by Carlo Lapucci

One day Saint Joseph, having finished a job, brought the bricklayers the beams for a house. But when these were lowered onto the walls, he realized that they were too short.

The poor carpenter couldn't understand why he could have made a mistake in the measurements and he turned the tape measure in his hands, measured the walls and measured the wood, but the beams were short and remained short.

Jesus, who was a young boy at the time and was helping Joseph in the workshop, said to the bricklayers: "But perhaps you made a mistake in placing them in the right place: let's try again."

«We didn't start working yesterday. We saw clearly that they are short and even if you pull them they don't stretch."

«You never know. Try again." 

The beams were put back on the walls and Jesus said to the builders on the right: "Pull a little towards you."

They pulled and the beam fell into place. Jesus then said to those on the left: "Now pull towards yourselves."

The beam fell into place on that side too. And so it happened with all the other beams. The bricklayers said: "Yet they were short."

«No - said Jesus - you didn't pull it off well at the right time».