jozef 1

As the time drew near for Jesus to begin His mission of teaching... 

I saw Him ever more solitary and meditative.

And toward the same time, the thirtieth year of Jesus, Joseph began to decline. I saw Jesus and Mary often with him. Mary sometimes sat on the ground by his couch, or upon a low, round three legged stool, which served also for a table. 

I seldom saw them eating, but when they did, or brought some refreshment to Joseph’s bedside, it consisted of three, white, rather long, four-cornered pieces, about two fingers in breadth, that lay side by side on a little plate, and I saw also some little fruits in a dish. 

They gave him something to drink out of a mug.

When Joseph was dying... 

Mary sat at the head of his bed, holding him in her arms. 

Jesus stood just below her, near Joseph’s breast. 

The whole room was brilliant with light and full of angels. 

After his death... 

his hands were crossed on his breast, he was wrapped from head to foot in a white winding sheet, laid in a narrow casket, and placed in a very beautiful tomb, the gift of a good man. 

Only a few men followed the coffin with Jesus and Mary, but I saw it accompanied by angels and environed with light. Joseph’s remains were afterward removed by the Christians to Bethlehem, and interred. I think I can still see him lying there, incorrupt.

Joseph had of necessity to die before the Lord...

for he could not have endured His Crucifixion. He was too gentle, too loving. He had already suffered much from the persecution Jesus had had to support from the malice of the Jews from His twentieth to His thirtieth year; for they could not bear the sight of Him. 

Their jealousy often made them exclaim that the carpenter’s Son thought He knew everything better than others, that He was frequently at variance with the teachings of the Pharisees, and that He always had around Him a crowd of young followers.

Mary never ceased to suffer from these persecutions. Such pains always seem to me sharper than those of martyrdom. Unspeakable was the love with which Jesus in His youth bore the jealous persecution of the Jews.

~bron~