Ave Maria! Even if the time of the Passion, which began last Sunday, covered the statues with a purple veil as a sign of penance and mourning to focus us on the mysteries of the Cross, we still celebrate Saint Joseph in Heaven! Our countries greatly need his protection and his help so that this Terror of the demons tears them from the infernal depths into which they have fallen.
Saint Joseph, save us!
In Corde Mariæ
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Who is Saint Joseph by Reverend Father Karl Stehlin ?
The fundamental disposition of St. Joseph’s soul was one of complete confidence and abandonment to God, which had its source in his faith. No creature, after the Blessed Virgin, has lived as much by faith as St. Joseph.
In fact, having spent his whole life within the orbit of the mystery of the Incarnation, he necessarily had to pass through all the obscurities which surrounded the accomplishment of the great mystery. So Joseph needed deep faith, a faith continually nourished by suffering and tempered through anguish.
The perplexity aroused in his mind by Mary’s mysterious maternity, the extreme poverty and anxieties connected with Bethlehem, and the privations during the flight into Egypt, afflicted his sensitive soul to such an extent that in the most serious crises he needed the intervention of an angel, by whom he was sustained and introduced into the depths of the divine mystery unfolding before his eyes. Joseph allowed himself to be guided with the docility and blind confidence of a child.
St. Joseph’s whole life may be summed up as a continual adherence to the divine plan, even in situations which were very obscure and mysterious to him. In our life, too, there is always some mystery, either because God is pleased to work in a hidden, secret manner or because His action is always incomprehensible to our poor human intelligence. Therefore, we need that glance of faith, that complete confidence which, relying on the infinite goodness of God, convinces us that He always and in all circumstances wills our good and disposes everything to that end.
Only this loving trust will permit us, like Joseph, always to say our yes to every manifestation of the divine will; a humble, prompt, trustful yes, in spite of the obscurities, the difficulties, the mystery… God made use of the angels to make His will known to Joseph; to manifest it to us He makes use of our superiors who, like the angels, are His messengers and envoys. Let us obey with the simplicity of St. Joseph, understanding that God can employ any person or circumstance to make us know and execute His divine will, just as He used Caesar’s edict to bring Joseph to Bethlehem, where Jesus was to be born. The Roman Emperor had far different intentions, but God utilized this political act to carry out the plan of the Incarnation. God always governs and directs all things toward the fulfilment of His will.
Another characteristic of St. Joseph’s life was his entire consecration to the mission entrusted to him by God. Joseph did not live for himself and his own interests, but only for God, whom he served in Jesus and Mary. Thus he is the true model of interior souls, of souls who desire to live totally for God and with God, in the accomplishment of the mission they have received from Him.
Fr. Karl Stehlin
March 19th 2024
