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The ransoming of the first-born is another obligation of the father, and it is fulfilled by Joseph.

an event in which divine providence once again had recourse to Joseph

Joseph, having been warned in a dream, "took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt have I called my son' " (Mt 2:14-15; cf. Hos 11:1).

so Joseph, guardian and cooperator in the providential mystery of God, even in exile watched over the one who brings about the New Covenant.

Nonetheless, the reply of Jesus in the Temple brought once again to the mind of his "presumed father" what he had heard on that night twelve years earlier: "Joseph...do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." From that time onwards he knew that he was a guardian of the mystery of God, and it was precisely this mystery that the twelve- year-old Jesus brought to mind: "I must be in my Father's house."

and the memory of St. Joseph,(29) because "he fed him whom the faithful must eat as the bread of eternal life."(30)

he wished to sanctify the obligations of the family and of work, which he performed at the side of Joseph.

While Mary's life was the bringing to fullness of that fiat first

Joseph's own "annunciation" he said nothing; instead he simply "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him"

The Gospels do not record any word ever spoken by Joseph along that way. But the silence of Joseph has its own special eloquence, for thanks to that silence we can understand the truth of the Gospel's judgment that he was "a just man" (Mt 1:19).

One must come to understand this truth, for it contains one of the most important testimonies concerning man and his vocation

Above all, the "just" man of Nazareth possesses the clear characteristics of a husband.

Even before the "mystery hidden for ages" (Eph 3:9) began to be fulfilled, the Gospels set before us the image of husband and wife. According to Jewish custom, marriage took place in two stages: first, the legal, or true marriage was celebrated, and then, only after a certain period of time, the husband brought the wife into his own house. Thus, before he lived with Mary, Joseph was already her "husband." Mary, however, preserved her deep desire to give herself exclusively to God

Mary knew that she was to fulfill her virginal desire to give herself exclusively and fully to God precisely by becoming the Mother of God's Son. Becoming a Mother by the power of the Holy Spirit was the form taken by her gift of self: a form which God himself expected of the Virgin Mary, who was "betrothed" to Joseph.

These words explain the mystery of Joseph's wife: In her motherhood Mary is a virgin. In her, "the Son of the Most High" assumed a human body and became "the Son of Man."

These words explain the mystery of Joseph's wife: In her motherhood Mary is a virgin. In her, "the Son of the Most High" assumed a human body and became "the Son of Man."

God speaks to him as the husband of the Virgin of Nazareth

a special way the marriage bond which already existed between Joseph and Mary.

Joseph's marriage to Mary, happened in accord with God's will and was meant to endure. In her divine motherhood Mary had to continue to live as "a virgin, the wife of her husband" (cf. Lk 1:27).

Joseph, in obedience to the Spirit, found in the Spirit the source of love, the conjugal love which he experienced as a man

In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as "united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal love."(31)

two kinds of love here, both of which together represent the mystery of the Church

virgin and spous

Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people."(32) the Covenant which is a communion of love between God and human beings.

On the other hand, it was from his marriage to Mary that Joseph derived his singular dignity and his rights in regard to Jesus

yet because Mary was united to Joseph by the bond of marriage, there can be no doubt but that Joseph approached as no other person ever could that eminent dignity whereby the Mother of God towers above all creatures.

God, by giving Joseph to the Virgin, did not give him to her only as a companion for life, a witness of her virginity and protector of her honor: he also gave Joseph to Mary in order that he might share, through the marriage pact, in her own sublime greatness."(33)