10
Prince William County Catholic
The Home Life of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth by Colleen Rooney
In the Gospel of St. Luke, we find the Archangel Gabriel appearing to the virgin Mary who is betrothed to a man named Joseph. He tells her of God’s plan for her to bear His Son. Mary responds to God’s design with a question. After receiving the answer, she responds with her fiat, “Thy will be done.” After hearing this news, she leaves her home in Nazareth for the hill country of Judaea, where her cousin Elizabeth in her old age is expecting a child. After spending about three months with Elizabeth and her husband, Zachary, Mary returns to Nazareth. Joseph has not seen Mary for a few months and as the Gospel of Matthew tells us, he saw that she was with child. He knew the child was not his, and it caused him great consternation to see his lovely Mary in an inexplicable way. After much suffering, Joseph was told in a dream that the child Mary was carrying was the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
and so with this peaceful explanation the two of them could begin their virginal and chaste married life together. Mary and Joseph were observant Jews. They followed the law, the Torah, its commandments, and proscriptions. The Jewish calendar with its months, weeks, and days of Sabbath worship, feasts and rituals were part of their everyday life. They were of the tribe of Judah, and in the royal line of the great King David. They had awaited the promise to King David: “And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.” (2 Sam.7:12.) ‘Mary and Joseph now shared the secret of that great promise. For in Mary, the promise would be fulfilled with Joseph by her side to support her and bring the Divine Child up according to the Jewish Law. Sharers of the secret of God’s Divine
