One of the most stirring moments of a Christmas midnight Mass is the sight of the tiny, sacred baby, finally settled in the Nativity scene between the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. The Holy Family, now made whole, emanates all the loving tenderness that the followers of Christ have aspired to throughout the ages.
But as it happens, in the history of Catholic devotion and Western art, the baby Jesus was not the last member of the family to arrive. Instead, it was Joseph’s entrance into Nativity scenes that completed the image of family and introduced an ordinary, flawed human into the moment of the divine miracle.
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