St. Joseph...Immaculate
Was St. Joseph free from original sin? Yes, I do believe he was. This is only logical. Since Mary was immaculate at her birth, and Jesus was of course free from all sin as He was God, why would God put in place a husband, stepfather, and protector of the Virgin Mary and Jesus that carried original sin? This doesn't make sense. That which stained by sin does not oversee and protect the pure, therefore at some point Joseph must have been immaculate also. St. Joseph was not just the member of the Holy family, but he led the holy family, and what we forget is that while Joseph lived, Mary and her son Jesus were obedient to him. As God is never subject to sin, then logically St. Joseph was immaculate also.
The only question is when? When did God make Joseph immaculate. I don't think at birth, because I feel strongly that he had a family and was a widower when he was chosen to be with Mary. So not at birth, but later...but when? Perhaps, as God is very efficient, and usually when God moves, it is for more than one purpose, I wonder if when the lily grew out of the rod that Joseph held* it was not to just let it be known that he was the chosen one for Mary, but at that moment, he was given the grace of being immaculate to carry out this task.
We do not just have a Holy Family, we have an Immaculate One...
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*Legend: in choosing a husband for Mary, among several suitors it was St. Joseph's rod that sprouted a lily and a dove rested on it.
I believe in Joseph Immaculate too! But Joseph could not have been a widower with children, otherwise, the eldest son and not Jesus would have been given the Throne of David. The Church says that we are to believe Public Revelation, (which is the Bible), above and beyond any and all Private Revelation. So it is the Bible first and then Private Revelation as long as it is in harmony with the Bible. In 3 places it shows us that Joseph is Immaculate from the very beginning, firstly Genesis Chapter 49 and Verse 26 where it shows that Joseph was made separate from His brethren, and being a Prophecy about Joseph of Nazareth it means that Joseph of Nazareth was made Separate from both the Brethren of Israel as well as the Brethren of all mankind, therefore, Conceived Immaculate from the very first instance of His Conception. The other two places are in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew Chapter 1 and Verse 19 it says Joseph was Just, this means Pure and Free from Sin, a Perfect Man as the Church puts it and it comes from the word Justified which has the connotation of being Sinless. If we look at Matthew Chapter 1 and Verse 21 it says there that Joseph would call the child Jesus who would save His people from Their Sins. Notice how Joseph is left out of the sins of the people! These Scriptures are there to prove that Joseph was indeed Conceived Immaculate from the very first instance of His Conception. When you look at the entire chapter of Genesis 41 you will see the high position that Joseph is in and this has to do with Joseph's Glory in Heaven Above. You will see from this that a sinner could not be given such a high and lofty position. But you are right when you say that a sinner could not look after God on earth nor Mary as this would be completely out of harmony with God's Justice. I will post some more evidence on here when I find it.
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