“Go to Joseph”
There is a story that explains why Saint Joseph is often depicted with a flowering staff. According to tradition, The Virgin Mary was consecrated to the Temple. She lived within the Temple complex and was by the men and women who also lived there, filling their various roles. When Mary came of marriageable age, it fell to the priests of the Temple to find her a suitable husband. The priests knew that Mary was particularly devout and so they took their obligation with great sincerity.
The priests called all the unmarried men together and collected their staffs. In those days nearly everyone carried a staff as it served many purposes, from an aid in walking over rough ground to self-defense. All the staffs were locked in a room in the Temple and the priests prayed that God would show them who was to be Mary’s husband. In the morning, the room was opened and the men retrieved their staffs. But Joseph found that his staff had flowered overnight. This was a signal to the priests that Josep was chosen by the Lord to be the spouse of Mary.
In Christian art the flowering staff is most often depicted ad lilies, a symbol of purity. This is not only a nod to Mary’s purity but also that of Joseph after his betrothal to the Blessed Virgin.
The Church is often criticized for its patriarchal character. But what is often overlooked, especially in today’s increasingly progressive society, is that the relationship between fathers and their children is very different from the relationship enjoyed by mothers and their children.
I once saw a child who was just learning to walk. She tottered around on shaky legs and at one point she fell. It was obvious she wasn’t hurt because she sat there on the ground looking around her. Only when she noticed that her mother was watching her did she start to cry at the top of her lungs.
When we fall it is mothers who rush to us, pick us up, comfort us and console us. That is the role of mothers. But fathers are different. When we fall, fathers wait, they may even try to stop our mothers from rushing to us. Fathers wait to see what we will do. Will we cry for help or will we pick ourselves up and keep going? Fathers allow us to fall so that we may learn who we are. And when the time is right, then fathers swoop in and pick us up, not to soothe and comfort us, but to protect and guide us.
That is what I tried to convey in this depiction of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, a father who guides and protects. Jesus shown here holding an orb topped by a cross, it is a symbol of Christ as the ruler of the world. Joseph, the humble “tekton,” a maker of things, or as we so often translate the word, a carpenter, is the guide and protector of the young King of Kings.
In the Old Testament, Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, became a type of guardian and protector of the people of Egypt. He had charge over his master’s household and even after he was imprisoned on false charges, he managed to once agin win the confidence of Pharaoh. Joseph foresaw a coming drought and made sure that Egypt was well prepared. When the drought came and people began to starve, they came to Pharaoh who told them; “Go to Joseph, and do all that he shall say to you.”
We still go to Joseph in time of need, asking for his prayers.
This work was offered as a proposed holy card. I don’t know if the holy card will happen but prints of the work are available in the shop.
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Happy Father’s Day!