Monday Meandering Thoughts and Questions

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  Bartolome Esteban Murillo

  I'm currently reading The Life and Glories of Saint Joseph by Edward Healy Thompson, M.A. Despite the lack of information about St. Joseph in scripture, the Doctors of the Church, and many spiritual writers have written widely about this silent saint. We know he was the "son of Jacob" from St. Matthew's gospel which gives us Joseph's natural geneology. St. Luke gives us, on the other hand, his legal geneology as the "son of Heli." Both statements are true. He was the natural born son of Jacob, but the legal son of Heli, as his son-in-law. And who was Heli? According to a number of the spiritual writers who take this view, it was Joachim the father of Mary. The names Heli, Eliachim and Joachim are synonymous in scripture. If this view is correct, and the reasoning presented by the author is convincing, then Jacob and St. Ann, Mary's mother and Joachim's wife, were siblings, so Mary and Joseph were cousins. The author believes that the reason for St. Luke's genealogy was to emphasize Mary's genealogy. The book is fascinating and I recommend it for anyone who wants to know St. Joseph better.