Wednesday, May 05, 2021

St. Joseph Summit

CWR Dispatch: 3-day Saint Joseph Summit virtual conference to focus on St. Joseph as spiritual father

An interview with Deacon Steve Greco, founder of Spirit Filled Hearts Ministry, about the Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2021 virtual event, which will feature over 30 speakers.

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CWR: What do you think Joseph was like?

Deacon Greco: He was a compassionate man. Imagine how hard it was for him to see his betrothed come back from seeing her cousin Elizabeth, but with a child he knew wasn’t his. Some men at that time would have had their wives stoned in such a situation, but Joseph instead planned to quietly divorce her.

Joseph was also open to the Holy Spirit, the promptings of God. When God revealed to him in a dream that Mary had not sinned, but that the Child was of the Holy Spirit, he accepted what God told him and brought Mary into his home. He did not have to accept that dream; he had to discern that it was from God.

Joseph was a man of great faith, of great patience, and one who loved his family. Imagine the stress on him when it was time for Mary to give birth. He must have been frantic, but in the end was able to secure the perfect place. I’m sure a stable in Bethlehem was not the script he would have been written, but when he saw this was the direction God pointed him, he went with it.

CWR: Do you picture Joseph as old or young?

Deacon Greco: I have to go with what Fr. Calloway said in Consecration to St. Joseph. Not too many old men would have been able to dash from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape King Herod’s soldiers. He may not have been a teenager like Mary, but I suspect he was in his 20s or early 30s.

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