Flight into Egypt, by Fra Angelico, 1451 – 1452
Merry Christmas, readers! Today, on the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, Holy Mother Church observes the Feast of the Holy Family. In honor of this observance, I would like to repost this meditation I composed back in October on the figure and personage of St. Joseph, who, while the quietest and most obscure of the three members of the Holy Family, is a saint whose example and intercession we are in desperate need of in our own times. Let us pray for a rediscovery in our society of the true nature of authentic Christian masculinity, through a fervent and pious devotion to he who was the foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the earthly spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
My Lord and my God, I love you with all my heart and I desire to serve you in holiness and faith by living a life of authentic Christian masculinity. I look to the example and beg the intercession of St. Joseph, and humbly beseech that, by Your guidance and grace, You might mold me into a man like he whom You entrusted with the earthly care of Your Most Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first description we have of St. Joseph from the Gospel of Matthew is that he was “a righteous man”. O Lord my God, teach me first obedience to Your Word and Your Law, so that like St. Joseph I might avoid sin and live in holiness. By the grace of the Holy Spirit and by his example, help me grow into a man who, when others speak of me, the first words that spring to their lips might be that I too am “a righteous man”.
When St. Joseph learned that the Blessed Virgin Mary was with child, it surely must have crushed his spirit with sorrow, for he believed her guilty of a grave violation of God’s Law and his trust. Yet, even sorrowed and seemingly betrayed, he rejected falling into hatred, remained steadfast in his love for her, and “unwilling to expose her to shame”, decided to remain silent and separate from her in a manner that would preserve both her reputation and her life. Presented with the opportunity for vengeance, St. Joseph embraced mercy instead. O Most Merciful Father, instill the flame of Your mercy within my heart, so that I might possess of a kind, forgiving spirit such as this!
When the angel of the Lord spoke to St. Joseph in a dream, saying, “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,” he did not offer doubts or skepticism. Rather, he heeded the voice of God’s messenger and took the Virgin Mary into his home, trusting that the words that had put into his heart were true and obeying without question. O Most Gracious Father, train my soul to trust You as a child trusts his father. By the example and intercession of St. Joseph, may I be ever attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and at all times eager to carry out Your commands.
When Herod the King dispatched assassins to murder the Infant Jesus, St. Joseph heeded the warning of the angel and took Jesus and the Virgin Mary to safety in Egypt. His heart did not quail at the thought of the desperate flight before them nor the terrible danger behind. Through years of exile in a pagan, alien land, St. Joseph stood steadfastly beside his wife and his adopted son, until it was once again safe to return with them to his home in Nazareth. O Lord of Hosts, kindle within my own heart a courage such as this! By the model and intercession of St. Joseph, fortify me against whatever trials or persecutions may come in my life, secure in the knowledge that I need fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Throughout her life, Our Blessed Mother remained perpetually virgin, consecrated and espoused to the Holy Spirit. At no time was this challenged by St. Joseph. He did not view Mary as his possession or his plaything, to be used for the sake of his own enjoyment. She was his wife, and his love for her was selfless and pure. Every part of himself, including his sexuality, he freely laid at her feet as a gift, solely for her happiness and well-being. His own passions and desires he subordinated to his love for his wife and his attentiveness to her needs. O Loving Father, set my own heart aflame with such a chaste, pure love! No matter my state in life, help me to embrace the sexual part of my nature as something not for my own selfish use, but as a tool by which You mean to bring about the sanctification of others. If I am single, whether consecrated to that state or still awaiting Your call, help me to channel my sexual drive into fueling acts of faith, prayer, and charity. If I am dating, help me to regard my girlfriend in the light of faith, to reject everything that might risk injury to her soul, and to demonstrate my true affection by always treating her as a sister in Christ. If I am married, help me to embrace the marital act as one in which I give myself to my wife, motivated solely by her needs and happiness. Let our marriage bed be a happy and holy place of mutual self-giving and self-restraint, each in its proper season and done for the sanctification of one another. And let me freely welcome children, in the manner in which St. Joseph welcomed the Child Jesus, not as an extension of my own ego, but as a sacred trust and immeasurable blessing from Our Father in Heaven.
Carpentry is hard work, especially when done without the aid of power tools. It requires diligence, planning, patience, and sweat. As a carpenter in the first century, St. Joseph’s life would be one of hard labor and diligent toil. Lord God of Creation, teach me to be a worker like St. Joseph! Whatever task or job you set before me, help me to approach it and complete it with the care and attention of St. Joseph at his workbench. Instruct my hands, so that as they work, they might offer up a continuous prayer of thanksgiving for Your bounty. May the fruits of my labors, offered up to You, be for the benefit of my family and my fellow man, according to Your Will.
For a saint as honored and praised as St. Joseph, we know remarkably little about his life. We don’t know how old he was when he married, or at what age he died. Not a single word of his mouth is recorded anywhere. His own kindred and neighbors thought him nothing more than a simple carpenter, and laughed at the idea that his son Jesus might be capable of anything special. Yet in the Eucharistic Liturgy the name of St. Joseph precedes that of St. Peter, the first Pope, and St. Paul, author of fourteen of the Epistles. What lesson, then, are to we take from this about the ultimate value of earthly fame? O Glorious Father, grant me humility like that of St. Joseph. Remove from my heart any desire for vainglory or earthly recognition. Instead, teach me to labor in joyful obscurity, and to dedicate my life solely to the Your Greater Glory.
St. Joseph loved the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every aspect of his life testifies to this simple truth of his identity. He protected her, provided for her, went into exile with her, raised her son as his own, and was at all times a faithful and loving husband to her. His example teaches that one cannot live a life that is authentically masculine in nature without fostering a devotion within one’s heart to the Blessed Mother. O God Our Father, let me take St. Joseph as my exemplar of love and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let me mirror his faithfulness, his attentiveness, and his unceasing service to her in every facet of my life. Let me think of her upon rising in the morning, before laying myself down in the evening, and throughout the entire day. Let me come to her with every care and concern of my heart, and readily accept with joyful gratitude her comfort and instruction. Let her be my close friend, my confidante, and my constant guide. In my last moments in this life, let hers be the face I see as I breathe forth my soul to Jesus.
Blessed St. Joseph, by the grace of your intercession and by the instruction of your life, aid me as I seek to grow into the fullness of Christian, masculine virtue. Guide me as I strive to live a life of holiness, mercy, trust, courage, chastity, generous service, and selfless love. O patron of husbands, fathers, and men, pray for us!
