Joseph and Mary are the main witnesses of the Mystery, which appeared in the world in silence and poverty. They are the first to welcome the one who came to evangelize the poor.

of Msgr. Silvano Macchi

Dfter the page of the Annunciation, the “Gospel of the origins” according to Luke continues with the Nativity, which is extremely familiar to us. I will try to see it from Joseph's perspective, even if it is known that the evangelist Luke is attentive to the figure of the mother and the child and not so much to that of the earthly father. But we will see once again how Joseph is a participant in all that is mysterious, even if poor and silent, regarding the Holy Family. The passage is from Luke 2, 1-7 (box).

Even in the story of the birth of Jesus, Joseph remains hidden, in the shadows. In truth, Mary herself remains in the background, indeed she is surprisingly mentioned only incidentally. There is no mention of the virgin birth, nor of the conception by the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, Luke gives space to the historical contextualization of the story, which becomes the frame of the narrative. Without the verses following this text, where the presence of the shepherds and the angelic announcement are mentioned, we would not understand who Mary and Joseph are, why the child is laid in a manger, and above all who this child is.

The story of the census offers a striking contrast between the emperor Octavian Augustus, known by all because he “led” the history of the world and wanted to establish peace between peoples, and the poor Messiah (and with the Messiah, Joseph and Mary are also poor) and unknown to all. The importance that a census has for those in power must not be overlooked: the sovereign wants to know the number of his subjects in order to submit them to his political, military and fiscal needs. But the temptation inherent in the census is evident: to ignore that the people belong only to God, not to the sovereign.  It is an ever-present danger.

This census is the cause of the journey of Joseph and Mary from Galilee to the messianic city of Bethlehem, the city of King David, the place of their origin, along a journey of 150 kilometers, with the toil and fatigue that we can easily imagine. Joseph, as paterfamilias, has the responsibility of going up to the mountainous Judea, towards Bethlehem, while Mary is pregnant, indeed she is on the eve of giving birth.

The Nativity event is described in all its naturalness and humanity. Jesus is placed in a manger (perhaps in a stable or in a half-covered space, arranged in a cave of a Palestinian house where animals are fed). It is not a very convenient place, despite all the tender care of Mary who swaddles him. This is how Jesus was born, because there was no room for him even in the καταλύματι, a sort of caravanserai, a shelter where one could spend the night without removing the yoke from one's saddle or draft animal.

There is a spiritual truth in such a birth: for the Son of Mary and Joseph there is no place in this world. It is not only a question of accommodation, but of the fact that he does not count for anything; no one notices him! The chroniclers, the historians, the philosophers, the intellectuals, the publicists, even the religious men do not notice.

Nothing else is said about the birth of Jesus, nor of Joseph and Mary, except when the action of the shepherds and angels begins, and only later is it said that Mary (and perhaps also Joseph) "kept all these words [of the shepherds] and pondered them in her heart"
(Lk 2, 19), almost a second gestation.

I believe that the key concept of the whole story, the one that interprets everything, is poverty! A birth that is poor in every sense, without splendor, without anything that makes the earth vibrate and shake. Poverty of the place, poverty of everything; we could say "abasement and glory", which anticipate, in the birth of Jesus, the future of his history.

Poverty ("Blessed are the poor in spirit") from which Mary and Joseph also learn. They understand that the Mystery is hidden behind such bare facts, to gather their fruits and draw, precisely from these facts, the task of their life: to be the witnesses of the invisible Mystery. A child always changes the life and prospects of the parents; even more so will a child like this, conceived in this form. Saint Joseph also changes, silent and humble guardian of this event of salvation that takes place without noise or apparatus, in a corner where no one expects it. But is it not true that the marvelous work of God always remains hidden, just as his saints are hidden from the great of this world? Only the poor and the humble notice it, those who live on the margins of the great events that the newspapers talk about.

Joseph, "patron of the poor" and "support in difficulty" (Pope Francis wanted to include the invocations in the Litany of Saint Joseph) Pauper Patron e Fulcimen in difficult situations) allows us to realize it too, poor as he was; perhaps not of economic or social poverty, but poor in prospects, in hopes, and instead rich in anxieties, pains, tiredness, worries, fears and uncertainties, which prevent us from looking forward and above all upwards. Yet in this poverty of ours God decided to dwell, and Saint Joseph wanted to accompany him and care for him.