March 19th - St. Joseph
There is not very much biographical data about St. Joseph. We know that he
was from the royal dynasty of David, he was a virgin, he was married to
Our
Lady, they remained virgins after marriage, he was present at the Manger
at
Christmas, he journeyed with the Divine Infant and Our Lady to Egypt and
returned. After that, there is silence about him.
What is the beauty of the silence of Holy Scriptures regarding St. Joseph?
What facet of the spirit of the Church ****nes in this silence?
St. Joseph was the greatest saint, or one of the greatest saints of the
Church, since some sustain that either St. John Baptist or St. John
Evangelist would be the greatest saint. In any cir***stance, there are
very
good reasons to suppose that he was the greatest saint. One would expect
to
find an abundance of edifying biographical material about so great a
saint.
But the opposite is true: both Scriptures and Tradition say very few
things
about him. How can this be explained?
First, we can observe that Scriptures only speaks several times about Our
Lady, who is much more than St. Joseph. She is the masterpiece of
creation,
incomparable to all others. Again, why does Scriptures say just a few
words
about these two great figures?
The traditional reason given is that both were very humble and chose to be
out of the limelight in order to let Our Lord ****ne and receive all the
honor and glory. This is a very good reason, but there is something else.
It is something that reflects the spirit of the Catholic Church very much.
Any magnificent actions in their lives were overshadowed by the fact that
Our Lady was the mother of the Creator and St. Joseph was the foster
father
of Our Lord Jesus Christ and spouse of Our Lady. Anything else they did
was
effaced in light of this.
For example, consider these two extraordinary facts: the perplexity of St.
Joseph in face of the pregnancy of Our Lady, and her action at the wedding
of Canaan, where she requested and obtained a miracle from Our Lord. St.
Joseph took a very noble position, Our Lady did something remarkable. But
these facts dull in face of the grandeur they had as mother and father of
God.
You can also analyze the fact that St. Joseph was chosen to be the spouse
of
Our Lady. With regard to Our Lady, God was extremely careful. He respected
and venerated her so much that during the Passion, when He permitted Our
Lord to be morally insulted and physically chastised, He did not permit
anyone to touch Our Lady, not even with the tip of a finger. Now, if God
venerated Our Lady so greatly, He would have showed tremendous care in
choosing a spouse for her. He chose a spouse pro****tional to her in order
to
constitute the perfect family.
But what does it mean be pro****tional to Our Lady? Only this title -
spouse
of Our Lady - is something far beyond and higher than anything St. Joseph
did or could have done. Along this vein, another question arises: What can
be more admirable than having been chosen to be the foster father of God?
Nothing can be comparable to that.
But there is something even more beautiful. You can see that Divine
Providence permitted the cult of St. Joseph as well as of Our Lady to
develop not based on a lot of information, but on a theological reasoning:
they were the father and mother of God, therefore they should be the
greatest saints. With this God left man to imagine the moral profiles of
these two saints based on the sources of Revelation.
Since Catholics do not practice free interpretation of the Scriptures, but
follow and are guided by the Magisterium of the Church and the
theologians,
you can see that when God hid the data regarding St. Joseph and Our Lady,
He
was encouraging the Church to think about them, and inspiring the faithful
to learn from the Hierarchy. That is to say, He wants the saints and the
doctors to elaborate the doctrine from the abridged data He gave us. He
wants man to distill from Scripture and Tradition the good doctrine He hid
there, as the bee draws nectar from the flower. When someone sees a
flower,
he doesn't imagine that something so sweet would be inside. The same is
true
regarding many truths of Revelation, especially with regard to St. Joseph
and Our Lady.
So, from the silence of Scriptures regarding St. Joseph and Our Lady, you
can deduce the approval of God for the hierarchical character of the
Catholic Church.
It seems to me a remarkable way to better understand one beautiful facet
of
the Catholic spirit.
See Images at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j065sdStJoseph3-19.htm
Saint Quote:
"Would that I could persuade all men to be devoted to this glorious Saint
[St. Joseph], for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain
for
us from God. I have never known anyone who was truly devoted to him and
honored him by particular services who did not advance greatly in virtue:
for he helps in a special way those souls who commend themselves to him.
It
is now very many years since I began asking him for something on his
feast,
and I have always received it. If the petition was in any way amiss, he
rectified it for my greater good . . .
" I ask for the love of God that he who does not believe me will make the
trial for himself-then he will find out by experience the great good that
results from commending oneself to this glorious Patriarch and in being
devoted to him."
-St. Teresa of Avila from her Autobiography, VI, 11-12
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Prayer to St. Joseph
to Make Our Family a Family of Saints
Confident, humble and persevering prayer is infallible, as the Church
teaches us.
What better prayer to pray daily than a prayer to St. Joseph asking
him
to save all the members of our family so that we might be a family of
saints
in Heaven one day?
PRAYER
Glorious Saint Joseph! Thou to whom God confided the care of the two
persons
He most loved on earth, forget not that we too have been entrusted to thy
care.
Thou who art our protector and our father, deign to take our interests
into
thy own hands, but above all, watch over all that concerns our souls.
O virtuous guardians of the Holy Family, by thy powerful intercession,
make
us a family of saints. And since to merit thy favors, we must strive to
imitate thy virtues, obtain for us all a sincere will to walk in thy
footsteps and to be like thee, full of love for Jesus and Mary and
faithful
to all our other duties.
Thou art too jealous of the glory of God and our salvation to refuse to
receive our prayers.
O beloved head of the Holy Family, graciously hear us.
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