The Power of St. Joseph
One
Of all men in the entirety of the existence of the world, the Lord God chose St. Joseph to be his human father on earth. St. Joseph existed eternally in the mind of the Heavenly Father, patterned after Him in every human way, planned with every grace to accomplish his great mission to be Jesus’ human father when the fullness of time came. The name Joseph means in Hebrew, “Yahweh give an increase.” St. Joseph is the very recipient of this increase due to his relationship with his foster son.
Born in Bethlehem, which means ‘House of Bread,’ we see him foreshadowed by the Patriarch Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph the Patriarch stored grain for bread by being able to hear God in dreams and discern the sign of the times. He wisely prepared for what was coming. “There was famine in the land,” we read in Genesis 42:54, “but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph, what he says, you do.” St. Joseph provides for us the Bread of Heaven, having fled to Egypt after being warned in a dream to preserve this bread, which is our Lord Jesus, who gives us His flesh to eat. By going to St. Joseph, we have access to grace upon grace. St. Joseph, God established His plan of salvation for the world to come through Jesus, and His Holy Family, and through you, to all of us. Open up for us your storehouse of grace so that we can come to you. And whatever you say, we will do! Intercede for us.
Two
Like the Joseph of old, St. Joseph is chaste, meaning he has mastered his passions over the flesh, so that his strength does not succumb so easily to concupiscence. This enabled him to guard the Virgin of Virgins our Mother, along with Jesus our Lord Savior. St. Joseph had the deepest love for Jesus and Mary, a love we cannot fully comprehend because our loves are so tainted by selfishness. We call love things that are not love, things like lust, desire, use, even emotional pleasure. Emotions like desire may accompany love, but love is something much, much more. St. Joseph reveals to us this love in his reactions to trials. When he finds out that Mary is mysteriously pregnant, he doesn’t seek to protect his image by stoning her but plans to send her away quietly out of concern for her. When he’s told by God to fly to Egypt, he does so willingly, without any clue of how he will provide for his wife and child. He trusts because he loves. He loves because he sacrifices himself for the good of others. In naming Jesus, St. Joseph establishes his guardianship over the Divine Son, and by the bonds of love contained therein, is tied to Jesus’ destiny. Good St. Joseph, by your great love of Jesus and Mary, grant, by my devotion to you, this same love, so that I, too, may reign in that glorious Kingdom.
Three
St. Joseph was called by St. Theresa of Avila the patron saint of the interior life. He epitomizes the strong silent type. His strength comes from his silence, and his silence speaks volumes about his prayer. He enjoyed his daily tasks, meals, and conversations with God Himself and the Immaculate Conception. You wouldn’t have much to say either if that were your daily morning cup of coffee! The Father uses St. Joseph to reveal His Divine providence, and uses St. Joseph for Divine protection, and Joseph discerns God’s will for Jesus and Mary through dreams and acts wisely. Thus, his deep relationship with God the Father, his cooperation and leadership with God’s plan, and his stamina in the face of a deadly threat coming from evil men all reveal St. Joseph’s interior life. Because he experiences in his soul communion with God, he takes risks for Jesus and Mary. In return, Jesus and Mary entrust themselves to him. Lord, may we imitate you by entrusting ourselves to St. Joseph, so that we, too, may enjoy a deep life of prayer and trust in Divine providence.
Four
One of St. Joseph’s titles is St. Joseph the Worker. This title illumines the heavenly significance of work, which he modeled for Jesus and the world. The holiness of work inspired Pope St. John Paul II to write an encyclical on this very subject called Laborem Exercens. John Paul teaches that by means of work man participates in the activity of God himself, his Creator. This was given particular prominence by both Joseph and Jesus Christ-the Jesus “at whom many of his first listeners in Nazareth were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him?.. Is not this the carpenter’s son?'" (Laborem Exercens, #26.) In fact, Jesus spends more time working day in day out in Joseph’s shop than He does with His public ministry. He learns how to create, using the tools of His creation, at the hands of His creature, Joseph, thus revealing the dignity of Joseph, of creation, and of work itself through this process. Lord, through St Joseph, increase in me an appreciation for the work you have given me, and show me how I, too, can become a saint like Joseph through applying myself to my tasks well, in union with Jesus.
Five
St. Joseph is the Protector of the Church, especially at times of great trial, like these times. We close with these beautiful stanzas of a Byzantine Catholic prayer called the Akathistos to St. Joseph:
O holy and righteous Joseph! While yet on earth, you did have boldness before the Son of God, Who was well pleased to call you His father, in that you were the betrothed of His Mother, and Who was well pleased to be obedient to you. We believe that as you do dwell now in the heavenly mansions with the choirs of the righteous, you are listened to, in all that you do request from our God and Savior. Therefore, fleeing to your protection and defense, we beg and humbly entreat you: - as you, yourself, were delivered from a storm of doubting thoughts, so also deliver us that are tempest-tossed by the waves of confusion and passions; - as you did shield the all-Pure Virgin from the slanders of men, so shield us from all kinds of vehement calumny; - as you did keep the incarnate Lord from all harm and affliction, so also by your defense preserve His Catholic Church and all of us from all affliction and harm. You know, O Saint of God, that even the Son of God had bodily needs in the days of His incarnation, and you did attend to them. Therefore,
we beseech you: tend, yourself, to our temporal needs through your intercession, granting us every good thing, which is needful in this life (for the sake of life of the age to come). Especially, do we entreat you to intercede that we may receive remission of our sins from Him Who was called your Son, the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and be worthy of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven, ... So that, abiding with you in the heavenly mansions, we may ever glorify the One God in three Persons: the (+) Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.