Here where I live, March 19 is celebrated as “Fathers’ Day.” It’s to celebrate St. Joseph, foster Father of Jesus and husband of Mary. The priest in this morning’s mass rightly says how iconography has not done so much justice to St. Joseph, portraying him, almost always, as a septegenarian (at times even older!), more as the grandfather, rather than the husband of Mary!Something seems to change, however, in portraying St. Joseph in cinema. The last film The Nativity shown last Christmas season, gives us a young Joseph, almost Mary’s age. One thing that remains common in the various portrayals of Joseph, however, is his biblical image as a silent and listening person - attributes which become the “fertile terrain” for the Word of God to grow and develop in his life. I’d like to imagine that Jesus learned how to pray not only from Mary but also from Joseph. I’d like to believe that the beautiful and tender image of God as Father which Jesus taught his disciples comes not only from his divine consciousness nor from his Jewish tradition but also from his human experience of having such a loving and discerning father as Joseph!
Happy feastday to all the Joseph’s and Josephine’s! Happy Feastday to all Fathers!
