|
St. Joseph
Also See:
St.
Joseph (Topic Page)
|
"When hunger came to be felt throughout the land of Egypt and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, Pharaoh directed all the Egyptians to go to Joseph and do whatever he told them."
(Gen. 41:55) [Note: Although this passage does not directly
refer to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, the Joseph
referred to herein is commonly considered a "type" of
St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.]
"Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah."
(Mt. 1:15-16)
"When
[the magi] had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
'Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy
him.' Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
'Out of Egypt I called my son.' When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
'A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no
more.' When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are
dead.' He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.
But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled,
'He shall be called a Nazorean.'" (Mt. 2:13-23)
"Now
this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother
Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she
was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband,
since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to
shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention
when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and
said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your
wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this
child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are
to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their
sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and
bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,' which means 'God is
with us.' When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had
commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations
with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus." [Note:
The use of the word "until" does not mean they had
marital relations after the birth of Jesus. For more information
on Mary's perpetual virginity, try the Non-Catholics
(apologetics) Section.] [Mt. 1:18-25]
"And
it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from
Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. This
enrolling was first made by Cyrinus, the governor of Syria. And
all went to be enrolled, every one into his own city. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea,
to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of
the house and family of David, To be enrolled with Mary his
espoused wife, who was with child. And it came to pass, that when
they were there, her days were accomplished, that she should be
delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped
him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because
there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same
country shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches over
their flock. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and
the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with
a great fear. And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I
bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the
people: For, this day, is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you. You
shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a
manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Glory to God in the
highest; and on earth peace to men of good will. And it came to
pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the
shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and
let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath
shewed to us. And they came with haste; and they found Mary and
Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. And seeing, they
understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning
this child. And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that
were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these words,
pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and
seen, as it was told unto them." [Note: The use of the
term 'firstborn' does not mean that Mary had other children, which
of course she didn't since she is an ever virgin. For more
information on this topic, visit the Non-Catholics
(apologetics) Section.] [Lk.
2:1-20]
"Though
thou hast recourse to many saints as thine intercessors, go
especially to St. Joseph, for he has great power with God."
(St. Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of the Church)
"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." (St. Therese of Avila, Doctor of the Church)
"Mary
was therefore betrothed to a carpenter, because Christ the Spouse
of the Church was to work the Salvation of all men through the
wood of the Cross." [Pseudo Chrys (as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)]
"Some
Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular
efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St.
Joseph has the power to assist us in all causes, in every necessity, in
every undertaking." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Other
saints receive their beatitude after death, when a holy death has
crowned their life; they receive their glory when they have won
the palm: but thou, [St. Joseph,] by a strangely happy lot, hadst,
even during life what the blessed have in heaven - thou hadst the
sweet society of thy God." (Hymn, Solemnity of St. Joseph)
"There
is no doubt then that this Joseph to whom the mother of the Savior
was espoused, was a man good and preeminently faithful. A prudent
and faithful servant he was, I say, whom the Lord placed beside
Mary to be her protector, the nourisher of His human body, and the
single and most trusty assistant on the earth in His great
design." (St. Bernard, Doctor of the Church)
"To
other Saints our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some
special necessity - but to this glorious saint, I know by experience, He
has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand
that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth - for St. Joseph, bearing
the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him - so now
in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to
recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing
by experience" (St. Theresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church)
"The reasons why St. Joseph must be considered the special patron
of the Church, and the Church in turn draws exceeding hope from
his care and patronage, chiefly arise from his having been the
husband of Mary and the presumed father of Jesus... Joseph was in
his day the lawful and natural guardian, head and defender of the
Holy Family... It is thus fitting and most worthy of Joseph's
dignity that, in the same way that he once kept unceasing holy
watch over the family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and
defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ."
(Pope Leo XIII)
"Joseph
heard the Son of God call him 'father'. He had charge of, he
labored for the maintenance of the Son of the Eternal Father. He
was the head of the Holy Family at Nazareth, and Jesus recognized
his authority. The plan of the Mystery of the Incarnation required
that these relations should exist between the Creator and the
Creature. As the Son of God, now that he is seated at the right
hand of the Eternal Father, has kept our human nature indissolubly
united with his divine Person; so likewise has he retained the
feelings he had, when here on earth, for Mary and Joseph." (Dom
Gueranger)
"To
hasten the advent of that 'peace of Christ in the kingdom of
Christ' so ardently desired by all, We place the vast campaign of
the Church against world Communism under the standard of St.
Joseph, her mighty Protector. He belongs to the working-class, and
he bore the burdens of poverty for himself and the Holy Family,
whose tender and vigilant head he was. To him was entrusted the
Divine Child when Herod loosed his assassins against Him. In a
life of faithful performance of everyday duties, he left an
example for all those who must gain their bread by the toil of
their hands. He won for himself the title of 'The Just,' serving
thus as a living model of that Christian justice which should
reign in social life." (Pope Pius XI, "Divini
Redemptoris",
1937 A.D.)
"Jesus
deigned to be subject to Joseph here below; now that he is in
heaven, he would glorify the creature to whom he consigned the
guardianship of his own childhood and the honor of his Mother. He
has given him a power which is above our calculations... [The
Church invites us] to have recourse, with unreserved confidence,
to this all-powerful protector. The world we live in is filled
with miseries which would make stronger hearts than ours quake
with fear; but let us invoke St. Joseph with faith, and we shall
be protected. In all our necessities, whether of soul or body - in
all the trials and anxieties we may have to go through - let us
have recourse to St. Joseph, and we shall not be disappointed. The
king of Egypt said to his people when they were suffering from
famine: Go to Joseph! (Gen. xli 55) The King of Heaven says the
same to us: the faithful guardian of Mary has greater influence
with God than Jacob's son had with Pharaoh." (Dom Gueranger)
"Fathers
of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal
solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of love, of
peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins at the same time find in
him the model and protector of virginal integrity. The noble of
birth will learn of Joseph how to guard their dignity even in
misfortune; the rich will understand, by his lessons, what are the
goods most to be desired and won at the price of their labor. As
to workmen, artisans, and persons of lesser degree, their recourse
to Joseph is a special right, and his example is for their
particular imitation. For Joseph, of royal blood, united by
marriage to the greatest and holiest of women, reputed the father
of the Son of God, passed his life in labor, and won by the toil
of the artisan the needful support of his family. It is, then,
true that the condition of the lowly has nothing shameful in it,
and the work of the laborer is not only not dishonoring, but can,
if virtue be joined to it, be singularly ennobled. Joseph, content
with his slight possessions, bore the trials consequent on a
fortune so slender, with greatness of soul, in imitation of his
Son, who having put on the form of a slave, being the Lord of
life, subjected himself of his own free-will to the spoliation and
loss of everything." (Pope Leo XIII, "Quamquam Pluries", 1889
A.D.)
"You
well understand, Venerable Brethren, that these considerations are
confirmed by the opinion held by a large number of the Fathers, to
which the sacred liturgy gives its sanction, that the Joseph of
ancient times, son of the patriarch Jacob, was the type of St.
Joseph, and the former by his glory prefigured the greatness of
the future guardian of the Holy Family. And in truth, beyond the
fact that the same name - a point the significance of which has
never been denied - was given to each, you well know the points of
likeness that exist between them; namely, that the first Joseph
won the favor and especial goodwill of his master, and that
through Joseph's administration his household came to prosperity
and wealth; that (still more important) he presided over the
kingdom with great power, and, in a time when the harvests failed,
he provided for all the needs of the Egyptians with so much wisdom
that the King decreed to him the title 'Savior of the world.' Thus
it is that We may prefigure the new in the old patriarch. And as
the first caused the prosperity of his master's domestic interests
and at the same time rendered great services to the whole kingdom,
so the second, destined to be the guardian of the Christian
religion, should be regarded as the protector and defender of the
Church, which is truly the house of the Lord and the kingdom of
God on earth. These are the reasons why men of every rank and
country should fly to the trust and guard of the blessed
Joseph." (Pope Leo XIII, "Quamquam Pluries", 1889 A.D.)
"Who
can imagine or worthily describe the sentiments which filled the
heart of this man, whom the Gospel describes to us in one word,
when it calls him the just man? Let us try to picture him to
ourselves amidst the principle events of his life: his being
chosen as the spouse of Mary, the most holy and perfect of God's
creatures; the angel's appearing to him, and making him the one
single human confident of the mystery of the Incarnation, by
telling him that his Virgin bride bore within her the fruit of the
world's salvation: the joys of Bethlehem, when he assisted at the
birth of the divine Babe, honored the Virgin Mother, and heard the
angels singing; his seeing first the humble and simple shepherds,
and then the rich eastern magi, coming to the stable to adore the
newborn Child; the sudden fears which came to him, when he was
told to arise, and, midnight as it was, to flee into Egypt with
the Child and the Mother; the hardships of that exile, the poverty
and the privations which were endured, by the hidden God, whose
foster-father he was, and by the Virgin, whose sublime dignity was
no so evident to him; the return to Nazareth, and the humble and
laborious life led in that village, where he so often witnessed
the world's Creator sharing in the work of a carpenter; the
happiness of such a life, in that cottage where his companions
were the Queen of the angels and the eternal Son of God, both of
whom honored, and tenderly loved him as the head of the family -
yes, Joseph was beloved and honored by the uncreated Word, the
Wisdom of the Father, and by the Virgin, the masterpiece of God's
power and holiness. We ask, what mortal can justly appreciate the
glories of St. Joseph?" (Dom Gueranger)
"And
as, moreover, it is of high importance that the devotion to St.
Joseph should engraft itself upon the daily pious practices of
Catholics, We desire that the Christian people should be urged to
it above all by Our words and authority. The special motives for
which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron of the Church, and
from which the Church looks for singular benefit from his
patronage and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of Mary
and that he was reputed the Father of Jesus Christ. From these
sources have sprung his dignity, his holiness, his glory. In
truth, the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught
created can rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the
Blessed Virgin by the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that
he approached nearer than any to the eminent dignity by which the
Mother of God surpasses so nobly all created natures. For marriage
is the most intimate of all unions which from its essence imparts
a community of gifts between those that by it are joined together.
Thus in giving Joseph the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed
him to be not only her life's companion, the witness of her
maidenhood, the protector of her honor, but also, by virtue of the
conjugal tie, a participator in her sublime dignity. And Joseph
shines among all mankind by the most august dignity, since by
divine will, he was the guardian of the Son of God and reputed as
His father among men. Hence it came about that the Word of God was
humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him, and that He rendered
to him all those offices that children are bound to render to
their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the obligation
which nature lays upon the head of families, so that Joseph became
the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the
divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course of
his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set
himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his
spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what
was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and
clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a
monarch's jealousy, and found for Him a refuge; in the miseries of
the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was ever the
companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of
Jesus." (Pope Leo XIII, "Quamquam Pluries", 1889 A.D.)
Also
See: Prayers
to St. Joseph | Classic
Encyclicals (Saints) | The
Holy Family (Mary, Our Mother Reflections) | Blessed
Virgin Mary
Looking
for Biographical Information on St. Joseph? Click
here
Note:
Categories are subjective and may overlap. For more items related
to this topic, please review all applicable categories. For more
'Reflections' and for Scripture topics, see links below.
Top |
Reflections: A-Z | Categ.
| Scripture: A-Z |
Categ.
| Help |
