Interior of the Holy House—Journey to Bethlehem

Mary, as we have said, besought Joseph to allow her to continue to serve him as before, and not to pay her the profound homage which, since he had become acquainted with the mystery of the Incarnation, he desired to do. The feelings of Joseph, we may imagine, bore some resemblance to those of a devout Catholic in presence of the Blessed Sacrament. He would willingly have been always on his knees, except when engaged in performing the domestic work, from which he most ardently desired to relieve his spouse, ever since it had been made known to him that she had become the tabernacle of God. Maria d’Agreda records touching revelations of the holy contention between the two spouses on this subject. The Blessed Virgin, she tells us, was deeply grieved at being hindered in the practice of humility, and that the relations which God had appointed between them as husband and wife should be changed and disturbed; for, though apparently yielding to her entreaties, Joseph nevertheless was constantly endeavoring to anticipate her, or taking advantage of times when she was retired in prayer to do her work for her. She now tenderly besought the Lord to oblige her spouse to desist from his purpose, both in this respect and in the external homage which he strove to pay her. Her prayers were heard, and the guardian-angel of Joseph spoke interiorly to him, bidding him not to thwart her who was superior to all creatures in Heaven and earth in her desires for self-abasement, but to allow her to minister to him in outward things, while in the depths of his heart he venerated her and adored the Incarnate Word, whose will it was that He and His Blessed Mother should serve and not be served; thus instructing the world in the excellence of the virtue of humility. He permitted him, however, to help her in anything which involved fatigue, and bade him ever honor within her the Lord of all.

Joseph acquiesced in God’s will, but it was with much confusion that he allowed himself to be waited upon and served by her whom he knew to be the Sovereign Queen of angels and of men. By this obedience he made abundant compensation for those other lowly acts which he left to his holy spouse, seeing that this abstention was to him a far greater act of humiliation and self-renouncement than their performance would have been. He, however, more frequently now than formerly, left his workshop to see if Mary needed any assistance, and also to hold sweet conferences with her on divine things, in which he received great illumination from her in whom were inexhaustible treasures of wisdom and of knowledge, while she in her humility and modesty sedulously avoided the appearance of being his instructress.

Joseph was also favored with many interior graces, and even with visions of the unborn Babe. He and Mary were alone in their humble abode. The Evangelists have not described to us their life and ways, and they themselves never spoke of it to any one. That God, however, should have favored some of His saints and privileged souls, while engaged in contemplation, with marvelous glimpses of scenes so touching and edifying can be no matter of surprise; and this seems to be an occasion when it is legitimate to borrow from their revelations a few details to aid us in our meditations on the hidden life at Nazareth. From them we learn that the angels in attendance on the Divine Mother held frequent converse with her, and often joined her in singing canticles of praise to their Incarnate God. But not only these glorious spirits, but even the animal creation would bear their part in honoring her and their Creator. Sometimes, we are told, at the summons of the Lord, birds of exquisite beauty would come and visit her; they would salute and do her reverence as their sovereign lady, bring her flowers in their beaks, and unite their voices with hers in a concert of sweetest harmony; nor would they depart until she had blessed them. In inclement weather they would take refuge with this compassionate Mother, and she would welcome and feed them with the tenderest kindness, loving them for their innocence and glorifying God in His admirable works. For none of His works did she esteem to be trivial and of no account, but held all to be worthy of respect, as manifesting, more or less, one or other of His attributes or perfections. He had created them, and that sufficed. They are steps, too, whereby the mind ascends to the contemplation of spiritual truths; they are mirrors in which we behold the invisible God reflected. A special gift of the Holy Ghost, that of science, is given to us for this end, and Mary possessed all these gifts in the most eminent degree. Joseph also was favored with witnessing a visit of these feathered songsters, and, full of astonishment and delight, he believed, in his humility, that these simple creatures acquitted themselves of their obligations towards their Queen and the Divine Infant better than he did himself, or was permitted to do.¹

As we have said, Mary and Joseph were alone. They had no servant, and not seldom found themselves in a state of destitution on account of their great generosity to the poor, giving them always what they had to give; for, unlike the children of this world, they were not solicitous to lay by for the morrow, saying what shall we eat and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? and this not from improvidence, which cannot expect any reward from God, but from charity, love of poverty, and faith in Him who feeds all things living, and never fails those who rely upon Him. The greatness of soul, the faith and generosity, of Joseph, were similar to those of his spouse. Never could a feeling resembling cupidity find entrance into his heart. He labored diligently, it is true, as also did Mary, but never did they put any price on the work of their hands, but left it to those for whom it had been performed to make what remuneration they pleased, receiving it from them, not so much as payment, but as voluntary alms. Such was the sanctity and perfection which Joseph had learned in the school of Heaven, and which he practiced in his house; and thus it would sometimes come to pass that he was not paid for his work, and then want visited the lowly house of Nazareth, and even needful food for the support of life would fail its holy inmates. On these occasions they waited patiently until the Lord was pleased to provide for their sustenance. One day (so Maria d’Agreda tells us), the usual hour for their repast having arrived, there was nothing for them to eat. For this deprivation they thanked God, and, waiting until He should be pleased to open His omnipotent hand, continued in prayer until late in the day. In the meantime the angels prepared a meal for them, laid out the table, and placed on it fruit, pure white bread, and fish, besides a species of conserve of such exquisite sweetness that earth could never have supplied the like. Then they called the holy spouses to come and partake of this Paradisaical feast, which they did with tears of gratitude to the Sovereign Lord who had so miraculously supplied their needs.

Time flowed on, and the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy were drawing towards their close. Already had her blessed hands prepared the swaddling-bands in which she was to envelop the Infant God-Man; and Joseph, we cannot doubt, had lovingly fashioned the cradle in which He was to rest. He little thought of the rough manger and the straw which was to be the Savior’s first bed on earth, as the hard cross was to be His last. And so it seemed as if in green Nazareth the bud of Jesse was to blossom. But what said the Scripture? “And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel; and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.”² This prophecy was well known among the Jews, for we find that when King Herod inquired of the chief priests and scribes where Christ should be born, they replied, “In Bethlehem of Juda,” quoting the prediction of Micheas. If so, is it possible that to Mary and Joseph, so conversant with Holy Writ, it can have been unknown? And yet we find them remaining on at Nazareth without doubt or question. If this surprises us, it is only because the strength of their faith and their complete abandonment to the leadings of God’s Providence are beyond our shallow perception. God would know how to bring about His will in the manner He pleased, and they left all in His hands. If Mary was divinely illuminated with respect to His designs, we may be certain she would say nothing, but leave to Joseph, her appointed head and guide, the direction of all her actions. To Joseph no angel was sent to bid him go to Bethlehem, and in the absence of light from on high he certainly would neither plan, nor speak, nor move.

God, however, who disposes human events in order to the accomplishment of His high purposes, brought about the fulfillment of His word to the prophet by an edict of the Roman Emperor, Cæsar Augustus, that “the whole world” subject to him “should be enrolled”.³ Every one was to repair to his own city to have his name set down in the public register. Among other expositors of Holy Scripture, Tirinus says that in this general census women and children were included. Whatever motive may have prompted the Roman Cæsar to send forth this decree, whether it were the pride of knowing exactly how many individuals were subject to his sway, or for the sake of the tax thereby collected, or for other reasons suiting his policy, he was, unknown to himself, serving the secret designs of Him who was his Lord as well as of the millions who were to be enrolled as his vassals. Joseph and Mary were of the house and family of David. Bethlehem, consequently, was their city. Thither, therefore, must they go to be inscribed. Thus were the words of Micheas to be literally accomplished; thus, too, as St. Thomas has pointed out, no one, whether Jew or Gentile, should be able to raise a question as to the birth of Jesus, His name being registered in the tables of the Roman census, which could be seen, even in the days of St. John Chrysostom, who alludes to them. Scarcely was He born, says the Venerable Bede, but He was inscribed in Cæsar’s census, and to render us free, made Himself a subject; and St. Alfonso de’ Liguori says that, not only did Mary and Joseph pay the tribute and enter their names in the book as Cæsar’s subjects, but the Child of Mary, Jesus Christ Himself, who was the Lord of Cæsar and of all the princes of the earth, was also inscribed therein.

But to return to our narrative. It wanted but a few days of the time at which Mary’s divine delivery might be expected when Joseph heard the Imperial decree proclaimed with sound of trumpet in Nazareth. It must have deeply concerned him, not for himself, for nothing which only personally affected him could either grieve or disturb him, but through his solicitude for Mary, and the pain he felt at her having to make this journey of ninety miles in her present state, and in the depth of winter. Whether Mary already knew that she should have to repair to Bethlehem for the birth of her Divine Infant, or Joseph brought her the first intimation, the handmaid of the Lord would sweetly accept whatever might be the will of God in her regard, and her cheerful acquiescence must have encouraged and consoled her spouse. Nor let it be supposed that, while it was a virtue in Mary that nothing could trouble the serenity of her soul, it was an imperfection in Joseph to suffer anxiety. God, in making him the husband of Mary and the adopted father of His Son, had endowed him with all the tenderness which belongs to and becomes those relationships, or, rather, with far more than ordinary wedlock and paternity bring with them; and, moreover, he increased his merits by the patience with which he bore the pressure of these high responsibilities upon his loving heart. As Mary’s compassion was afterwards to constitute her martyrdom and her participation in the Passion of her Divine Son, when the sword pierced her soul at the foot of the Cross, so may we piously believe that Joseph’s meritorious sufferings came to him much more through the love he bore the two heavenly treasures committed to his keeping than from any of the bodily labors and trials which he endured for their maintenance and protection. The Evangelists are sparing of their words; they seldom record feelings; or, at least, we have to content ourselves with a few scattered hints, all the more precious and all the more significant from their fewness. That one testimony given by Mary, to which allusion has already been made, “Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing,” throws a flood of light upon the martyrdom of love which consumed the heart of Joseph during those thirty years.

There was no delay; they set out at once. A small supply of provisions to meet probable deficiencies on the crowded roads was laid upon the ass which was to carry the Mother of God and the Incarnate God Himself. Was it the same which had previously been similarly favored when Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth? Probably it was. Blessed animal! which was also to be present at the Nativity, to recognize and adore its Creator, and even be permitted to render Him a service, when His own people had shut their doors against Him. May we be excused for pausing here to express our unfeigned wonder why a creature so singled out for honor in Scripture history should be commonly, in our day, meanly thought of, often hardly treated, and its very name made a reproach? It was Balaam’s ass, not the proud horse, whose mouth was opened; it was an ass that, not only carried Jesus while yet in His Mother’s womb, but bore Him on His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, the type of His glorious coming at the last day, of which circumstance the prophet had made special mention: “Behold thy King will come to thee, the just and savior; He is poor and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass”.⁴ Perhaps it is for this very reason that this singularly intelligent and patient animal is not more esteemed. He bears the sign of the cross on his shoulders and back, and the obloquy of the cross appears to cling to him.

We may imagine what was the state of the roads at this time, when such numbers were pressing hither and thither to repair to their respective places of enrollment; how every possible conveyance was in requisition, and every beast of burden, the poor making their way as best they might on foot; how the inns were crowded—and by inns we must not imagine houses of entertainment, offering the comforts which we expect to find in such places. They provided shelter, and food could probably, though not always, be procured, but for other accommodation travelers would have to supply themselves with what they wanted. Anyhow, what was to be had was sure to fall to the lot of the richest and the most importunate. But Joseph and Mary, carrying all the riches of Heaven and earth, traveled in the garb of poverty, and were humble, modest, and retiring. We may be certain, therefore, that the five days they are believed to have spent on the way to Bethlehem were days of privation, fatigue, and discomfort of every kind. But they did not travel alone; they had an escort. In the Canticles we read: “Threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel surrounded the bed of Solomon, all holding swords and most expert in war, every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night”.⁵ But many more were the valiant ones, princes of the armies of Heaven, who invisibly surrounded and protected the bed of the True Solomon by night and by day. Thousands of angels attended on Mary, to guard her, to shield her from the cold blast, and, what to her would be far more distressing, the rude gaze of the throng. Perhaps, for the consolation of Joseph, whose only thought and solicitude was for his holy spouse, he was allowed a vision of the protecting wings which surrounded her. If this privilege was vouchsafed to him he would lie down in peace, and after the day’s fatigue sleep the sleep of the just until the dawn of another winter’s day saw them once more on the road to the city of David. Doubtless he would think with satisfaction that when they had reached Bethlehem, where once he had lived and must still have friends, Mary would have ample compensation under some hospitable roof for all the trials of the way. This hope he would naturally express to her, and she would gently assent, even though interiorly she might know it would be otherwise.

On the evening of the fifth day they drew near to Bethlehem, and the crowd thickened as they approached the town. We can figure to ourselves Joseph leading the meek ass, and making way with difficulty for the animal and its Divine burden, no one giving them the slightest heed or scrupling to push rudely by; Mary calmly seated with her veil drawn around her. What an entry into his regal city of the inheritor of David’s throne, or, rather, of Him who was the sovereign of earth and Heaven! In this lowly fashion they moved on till they reached the chief hostelry of the place, Joseph being solicitous to secure at once accommodation for Mary, were it only a night’s shelter, for darkness was closing in. But the guest-house was full. The Evangelist simply says, “There was no room for them in the inn”.⁶ They were turned away from the door, and had to seek a lodging elsewhere. As they passed the Imperial office, where the names were entered and the tribute-money paid, Joseph would give his own and that of Mary his wife, as a little later he was to give the Name that is above every name. The injunction of the law thus accomplished, Joseph resumed his fruitless search. Although the Evangelist mentions no other place but the inn, we may be sure that Joseph left no house untried where there was the least hope of being received. Maria d’Agreda says that they went to no less than fifty, but everywhere they met with the same repulse and that cold indifference which it is the lot of the poor so often to experience. Saints, indeed, tell us so; for St. Vincent Ferrer, in a sermon on the Holy Innocents, says that, because the Bethlehemites would not receive the Virgin, nor Joseph, her spouse, therefore did God provoke the wrath of Herod against them. Jesus had come to His own, and His own received Him not. Hard, indeed, is it to explain how Joseph in his own native place could find no kind friend and no shelter for Mary, in a condition, too, which called for sympathy and compassion from all. Cleophas, the brother of Joseph, had, no doubt, removed to Capharnaum some time previous; and of his other relatives there might now be none in Bethlehem. If he applied to former friends they no longer knew or acknowledged him, for Mary and he were treated as strangers at every door. None was opened to receive them. Goats of the left hand were these hard-hearted Bethlehemites: “I was a stranger and you took Me not in”.⁷

Let us admire the sweet serenity and patience of Mary. We can scarcely imagine that she did not know what would be the result of each successive application, but she kept silence, committing herself without reserve to the guidance of Joseph. Fatigued and exposed to the chilling December blast, she had to pass from door to door, but, far more than the wintry wind, did these cold denials pain her. The wind was the obedient instrument of the good pleasure of the Most High, which she loved and adored; but the Bethlehemites, with hearts closed to the sweet influences of divine grace and even of natural kindness, were rebels to His holy will; nay, they were driving the Lord Himself from their doors. But neither must we fail to turn a look of tender compassion on Joseph, whose soul was filled with such anguish as no words could tell. We know what it is to be powerless to do aught for those most dear to us, and who depend upon our care, when they are exposed to straits and perils. But what is the fond love of any of our poor hearts compared to that of Joseph? Let us think, too, of the responsibility laid upon him, and the corresponding strain upon his mind and affections: the care and guardianship, not only of the Blessed Mother of God, but of the Incarnate God Himself!