“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” Mt. 1, 20 “At that moment, everything changed. I knew that I would take Mary as my wife." As he had done with Mary, God revealed his saving plan to Joseph. He did so by using dreams, which in the Bible and among all ancient peoples, were considered a way for him to make his will known. Joseph’s response was immediate: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Mt 1:24). Obedience made it possible for him to surmount his difficulties and spare Mary. —The words of Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde. Saint Joseph answered God’s call and gave his “yes” to be the putative father of Jesus, here in the city of Nazareth, Galilee—very close to the place where the Virgin Mary also received the Angel's announcement, which is now the site of the Basilica of the Annunciation. Today, we want to introduce for you the home of the Holy Family and the working quarters of St. Joseph, where he himself responded to the Angel’s message. Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation "Welcome to Nazareth, welcome to the house of Saint Joseph, this Church dedicated to him. Two Evangelists - Luke and Matthew - speak of the childhood of Jesus and the Annunciation of the Angel. Luke prefers to speak of the Annunciation to Mary, and the Basilica of the Annunciation represents this announcement through its art and Evangelization in the study of Mariology and the Holy Scripture, as well as in its theology. But Matthew wrote of a similar Annunciation to St. Joseph, so we can also speak of St. Joseph's “yes” - a “yes” of active participation in the mystery of Redemption which is why he is called the guardian of the Redeemer. Thus, Joseph enters the history of salvation precisely through his involvement in that plan, with his own “yes”. In our times, it is important to take up again this “yes” of St. Joseph, and in this Matthew helps us precisely because he speaks of this just man – he who participated in his humanity, with his “yes”. We must understand what Jesus' era was like. The Hebrew marriage process was divided into two parts, called erusin and nissuin. The first part, Erusin, began with a contract. The espoused couple had a mutual commitment, though they were not yet living together. Then, they entered nissuin, the second part. The angel’s announcement to Mary and Joseph happened during this first part, during the contractual time. When Joseph learned that Mary was expecting, he thought that - following the Holy Scripture of the Torah - he could resort to repudiation in secret, without needing to give a public explanation. The punishment for adultery was that a woman be stoned to death, but Joseph did not want to expose Our Lady to judgment, because he knew she was innocent. Repudiation in secret was provided for in the book of Proverbs and in Leviticus. And yet instead of this, St. Joseph, at the announcement of the Angel, welcomed his role of paternity with all its consequences in his life, in that of Mary, of the Holy Family... and for us, because in this way the doors of salvation were opened." "When I took Him in my arms I couldn't contain my emotion. Tears came to me. He was given to me by Heaven for me to hold and protect. Ah, my boy! I was blessed by the one God. I couldn't imagine that Providence would act this way in my simple life. What could I offer the Son of God? My work, my faith, my love? Yes! My love!" By accepting the Divine plan, St. Joseph became a collaborator with Mary and a witness to the Incarnation of the Divine Word. Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation “Saint Joseph: cooperator in the mystery of the Incarnation, of the Redemption. St. Paul says that we are all God's collaborators, but St. Joseph, together with the Virgin Mary, was the first. That is why it is not correct to call him “adoptive father” but “putative father”: the juridical paternity of Saint Joseph. Why? It is the paternity of God entrusted to Saint Joseph. It is God who entrusts this paternity. Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, states that Jesus experienced the tenderness of God in St. Joseph. Joseph represents God's fatherhood for Jesus and for the whole Church as the patron of the Universal Church. He is the Custodian of the Church of his son because he actively cooperated in the mystery. The mystery of the Incarnation took place because of a human “yes” from Mary, and the cooperation of Joseph. He took on this paternity with many challenges: the journey to Bethlehem, the escape to Egypt, the return to Nazareth working to support his family. All of this is cooperation. This child, later as adolescent and then a young man, set out on a mission to die on the cross and rise again for all of us. Joseph contributed to the human growth of this son by teaching him language and writing. It was he who took his son to the synagogue and introduced him to the knowledge of the Word. He committed himself with all his humanity, his life, his desire for salvation, because he too, along with all of Israel, was waiting for the Messiah.” I sometimes wonder: how could I have hesitated? But as a man I needed to be sure that God wanted to manifest Himself to the world as my child, of the house of David. We have waited so long for the fulfillment of the Promise that a Savior would come to us. [...!] Only through divine intervention are we able to move forward hoping in God's promise, putting our trust in God's hands. A descendant of King David, a chaste, silent, and hardworking man, Joseph lived out his fatherhood in a hidden life in Nazareth. Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation "We are in the Church of Saint Joseph. Based on ancient traditions, in this domestic church there was a Judeo-Christian baptistery followed by the remains of a Byzantine and Crusader church. The current church is from 1911. There is record of a pilgrim bishop in 780 – Artufo - who visited the church called the Nourishment. It is very likely that tradition has preserved the site of this church and we Franciscans are its guardians. From here, St. Joseph would have left for the Hellenistic village of Sepphoris to work, and certainly his adolescent son Jesus was with him as his apprentice. For this reason, Pope Saint Paul VI calls this Shrine the Sanctuary of Work.” "Saint Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family,” Pope Francis says. “From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” (Patris Corde, 6) Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation "Saint Joseph, the Worker. Pope Saint Paul VI called this place the Sanctuary of Work, and it is moving to imagine that Saint Joseph left from here to work in Sepphoris, taking Jesus with him. We can find reflections in Jesus of the education that St. Joseph gave him. In the Hellenistic city of Sepphoris, Jews and Romans lived together: we can say that Saint Joseph himself opens us up to fraternity. He worked in the homes of people who were not Hebrews, which required a certain openness. He was a craftsman: because he worked in people's homes, he had to take time to talk to them, and they would have told Joseph about their economic difficulties, their hardships. Likewise, his work must have been an expression of his native creativity as a craftsman. In Jesus, we find a human reflection of Joseph: the practicality of his words, the clarity with which he spoke. These bear the mark of a craftsman's creativity. This is why it is important to recover his image of a worker. We should remember that they went to work in Sepphoris as artisans. They worked throughout the day and in Jesus' parables we see reflections of this experience. In these difficult times, St. Joseph the Worker, teaches us that the economy must be at the service of man." St. Luke is careful to point out that Jesus' parents observed all the prescriptions of the Law: the rites of Jesus' circumcision, Mary's purification after childbirth, the offering of the firstborn to God. In his role as head of the family, Joseph taught Jesus to be submissive to his parents, submissive to God's commandment. Throughout His hidden life in Nazareth, in the “school” of St. Joseph, Jesus as man learned to do the will of His father. "Such will becomes His daily nourishment," Pope Francis continues. "Day by day, Joseph saw Jesus grow 'in wisdom and stature and in grace before God and men' (Lk 2:52). As the Lord did with Israel, so he taught Jesus to walk, holding Him by the hand." (cf. Patris Corde, 2) Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation “Parents are certainly reflected in their children. Anthropological psychologists affirm this. We find in Jesus some reflections of Joseph because Jesus spoke with clarity and set himself towards Jerusalem with conviction, just like Joseph’s paternal example of speaking little and taking action. Joseph left for Egypt, returned to Nazareth, worked – all done decisively with self-determination. That is why Jesus himself was determined. He who wants to serve does not look back, but ahead. In Jesus of Nazareth, we find the characteristics of one who had a determined father, who knew what had to be done. We also see in him a sensitivity to women. If we look at Matthew's Gospel, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary in secret, that is, he himself would take the responsibility for his decision. To repudiate in secret meant that it was a personal decision, and people might have even blamed Joseph: "Joseph deceived this girl.... She came from another town, (he wasn’t from Nazareth), we can't trust foreigners, and so on...." He would then take the blame. We see Jesus with the same sensitivity to women, the weak, children; these are human characteristics we find in Jesus. He loved us with a human Heart. From whom did he learn this tenderness? From Joseph. He learned to be attentive, not to judge women, to welcome people, especially the most fragile." The putative father of Jesus and spouse of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph was also faithful to the vocation of marriage. "My sweet Mary, I did not imagine all that this “yes” would mean to us. But you faced with courage the will of Heaven for you. Although I was looking forward to our wedding, you came and told me that you needed to visit your cousin Elizabeth. Honestly, I didn't understand what was going on, but there was time. After all, as the provider for our family, I needed to finish building our home; I wanted to offer you something worthy, the work of my own hands, as my gift to you. So, you went away to Elizabeth, and I stayed in Nazareth, waiting for you to return.” Br BRUNO VARRIANO, ofm Guardian of the Basilica of the Annunciation “Pope Francis has dedicated this year to St. Joseph with the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde. We are in the month of March, dedicated to St. Joseph. As we celebrate his feast day, we can learn to imitate Joseph, to learn from him that docility to the Word of God and above all closeness with Jesus. In these difficult times we learn from St. Joseph how to respond to difficulty. In the flight to Egypt and in the economic difficulties of his time under Roman occupation in Israel, Joseph responded with hope - because he held the hope of the world in his hands, Jesus of Nazareth! In our situation, we have the Virgin Mary and the intercession of Saint Joseph. In this year dedicated to him despite the pandemic which surrounds us, we can learn from Joseph to respond with hope, and here in Nazareth we want this voice of hope to resound from his home, from his shrine. We always speak of the silence of St. Joseph. This year we want to make him speak: that he speaks in his silent, working manner, in deeds rather than in words. From him, we want to learn, in our families, in our communities, how to live this Word that became flesh and lived among us. Let us try to live this intimacy with Jesus in our own families and communities through the intercession of Mary and Joseph." How much Jesus learned from St. Joseph in this school of Nazareth, and how much we too can learn from the Patron of the Church. In this year dedicated to him by Pope Francis, let us pray for his intercession, teaching, and protection. Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.