“Joseph, because he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.” The often unquestioned   assumption about this passage, because we live in the broken world of paternity tests on reality television, is that Joseph was suspicious of the Blessed Mother and wanted to get out of the situation entirely. That said, such is not the view of a great many of the Church Fathers, who look upon this “suspicion theory” with a skeptical eye, mostly because it seems unlikely that someone who knew Mary would immediately assume the worst about her. Every year I take up this crusade anew, trying to convince the 21^st century Christian world that there is more to the story than Joseph being concerned about infidelity. 

Many of the Church Fathers expound an  interpretation of this passage that revolves around Joseph’s humility and his own perception of his unworthiness rather than assigning doubt or skepticism to him. Not only does this pass the eye-test, but it also gives us an opportunity to reflect on Joseph’s humility and the often-challenging reality of our own vocations. Joseph, knowing that something significant is happening here, and knowing the great personal holiness of his betrothed, worries about whether he is up to the task of playing the role of Mary’s spouse and foster father of the Most High. We will never know on this side of the grave what was going through Joseph’s mind during those days, but it  is easier for me to believe that he was worried about his own weakness than that he was        worried about Mary’s fidelity and holiness. 

With that in mind, we should ask ourselves,  what can we learn from this truly unique situation? We are obviously not called to trust    in the Lord in exactly the same way as St. Joseph, because our vocation is different, but Pope St. John Paul II says of St. Joseph that, “St Joseph is the model of those humble ones that      Christianity raises up to great destinies…he  is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need to do great things ­ it is enough to have the  common, simple and human virtues.”  Therefore it doesn’t matter that we aren’t being called to the exact same mission as Joseph because we are still called to trust in the Lord in spite of our own weakness and the difficulty we might have in  believing that God is calling us to be a Saint. To be a husband, father, wife, mother, Catholic  discerning in the world, or to walk as a disciple of Christ in any fashion still seems like a  monumental task at times. When we feel as though we don’t have what it takes or are afraid of disappointing the Lord, we are not alone.  
 
As this Advent season draws to and end, take a moment to reflect on your vocation, both in the broad sense of your state of life, and also the  specifics of how God is asking you to grow in holiness in your day to day life. Where there is doubt or fear of inadequacy, surrender that to God, and ask for St. Joseph to be with you in  order to follow the Lord wherever He may  lead you. 
 
Prayers always, 
Fr. McC