Remembering The Hidden Joseph at Christmas

Slate has a great article on St.Joseph in their fath based section.  Joseph still brings up a few issues that traditionally made Catholics a little uncomfortable: namely the Virgin Mary and her husband,Joseph.  A lot of us growing up Catholic wondered if Mary was a perpetutal Virgin, how could she have had sex with Joseph, or did she? This is an important question if you are Catholic and wondering about virginity and Mary.  Is that why the medieval paintings of Joseph most always had him portrayed with white hair and looking old and fatherly?

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The Hidden Man of ChristmasPutting St. Joseph back in the picture.

By James Martin

Christmas cards tend to fall into three categories: the family card (cheerful children in red and green sweaters), the secular card (snowmen, snowflakes, snowy villages), and the religious card. The religious card usually bears a portrait of the Virgin Mary gazing beatifically at the crib of her newborn son, Jesus. Behind her, the picture is just as some of the Gospels describe: shepherds, animals, maybe even the three wise men, though they actually were late on the scene.

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