Page 68 - Reflections on St. Joseph

“reputed father” of his Only-Begotten Son, “the true spouse of the Queen of the World and Lady of
the Angels” (SCR, Inclytus Patriarcha Joseph, 09/10/1847).

These two titles, father of the Son of God and Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God, make Joseph
an unattainable figure in the order of holiness because “of the singular graces and heavenly gifts
with which God abundantly enriched him in view of the task entrusted to him”. In fact, He fulfilled
perfectly the task entrusted to him and the mission he received, placing himself unconditionally at the
disposition of the divine will.

His mission is unique and great: to watch over the holiness and virginity of Mary and to
cooperate in the incarnation of the Word and the salvation of humanity. “The holiness of Joseph
consists precisely in his faithful and perfect fulfillment of this great and at the same time humble,
noble and hidden mission, resplendent and at the same time mysterious” (Pius XI, Homily from
03/19/1928).

From the moment that the Angel revealed Joseph’s vocation to him (Mt 1:21), his life had not
other goal or reason except to serve the Redeemer. Paul VI states this in a incisive way when he
says: “St. Joseph immediately places at the service of God’s plans all of his liberty, his legitimate
human vocation, his own conjugal happiness, accepting the condition, responsibility and weight of a
family, denying himself, however, for an incomparable virginal love, the conjugal love which
nourishes and sustains the family, in order to offer by this total sacrifice his entire existence to the
imponderable needs of the coming of the Messiah” (Homily from 03/19/1969).

Meditating on the mission of St. Joseph as God’s collaborator in the mystery of our redemption,
we recognize that what is characteristic of him is in his having made his life a service, a sacrifice
to the mystery of the Incarnation and to the redemptive mission connected with it; in having used the
legal authority which was his over the Holy Family in order to make a total gift of self, of his life and
work; in having turned his human vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of self, an
oblation of his heart and all his abilities into love placed at the service of the Messiah growing up in
his house” (Paul VI, Homily from 03/19/1966).

If among Gospel figures, those of St. John the Baptist and St. Peter, because of their special
mission, are particularly relevant, the former for having been the forerunner to Jesus and the
latter for having received from him the care of his Church, “the person and mission of Joseph,
reserved and silent, practically ignored and unknown because of his humility, to use the words of
Pius XI, reveal to us a type of ministry which is much more important even though hidden, much more
necessary even though less visible. In fact, St. Joseph carried out the mission entrusted to him in
the most perfect oblation of self and in a perfectly hidden way: two characteristics, these,
proper to his personality.

St. Joseph’s work was, in a certain way, indispensable for the realization of the mystery of
human redemption. This is the case because God’s plan for the coming of the Redeeming Word
to earth in order to save man required the presence of a spouse alongside the Virgin other of the
Savior and of an earthly father for Her Son. The lesson which is born from his entire life is of
great importance for the whole Church. Paul VI knew how to sum up this aspect, when he
stated:: “St. Joseph is the type of the Gospel which Jesus…will proclaim as the plan for the redemption
of humanity; he is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies; he is

44 Reflections on st. joseph