19 March 2013 5th Week of Lent -- Tuesday Solemnity of St. Joseph. 29 A.D. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) St Joseph, the husband of Mary Considered as the greatest saint, next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because of his humility and closeness to Jesus. Sacred Scripture records that Joseph was just, pure, gentle, prudent, and unfailingly obedient to the divine will. We wish to imitate him by renewing our desire to be faithful to the Lord till the last day: the only meaning of our life. Patron of the Universal Church. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], Daily Roman Missal, p1494) ‘Go to Joseph’ St Joseph, as the legal husband of the Blessed Virgin, was head of the Holy Family. He supported them by manual labor; governed and guided them in obedience to direction from on high, through the ministry of angels. Jesus and Mary strictly obeyed him. Thus, he is invoked as the protector of Christian families who desire to obey the will of God. The Gospel records that Jesus submitted to the direction of St Joseph. Jesus and Mary obeyed him in everything. “And he was subject to them.” (Lk 2:51) We may say that he had charge of the education of Jesus as a child, youth, and young man. He enjoyed the greatest happiness a father can have: seeing him increase in age, in wisdom before God and men. Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp228-9 Going to St Joseph for our every need By the example of their life in Nazareth Jesus and Mary invite us to seek Joseph’s assistance. They frequently went to Joseph for his help in all kinds of needs. Their attitude and behavior is a wonderful model for us to imitate. When “we go to Joseph for help we should have no fear at all. We ought to have a steadfast faith that what we are doing is the most pleasing to God Almighty and the Queen of Angels.” (Isidoro de Isolano, “The Gifts of St Joseph”) With the exception of God himself, Our Lady loved no one more than she loved St Joseph, her husband. Who can imagine the strength of Joseph’s petition before Our Lady, Mediatrix of all graces? Spiritual authors have seen fit to make this comparison: “Christ is the one mediator before the Father, and the way to reach Christ is through Mary, his Mother. Similarly, the best way to reach Mary is through St Joseph. The ascending order is from Joseph to Mary, from Mary to Christ, from Christ to the Father.” (B Llamera, “Theology of St Joseph”, 315) Reflect on the teaching of St Thomas concerning divine vocation: “To those whom God calls for his work, God provides the necessary preparation and graces so that they will be the ideal instruments for that work.” (St Thomas, “Summa Theologiae”, 3, q27,a4,c) St Joseph fulfilled the mission which God had entrusted to him. His whole life was an unconditional gift to God for the good of the Holy Family and all people. (cf John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, “Redemptoris custos”, 15 Aug 1989, 17) We ask the Holy Patriarch to help us fulfill the will of God in everything. We pray that he show us how to live out our commitments joyfully and without reservation. Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:162, 165-6, 171 St Joseph’s eminent dignity and great power To form an idea of St Joseph’s attributes, we should reflect that God called him to the holiest and most exalted of all offices -- to be the spouse of the Mother of God, foster-father of the Eternal Son of God made man, ruler of the Holy Family, and guardian of the secret of the Divine Incarnation. Reflect that God always proportions his gifts to the dignity to which he raises whomever it pleases him to elevate. Reflect that St Joseph whom the Holy Spirit called a just man (Mt 1:18), corresponded most faithfully to the abundant graces which he received. Thus he laid up an immense treasure of merits and sanctity, and we will draw the certain conclusion that, after the Mother of God, St Joseph is the nearest to the Eternal Throne; and that his intercession must be all-powerful. How can Jesus refuse the prayer of him whose will he obeyed in all things while on earth? Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, p855 Be silent and listen Here was an ordinary man to whom God granted extraordinary graces. Joseph was to fulfill a most singular mission in God’s salvific design. He experienced indescribable joys along with trials of doubt and suffering. We recall his perplexity at the mystery of Mary’s conception, the extreme material poverty in Bethlehem, the prophecies of Simeon in the Temple, the hurried flight into Egypt, the difficulties of having to live in a foreign land, the return from Egypt, and the threat posed by Archelaus. Joseph proved himself always faithful to the will of God; ever ready to set aside his own plans. Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:162, 165-6, 171 And yet there is not a single word spoken by him in the Gospels. Truly he lived the wonderful implications of two words -- ‘silent’ and ‘listen’. Applied to our spiritual life, they dispose us to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. If we “make” time to be ‘silent’, we become docile and disposed to ‘listen’ to the Holy Spirit. Joseph Believed St Joseph of Nazareth was a ‘just man’; said to his credit, ‘as justice’, ‘that he believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things which do not yet exist’. That happened at the ‘decisive moment for the history of salvation’, when God, the eternal Father sent His Son into the world to accomplish the promise made to Abraham. It was exactly then that the faith of Joseph of Nazareth was manifested. It showed itself to be up to the measure of the faith of Abraham. It was evident even more when ‘the Word of the living God became flesh in Mary’; by the announcement of the angel, ‘she was with child through the power of the Holy Spirit’. The faith of St Joseph was bound to be manifested ‘before the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God’. And Joseph believed in God: ‘Joseph, son of David, have no fear about taking Mary as your wife.’ Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp22-3 • The Beautiful Lady, at Nogent-Sur-Seine. It is affirmed, that it is impossible to remove this celebrated picture from its little chapel, which is only four or five feet square.—(Ex monumentis Novigentenis.) “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com) • The Beautiful Lady, Nogent-sur-Seine, France. (http://www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • Our Lady Fair (La Belle Dame) (Nogent-sur-Seine, France) [Impossible to move image, miraculously held in place.] (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) • Our Lady Fair (La Belle Dame, The Beautiful Lady). Nogent-sur-Seine, France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)