Virgil
St. Joseph's Day
by , 03-19-2010 at 09:54 PM (3936 Views)
Today is St. Joseph’s day. Most people in English speaking countries remember St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th (I guess because we are so influenced by Irish Catholicism) but really the more important day on the Catholic calendar is the 19th. Actually St. Joseph has been on my mind lately given my endeavor to become a parent. (Those that are aware, it’s just not coming fast enough; this process stinks.) St. Joseph in essence was a foster father himself, taking in the pregnant Mary and raising a child that was not genetically his own. Sure he didn’t seek out a child and the situation was thrust upon him, but what a man of character he must have been. Taking in a pregnant woman in his day was really radical actually. We seem to remember so much of Mary’s plight in the Christ birth story. But it was pointed out to me recently that while Mary is the heroine of the Luke Gospel, it’s Joseph who is the hero of the Matthew Gospel. There we see Joseph contemplating not marrying her but reversing when spoken to by an angel. We see him caringly finding a birth place for his wife in labor, and later we see him as protector of his child. He was a carpenter and passed his trade onto his child, so while it’s not mentioned, we can assume a good relationship there. I’ve also had the image of him as an older man when he marries Mary since he’s not alive when Jesus is an adult. I also can’t help thinking that Christ is recalling his foster father when later in Matthew chapter 18:
Receiving a child is exactly what Joseph does, and protecting and nurturing is exactly the opposite of causing a child to sin, which I think carries a connotation of harm. What is special to me is that my father was a carpenter (before he went blind) and that while I was researching I found that among other things, St. Joseph is also the patron saint of engineers!1 At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2 He called a child over, placed it in their midst,
3 and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
6 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.And so today I honor St. Joseph.
Actually what I had originally intended to blog on, but so got distracted as I researched this, are the glorious St. Joseph pastries that Italians bake or buy on this day. Growing up my mother would either fry up some zeppoles or she would get some pastries from the bakery. I treated my wife (who is not Italian) to some today. She wondered where I took off to, and when I walked in the house with a bakery box, she asked what was in the box. “Today is St, Joseph’s Day,” I said. “Oh, pastries!” she smiled.I took off for the bakery and I got a half dozen, stopped at my mother’s house and dropped two off to her and took the four home. While at the bakery a woman in line heard me order them. It must have sparked a memory from her past.
“Do they sell St. Joseph’s pastries here?” she asked.
“I would hope so,” I replied.
“How do you know?”
“Well, this is Staten Island (the highest Italian-American population in the country for those that don’t know), this is an Italian bakery, and if they don’t have any here they ought to be out of business.
For those that don’t know what St. Joseph’s pastries are here is an image. The one on the left is custard filled and the one on the right is cannoli filling filled. I got half of one kind and half the other. Scrumptious!
Go to Profile
Mark as Read
