When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

Joseph fulfills the specific mission God has given him: to be the protector, guardian and provider of the Incarnate Word. What sacrifices and suffering are asked of Mary and Joseph! From the very beginning of Christ’s birth they are wanted exiles, homeless and on the run. But all this on the strength of Joseph’s belief in words spoken to him in a dream. The infant Jesus is raised on bare naked human faith, on suffering, poverty and obscurity.

What sacrifices are we willing to make to keep the Word alive in our lives? Joseph endured the difficulty of material poverty and of living by faith alone to keep the human Jesus alive. Mary emptied her heart and endured interior poverty as well to keep the Divine Word alive in her heart. In her mind and heart she protected and contemplated the words spoken about Jesus (Luke 2.19) as well as those spoken by Jesus (Luke 2.51). Joseph, then, is the model for the exterior sacrifices we must make for the Word, while Mary is the model for the interior sacrifices we must make to hold, ponder and treasure the Old and New Testaments in our hearts.