The Third Day of Christmas. What about Joseph?
The Third Day of Christmas. What about Joseph?
Dear fellow pilgrim,
“No one wants to play Joseph,” observed a friend in the monastery, who was preparing the Christmas pageant with kids from the neighborhood. “Joseph is always hired last!”
Have you ever wondered why this is? Why do we know so little about Joseph? And why do we care so little also?
So on this third day of Christmas I want to invite you to ponder with me the forgotten figure of the nativity scene. The man in the background who would probably be called a snowflake in today’s terms. The one who did not leave his young fiancé when she came home pregnant from a journey. The one who took her in and cared for her son as his own. The one who is attuned to his dreams and who follows that voice from within.
Clearly Joseph seems to be an image of a man not compatible with centuries of mansplaining. He is the antidote to toxic masculinity which has surrounded us…