We all know the story of Mary and Joseph: Betrothed to one another, which was something similar but even stronger than our modern-day engagement, yet suddenly St. Joseph sees that Mary is pregnant!
 
Imagine it: Joseph is betrothed to the most amazingly virtuous creature who has ever existed, and he knows it. They are growing closer together in friendship and in pure love when, without explanation, he sees that she is with child.
 
Now, what is the first logical thing for him to do? Divorce her? Of course not! The first thing is for him to simply ask her: “Mary, you are clearly pregnant. How on earth did this happen?”

But all that the inspired St. Matthew said was that he was going to divorce her quietly.
So either he asked her, and she answered him truthfully, explaining that the Savior was conceived within her by the Holy Spirit, in which case he never would have divorced her, or he never asked her.
 
I believe in the latter explanation because it makes the most sense. Consider: St. Joseph knew that God had gifted him with a wife beyond imagination. He knew that she was adorned with virtue upon virtue.
 
So when he saw that she was pregnant, he was faced with an impossible situation. She never would have had sexual relations with any man other than him, but in point of fact, they had never had relations, and indeed, both had consecrated their virginity to God years ago. They already understood this truth about each other and understood that their marriage would be a celibate union dedicated to God.
 
But Mary was pregnant, and there is only one way that happens! So for Joseph, it was simply impossible. God did not reveal to him immediately what was going on, and God did not want Mary to tell him, either, so as to test St. Joseph’s patience and love. And St. Joseph was not found wanting.
 
He could not bring himself to ask her how she was pregnant because that very question itself would imply that she had sinned, which he refused to believe she would have done, and yet she would not enlighten him as to how this had happened, so he was in agony. He had no recourse but to miserably leave his most blessed wife and divorce her quietly so no condemnation would come upon her. The child was not his, so he had no choice.
 
And then God, by his amazing grace, sent St. Joseph’s holy angel to him and relieved him of his anxiety, explaining the nature of this singular pregnancy. St. Joseph was elated, as this explanation perfectly solved the impossible riddle. Who ever would have guessed in a billion years that God would conceive his own Son in the womb of a woman?! No one! Never! And yet he did.
 
Now imagine: There are two poor people living in the Near East 2,000 years ago. It was St. Joseph and our Blessed Mother’s Advent–waiting for their Lord to come. No one else on earth but Mary and Joseph knew that the Messiah had come and had entered the world in the most unexpected way. The Holy Family had been created by the Father for his beloved Son–the earthly Family that mirrored the heavenly family of the Holy Trinity.
 
“St. Joseph, image of God the Father, pray for us.
St. Joseph, father of God the Son, pray for us. ”
 
I didn’t come up with this on my own, of course. You can read all about it in The Life of St. Joseph.