“Christ in the House of His Parents” is the title of a painting by 19th century British artist John Everett Millais. It depicts a messy carpenter’s workshop. A carpenter is building a wooden door. A boy cut himself on the palm of his hand, possibly on a nail. An older woman reaches out with concern to the child, who is also comforted by a younger woman. She kneels before him as if to kiss his wound. A young boy carries a bowl of water to wash the wound. It is family. It is security. It is terribly ordinary. It is the Holy Family.
When “Christ in the House of His Parents” was first displayed, the public reacted unfavorably. They were upset that the artist depicted the Holy Family and the scene inside the carpenter’s workshop as very ORDINARY. However, I suggest the artist got it – by all appearances, the Holy Family at Nazareth was an ordinary family. No one knew the truth about that Nazarene family.
Millais emphasizes his point about their ordinariness by painting Saint Joseph, doing carpentry work, creating a door as pieces of wood fly all over, messing up the floor. The young boy with a hand wound is Jesus. The older woman, his grandmother, Saint Anne, reaching out to the wounded boy. The younger woman, his mother, the Blessed Mother, who reacts to her suffering son with maternal love. The young boy dressed in a camel hair toga, carrying a bowl of water, John the Baptist. All are depicted with no external signs, such as a halo or exquisite clothing, to identify them as the Holy Family of Nazareth. What happened in that workshop of Joseph is the stuff of everyday, ordinary human life.
The year in honor of Saint Joseph, invoked by Pope Francis on the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church, has concluded. However, this does not mean that we put Joseph away. During our upcoming celebration of Christmas, he will make frequent appearances as we recall the circumstances surrounding the birth in the flesh of the Son of God and His early years in Nazareth.
Hopefully, the year in his honor has resulted, on our part, with increased devotion to Saint Joseph, which was the intention of Pope Francis. In the Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” declaring the Year of Saint Joseph, the Holy Father wrote, “The aim of this Apostolic Letter is to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.”
During the year of Saint Joseph, I preached about him at every occasion when I was with young people of the Diocese. At the high school Masses of the Holy Spirit; visits to our grammar schools, and at more than 100 Confirmations in both the spring and autumn. In those talks, I urged the youngsters to develop a relationship with Saint Joseph and to apply to their young lives lessons for holiness that they could learn from him.
Through Joseph’s family tree, Jesus is given the royal heritage of King David. The ancient prophecy is fulfilled that from the royal house, the Messiah would come. Joseph complies with the government requirement for the census and takes pregnant Mary to Bethlehem, where in desperate circumstances, she gives birth to her son. Again, the prophecy is fulfilled. “But you Bethlehem, least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.” (Micah 5:1)
When he dreamt, Joseph listened closely to the voice of God and obeyed what God asked of him. He protected the Holy Family from physical harm. Joseph willingly did what God needed him to do and unknowingly assisted in the work of salvation. His loving care as the earthly father of Jesus had to have influenced the Lord’s preaching about His Heavenly Father.
Saint Joseph can teach us about SERVICE. His was to Mary and Jesus; about PRAYER. He listened and responded to the voices of angels; about COURAGE. He was a refugee escaping to Egypt with the Holy Family; about OBLIGATIONS. He faithfully brought Jesus to the Temple and introduced Him to the practice, customs and knowledge of Jewish faith; about FEAR. He bravely took pregnant Mary as his wife despite the circumstances in which she found herself; about RIGHTEOUSNESS. He was right in his conduct with God and man; about WORK. He earned his living and supported his family as a carpenter.
“Follow Joseph and he will lead you to Christ.” (Pope Pius XII) Do that in the very ordinary, day in, day out, year in, year out of our lives, and we will grow in holiness and as disciples of Jesus Christ. The setting of Millais’ painting is an ordinary carpentry shop peopled by ordinary folk who are the Holy Family of Nazareth. Their ordinariness reminds us that this is where we can find God. At Christmas in an infant who as a young boy may have injured the palm of his hand in his father’s workshop and may have been attended to by his loving family.
In these ending days of Advent as we continue to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” let us remember as the painting “Christ in the House of His Parents” depicts: He comes into the ordinary experiences of our lives.
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan, D.D.
Bishop of Camden