In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today, we celebrate the memory of Saint Joseph under his title of Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is his most ancient title and expresses, in a wonderful way, his vocation and mission in the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation. Saint Joseph is the Husband of Mary who is both Virgin and Mother. Even though Mary remained always a virgin consecrated totally to the Lord, Joseph is truly her husband, for Joseph gave himself unconditionally to Mary as her spouse and to her divinely-conceived Child as His Virginal Father. Offering a prayer to Saint Joseph on his feast day, Dom Prosper Guéranger exclaims:
The Son of God comes down to this earth, that He may live the life of man; He comes that He may sanctify the ties and affections of kindred. He calls thee father; He obeys thy orders. What strange emotions must have filled thy heart, O Joseph! when knowing the prerogatives of thy bride and the divinity of thy adopted Son, thou hadst to be the head of this family, which united heaven and earth into one! What respectful and tender love for Mary, thy blessed bride! What gratitude and profound worship of Jesus, who obeyed thee as thy Child! Oh mysteries of Nazareth! a God dwells among men, and permits Himself to be called the Son of Joseph![1]
In a particular way, today, we contemplate the Mystery of Faith at work in the family, the cradle of human life and the first cell of our life in the Church and in society, which, from the moment of the Incarnation, has been restored to its original dignity of participation in the Divine Love of the Most Holy Trinity.
Saint Joseph, in a unique way, represents God the Father in the Holy Family and is a model for all fathers of families. Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, in his commentary for today’s feast, writes:
The Gospel (Matt. i, 18-21) is like that of Christmas Eve. In it we should note that, in accordance with the command of the Angel, Joseph, as the representative of the Eternal Father and as a sign of his patria potestas [his authority as father] over the Incarnate Word, bestows on him the name of Jesus and, together with the name, entrusts him also with the mission of redeeming the human race by obedience even to the sacrifice of Calvary. Thus St Joseph enters into the designs of almighty God for our salvation and takes his part in the wondrous plan of the Incarnation of the Word.[2]
The vocation and mission of Saint Joseph in the mystery of our salvation is expressed in the words of the “angel of the Lord” to him, when Joseph had discovered Mary’s pregnancy and had thought to “send her away quietly”[3]: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”[4]
In God’s all-loving plan for our salvation, he chose Saint Joseph to be the protector and provider for Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, so that she would not be subjected to shame and so that her Son, the Incarnate Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, would have a foster-father, a guardian, and, therefore, a true home in the family of Joseph and Mary.
Saint Joseph is the last in the long line of the patriarchs, beginning with Abraham, who by their faith and justice, provided the home, the family, in which the Divine Savior would be received as Son of God and Son of Man. In particular, Saint Joseph was of the family of King David, the family chosen by God, to be the root from which would spring the flower of our salvation. Thus, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord spoken to King David by the Prophet Nathan:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom… And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.[5]
The genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew, of which the last verse is the first verse of today’s Gospel, begins: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”[6]
Saint Joseph, in the words of the Letter to the Romans, shared in the faith of the Patriarch Abraham and followed in Abraham’s way of righteousness, responding with obedience, with purity of heart, to every word which came to him from God.[7]
Through his obedient acceptance of the word of God, given to him by the “angel of the Lord,” Saint Joseph, in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham and made anew to David, became “the father of many nations.”[8]
Blessed Ildefonso Schuster comments on Saint Joseph’s fatherly care of the universal Church:
As in the Holy House of Nazareth, under the paternal authority of Joseph, God was pleased to bless the first beginnings of the Church, so she rightly recognizes and venerates as her special patron, St Joseph, the first head of this family, the household of God upon earth.[9]
Throughout the Christian centuries and in our own day, Saint Joseph is invoked as our provident spiritual father who intercedes for us in all our needs, especially in the hour of our death. The Patriarch Joseph, son of Jacob, prefigured the fatherly care which Saint Joseph has for all Christians, especially in times of grief and affliction, because he is the True Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God and the Virginal Father of Jesus. In classical iconography, the words spoken by the Pharaoh to the distressed people of Egypt in time of famine regarding the Patriarch Joseph, are applied to Saint Joseph: “Ite ad Ioseph” (“Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do”[10]).
Saint Joseph as our fatherly intercessor is also our model of faith and justice in responding to the word of God to us, especially God’s call, our divine vocation. Saint Joseph teaches us the purity of heart which disposes us to hear God’s call and the justice which gives us humility and courage to do whatever it is that God asks of us. Today, let us pray to Saint Joseph with Dom Prosper Guéranger:
O sublime minister of the greatest of blessings, intercede for us with God made Man. Ask Him to bestow humility upon us, that holy virtue which raised thee to such exalted dignity, and which must be the basis of our conversion. It is pride that led us into sin, and made us prefer our own will to that of God: yet will He pardon us if we offer Him the sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart.[11]
Saint Joseph, with his most pure heart, unites us with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, his spouse, who, in turn, brings our hearts to the glorious-pierced Heart of her Divine Son, in which our hearts find their true home, an unceasing fountain of Divine Mercy and Love.
Let us now go to Joseph. Let us imitate his humility, faith, and justice, uniting our hearts, one with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. May Saint Joseph intercede for us, that we may always trust in God’s promise of eternal life, doing whatever He asks of us during the passing days of our earthly pilgrimage.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
[1] “Le Fils de Dieu vient commencer ici-bas une vie d’homme ; il vient sanctifier la famille, ses liens et ses affections. Votre oreille mortelle l’entendra vous nommer son Père ; vos yeux le verront obéir à vos commandements. Quelles furent, ô Joseph, les émotions de votre cœur, lorsque, pleinement instruit des grandeurs de votre Épouse e de la divinité de votre Fils adoptif, il vous fallut remplir le rôle de chef, dans cette famille au sein de laquelle le ciel et la terre se réunissaient ! Quel souverain et tendre respect pour Marie, votre Épouse ! quelle reconnaissance et quelles adorations pour Jésus, votre enfant soumis ! O mystère de Nazareth ! un Dieu habite parmi les hommes, et il souffre d’être appelé le Fils de Joseph !” Prosper Guéranger, L’année liturgique, le Carême, 16ème éd. (Paris: Librairie Religieuse H. Oudin, 1903), p. 534. English translation: Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year, Lent, tr. Laurence Shepherd (Fitzwilliam, NH: Loreto Publications, 2000), p. 430.
[2] “Il Vangelo (Matt. I, 18-21) è quello della Vigilia di Natale, dove però è da notare che, giusta l’ordine dell’Angelo, Giuseppe, come rappresentate dell’Eterno Padre, in segno della patria potestas sul Verbo Incarnato, gl’impone nome Gesù, ed insieme col nome, gli affida altresì la missione di redimere il genere umano mediante l’ubbidienza sino al sacrificio del Calvario. San Giuseppe entra così nei disegni soteriologici di Dio, e fa parte del magnifico piano dell’Incarnazione del Verbo.” A. I. Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum. Note storiche e liturgiche sul Messale Romano, Vol. VII (Torino-Roma: Casa Editrice Marietti, 1930), p. 65. [Schuster]. English translation: Ildefonso Schuster, The Sacramentary (Liber Sacramentorum): Historical & Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal, Vol. IV (Parts 7 and 8), tr. Arthur Levelis-Marke (Waterloo [ON, Canada]: Arouca Press, 2020), p. 63. [SchusterEng].
[3] Mt 1, 19-20.
[4] Mt 1, 20-21.
[5] 2 Sam 7, 12. 16.
[6] Mt 1, 1.
[7] Cf. Rom 4, 16-18.
[8] Rom 4, 17. Cf. Gen 17, 5.
[9] “E poichè nella santa Casa di Nazaret, sotto l’autorità di Giuseppe, Iddio volle consacrare i primordi della Chiesa, così essa buon diritto riconosce e venera siccome suo speciale patrono il primo capo di questa famiglia di Dio in terra, san Giuseppe.” Schuster, pp. 63-64. English translation: SchusterEng, p. 62
[10] Gen 41, 55.
[11] “Daignez, ô sublime ministre du plus grand de tous les bienfaits, intercéder en notre faveur auprès du Dieu fait homme. Demandez-lui pour nous l’humilité qui vous a fait parvenir à tant de grandeur, et qui sera en nous la base d’une conversion sincère. C’est par l’orgueil que nous avons péché, que nous lui offrons « le sacrifice d’un cœur contrit et humilié (Psalm. L, 19) ». Obtenez-nous cette vertu, sans laquelle il n’est pas de véritable pénitence.” Guéranger, p. 535. English translation: Guéranger, p. 430.