidence of miracles by prayer and divine intervention, intercession. Saints are evolved souls who are guided by God. In different ways they are given clear instruction for a purpose, even in their dreams.
One example of this is before what is known as the 'massacre of the innocents' , Joseph had a dream to take his wife Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt to safety.
We are told Joseph lived in Nazareth. He traveled to Bethlehem in a time of compliance with the requirements of a Roman census. Because of Joseph's genealogy lineage to King David the authorities will have known this. The gathering of compulsory information of people and their family members, is a clear indication to show that records are kept. People who are in charge of decisions actually know who is related to who.
When Christ was still a baby, Joseph had a dream with the instruction to take Mary and the baby to Egypt to safety. After the death of Herod, it became safe for him to return with his family back in Judea, where they settle in Nazareth.
If we consider in history, long before the birth of Christ, the Egyptian Pharaoh had ordered the killing of all the Isrealite boys. The threat the the throne was known about then, as it was in the time of Christ. In each era an anointed baby is born.
The first appearance of Joseph is in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. These books contain the genealogy of Jesus tracing his ancestry back to King David.
Two genealogy lines have identified different sons of David. Matthew follows the major royal line from Solomon. Luke follows the lineage from Nathan, another son of David and Bathsheba. For this reason, the names between David and Joseph are different.
Scholars have reconsiled the genealogies by viewing the Solomonic lineage as Joseph's major royal line and the Nathanic lineage in Luke to be Mary's minor line.
Nathan was the younger brother of King Solomon, the lineage of Mary. According to Luke, Joseph and through the lineage of 'of Heli, Christ was born.
According to Matthew 'Jacob was the father of Joseph'.
If we are to look at Scripture and what is written to quote this.
"I Jesus have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." Revelation 22:16
The Holy Bible, even translated, is taken to be the Word of God. We have here very clear and precise evidence to identify that Christ is directly connected to David.
Joseph is identified as a 'Tekton' meaning 'a highly skilled person who works with their hands' - this could be working with diverse materials even metal. Jesus was a tekton himself. There has been interpretation of this to mean carpenter.
Interestingly enough, while my father was a co-founder Director of an engineering company, using his technical ability and designs. Sharing this information to illustrate that while there is 'interpretation' of meaning of words, this might not be accurately reflect truth of a person; their professional skill and social standing. Interpretation and assumption can evidently present a vastly diverse impressions of someone's social status.
My father was regarded as an important man in the local and business community. Through his idea and his friend seeing the potential, together with a third person who was invited to be the Sales Director, an engineering manufacturing company was formed. This was to grow to meet international trading and employed a substantial workforce.
Furthermore to add to this, while watching the building of the Titanic, posted on earlier article, it was the skilled craftsmen who actually built the ship from the designs that were made from the architect. For this reason both the architect and hands that build and create the buildings, ships and visionaries are all complimentary.
With Christ being described as a shepherd tending sheep - sheep is also an expression in relation to people. Christ was not born to work in the fields and sheer sheep. He was born to spiritually enlighten mankind and to guide people in the right way. So here we have the idea from a spiritual perspective of a shephed tending to his sheep.
We only need to look around at the great buildings in this world, particularly those that have been inspired by the technical hands of the architect. The architect is also a Tekton because he is using his technical hand and mind to design.
There is more here to bring light. 'Arch-Tekton’s name aptly originates from a combination of the Greek root ‘arch’, meaning ‘chief’, and ‘tekton’, meaning ‘builder’. This is also the root of the word ‘architecture’. We have from this the very clear impression of a master builder and highly technical designer - architect.
Is your impression of Joseph and Jesus of a lowly status?
There is a huge difference between being humble and lowly.
A man with a spiritual heart who marries a lady with a spiritual heart, we can get the impression of the spiritual relationship and service the gave. From this we can also begin to imagine the parent's they were raising a child born spiritually awake.
There is something that has been missing from this picture. All children who have descended from King David are born Royal Prince and Princess. There are people saying that this does not apply for women - God gave such importance to a woman, this is why He entrusted women to carry in their womb the seed that becomes a new human life.
No man or woman has the right to invalidate what God Ordains.
The Blessed Holy Mary had a pure heart. The baby born from her, was Royal by blood and a Crowned Royal by God. The announcement of Christ being King of Israel when he was being crucified, did not take into consideration, his ressurrection.
God is very clever. He knows all the devious ways and plans of man. Even now and throughout the times, the truth is still going to come to light because it has to. Sometimes just focus on the simple, instead of complicating matters to get to the truth.
And even if you do not get the precise details, there is nothing stopping you from searching and to keep searching for the truth. God will reveal everything that you want to know, if you are meant to know. Seek the truth and you will eventually find the truth.
Notice in the painting above, Christ is raised and illuminated - the dove is symbolising the Holy Spirit and this is while He is still a child. Look closer to see Mary wearing a red dress and has the spiritual lilac colour seen on her lap. This indicates that her third eye chakra is open and already we know she was also given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Cast your eye over to Joseph and he has a metal rod, we see with some design at the top. This is again could be giving some indication of his technical ability with metal.
However, ruling with a rod of iron is identified in the Holy Scripture. Also Queen Elisabeth has a sceptre that is made from metal and not a wooden staff.
"And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father." Revelation 2:27
Many people might think ruling with a rod of iron is to be ruthless and yet this is not how Jesus Christ was. Joseph either. This is the Holy Royal family.
When Jesus was crucified, under Jewish custom have been expected Joseph, his father by marriage to Mary to take charge of Jesus' body. However, this role was instead performed by Joseph of Arimathea. Since ancient times, family graves are maintained. Even the family names are maintained and passed down to other relatives. With Joseph of Arimithea, who was a wealthy man, being uncle of Mary this explains why he took control.
Not only are we shown the importance of the Matriarchal lineage being preserved, we are also given the impression that both Josephs are also family relations.
The truth of the details is written in history. My sharing here is just to open your mind to realise a greater perspective and understand, while people are written about in the Holy Bible they were much more than words on a page. These people are our ancestors and we have all descended from the family lines that have been identified.
For this reason Joseph was seen as being the divinely guided protector of the Holy Royal family. For this reason alone, it is very easy to see why St. Joseph was chosen to be the Patron Saint and Protector of the Catholic Church.
As it happens, my father's family came from a noble family lineage belonging to the Catholic Church. My mother came from a Spiritually Crowned Royal family lineage from the Greek Orthodox Church. Though my birth, I unite East and West in peace.
The expression holding the key in both hands is explained. A few weeks ago I had a dream of being given a bunch of keys by a lady. Dreams are connected to our unconscious and contain Spiritual messages - I have been given the spiritual keys.
Peace, love and best wishes
Pauline Maria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_%28son_of_David%29