The Caring St Joseph

Accord­ing to the laws of Moses, the divine Child also had to be cir­cum­cised. Mary want­ed the Priest of Beth­le­hem to per­form the cir­cum­ci­sion in a man­ner befit­ting the dig­ni­ty of the Child. Mary lov­ing­ly dis­cussed the upcom­ing cir­cum­ci­sion with St Joseph and asked him to make the nec­es­sary prepa­ra­tions. Mary her­self pre­pared some cloths to catch the first blood that was to be shed as the price for our redemp­tion. Not a sin­gle drop of blood was to fall to the ground. In JESUS’ life, Angels always col­lect­ed every drop of blood. Joseph and Mary also dis­cussed the name of the Child. Joseph said: „When the Angel of the Most High revealed this great secret to me, he also com­mand­ed me to give your SON the name JESUS.“

The cir­cum­ci­sion was very painful for the divine Child and He wept. He had already then suf­fered for mankind. The stone knife was a great tor­ment. But He wept even more over the hard­ness of people’s hearts, as He also does today. Mary wept as well. St Joseph felt the Child’s pain and the spilt blood pen­e­trat­ing deeply into his own heart, and he was very sad­dened. Mary endeav­oured to soothe the Child’s pain with the usu­al reme­dies. She asked the Angels to delight the Child with heav­en­ly music. The Priest asked for the Child’s name. Joseph gave Mary prece­dence and let her know that such a sweet name must come from her mouth. By divine Prov­i­dence, both said at the same … more