Jesus and Mary followed the Jewish law and gave Joseph a proper burial. So, where is Joseph's body? Surely, his body would be a great treasure to us, the Church. But there are no first class relics of Joseph. First class relics being a piece of the saint, like hair, bone fragments, etc. We do this for other saints to show our devotion to them, knowing them to be close to Jesus and none, besides Mary, are closer to Jesus than Joseph.

So, we are left with two possibilities. Either we have yet to find Joseph's burial place and body or Joseph's body is already in Heaven. And before we say that only Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven, the Church has not said that. The Church tells us that Mary was the only one immaculately conceived and was assumed into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. So, what of Joseph's body?

We know that Joseph died before Jesus' Death. So, Joseph's body would have been buried, since Jesus had not opened the gates of Heaven. And when He did, "The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many." [Matthew 27:51-53] Would Joseph be among them? Well, Joseph is the second greatest saint ever and sacrificed thirty years for Jesus. Do we really think Jesus would deny this to Joseph? Indeed, He would be only too happy to do this for His virginal father. But what happened to these resurrected saints?

Jesus talked of a bodily resurrection. Are all of the saints in Heaven bodily resurrected already? No. We see the bodies of many saints. Again, we have pieces of them for veneration. Some are even incorrupt. So, what of Joseph? Let's look at the Old Testament.

Jesus is the new Moses. Both had an exodus. Moses accomplished the Exodus from Egypt and Jesus was discussing with Moses and Elijah about "His exodus" [Luke 9:31] during the Transfiguration. And what did Moses do as part of the first Exodus? "Moses also took Joseph's bones with him." [Exodus 13:19] The first Moses took the bones of Joseph to the Promised Land.

Jesus, we look forward to our promised resurrection. Help us to be pure like Joseph, so you can take us to the Eternal Promised Land. Amen.