tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post1825552158680823741..comments2023-12-23T00:19:35.005-08:00Comments on ADAM'S ALE: IN HONOR OF ST. PATRICK, HERE IS POST ON ST. JOSEPH AND A COMPLETELY UNRELATED ST. PATRICK DAY MEMEFr. Vhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13201561855047420853noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-3044536819055292352016-03-21T15:29:46.958-07:002016-03-21T15:29:46.958-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Jessica Tremblayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11145683896927627892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-49200867035978550352016-03-17T09:39:46.345-07:002016-03-17T09:39:46.345-07:00By making Joseph out to be someone he isn't, I...By making Joseph out to be someone he isn't, I feel like you're also diminishing Mary, her ability to withhold and abstain, and the remarkable self control she possessed.<br /><br />Look, I have a wife who has given birth twice. I know lots of women who have done it, some 5-6-7-8 times. Every one of them, without exception, describes it as "awesome" or "life enhancing" and motherhood is their ultimate calling and fulfills them in an incomprehensible wonderful way. Yet none of these amazing women that I know longs back for the morning sickness, the discomfort, the body changes, the daily grind of pregnancy itself. <br /><br />Yet, here's a woman who upon being pregnant - who is no less human than any of us - upon discovering her pregnancy (and discovering the resulting discomfort and morning sickness and daily nausea that accompany it), embarked on a 10? 15? 20? 30? mile CAMEL RIDE to essentially work for her cousin who was further along than she was in the pregnancy. Then, months later, although it's not chronicled, one assumes she took a camel ride back.<br /><br />I'm trying to figure out how many consecutive nights I'd be sleeping on the couch if four months into pregnancy I asked my wife to take a camel to Youngstown.Chris P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10719297389304906325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5745814378416915364.post-21751106727135767612016-03-17T09:13:13.821-07:002016-03-17T09:13:13.821-07:00Hi, Fr. V. I think it would be more fair to say th...Hi, Fr. V. I think it would be more fair to say that Joseph wasn't particularly old, but he was old enough that people didn't consider him someone suited for a second marriage with a woman of childbearing age. If you look at the Protoevangelium of James (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm), the "infancy gospel" dated to around mid-second century, you'll see that there was a tradition of Joseph being a widower, of James being his stepbrother, and of Joseph being selected as husband for a consecrated virgin. Part of the conflict in this writing is that Joseph is not supposed to consummate this marriage but to take her in and care for her since she can no longer serve in the temple. <br /><br />So he's probably not an octogenarian as you say, but he wouldn't necessarily be a young man.Deacon Bill Burnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11484509700642430451noreply@blogger.com