You know, I just realized today: Our Lady had a best friend. She had someone she could confide in. This like-minded someone struggled with her, was happy with her, and was a listening ear if she had some concerns or happy news to give. And his name was Joseph.

It makes sense. She's beyond a two-dimensional reality. She is human just like us. Sure, she is the perfect human but that didn't mean she didn't feel and have legitimate human needs. And one of those needs is companionship - a friend. We never hear about her "girlfriends" or her support group or the Saturday afternoon group of friends she might of had when she was a girl or when she was already a woman. But we DO hear about St. Joseph.

And then with The Visitation, we see her going out of her way to see her cousin. She was close to her family! She JUST found out that she's bearing the Son of God but that doesn't deter her virtue of fraternal charity. And in the end, God rewards her charity by giving her someone who knows about the good news. She had someone who she could fully express her holy sentiments about the subject. Think about it: if you were given such a wonderful grace from God, wouldn't you want to share it with your closest friends and family.... especially the ones who would understand?

But going back to St. Joseph, the best friend of Our Lady, they were a team in raising Our Lord from when he was born to when He became a man, and eventually when St. Joseph died. They struggled together. They traveled together. They both worked together in finding Him when He was not with them in Jerusalem. In the midst of opposition, she found a sympathetic face in the crowd. In the hidden joys of seeing Our Lord grow up and discovering His little mannerisms that only a mother could see, She had St. Joseph to share those moments. If she needed a second opinion, St. Joseph was there to give some insight. If she felt unsafe in her environment, she could always rely on St. Joseph to shield and protect her. He was her best friend.

I think the main reason why there wasn't much emphasis on the relationship between Our Lady and St. Joseph is because we are to see things from a supernatural point of view: Our Lord is the focus point and once He came on the scene, Our Lady's supernatural priority as the Mother of God was the focus of Her attention and our attention. St. Joseph was the quite support in the background, and his role as husband and best friend to Our Lady was more of a natural aspect of Our Lady's life. But that doesn't do anything directly towards Our Lord's mission on earth and our redemption. The New Testament isn't a novel. Each word and every detail was put there for our supernatural well-being, not as a page-turning story-book. And that's fine. It's understandable.

But it's just after thinking/meditating on it, I came to the realization of just one more thing why Our Lady is more than a two-dimentional reality: She had needs for companionship and God granted it to her by giving her St. Joseph. It's not to say that she could have still been happy if God left her as a hermit bearing the Son of God. But the point is that God DID give her a best friend. She had that natural need, but in the end, she was happy with whatever God decided to do with that need.