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The Light of the World
March 19, St. Joseph
During the course of the liturgical year the Church celebrates two feasts of St. Joseph. One is
celebrated during the third week after Easter, when he is honored as the protector of the Church.
On March he is honored as the blessed and divinely chosen spouse of the Mother of God, Mary,
who shared with him the custody of the divine child.
“The just shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus” (Introit).
St. Joseph stands before us, endowed by God with all the graces and gifts which were necessary
to make him worthy of his position as consort and husband of the virginal mother of Jesus. He
was one in soul and in spirit with her. His was a singular privilege. He is the husband of the
Mother of God, bound to her in true and lawful wedlock. She is entrusted to him and subject
to him and united to him by the most profound veneration and love. After Jesus Himself, no
one is nearer to her than St. Joseph, and no one is more perfectly cognizant of her mystery. No
one knows her better, no one loves her more dearly or is united to her more intimately, than St.
Joseph. The Gospel of today’s Mass shows us how much he loved and appreciated her. Mary had
conceived by the Holy Ghost, but as yet St. Joseph was unaware of this mystery. “Whereupon
Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to
put her away privately.” Those were bitter days for St. Joseph, and he suffered greatly. Then God,
through His holy angel, reassured him: “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” Joseph now understood what
God required of him. With complete self-effacement he placed himself at the service of the
Virgin Mother, and with unfailing devotion and fidelity shared with her a life of poverty, her
seclusion, her exile in Egypt, her work, her life of contemplation, and her blessed communion
with Jesus at Nazareth. “Lord, Thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness; Thou hast
set on his head a crown of precious stones” (Gradual).
“And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus” (Gospel). Among the
Hebrews the privilege of bestowing a name on a child belonged to the father. St. Joseph had
the full rights of a father over the child Jesus. He whom Mary had conceived by the Holy Ghost
belonged most properly also to St. Joseph, who was her legitimate spouse. By his marriage
to Mary, he had full rights over Jesus. He was in a true sense of the word His father, and he
possessed all the rights and duties of a father with regard to the Son of God made man. Who
among us can understand or fully appreciate the dignity and the significance of such a virginal
fatherhood? Jesus recognizes and honors St. Joseph as His father. He wishes to be subject to
him, to be dependent upon him, to be his child, to be obedient to his every word and wish. He
desires to be in the company of St. Joseph, to love him, to work at his side, to join him in his
prayers, to share his life most intimately. How holy and pure St. Joseph must have been! He
lived continually in the presence of God Himself. Such was the sanctity of St. Joseph. Like the
palm, so flourishes the just man, St. Joseph, who was planted in the fullness of grace and virtue
in the house of God in the midst of the Holy Family at Nazareth.
In the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice today, St. Joseph is our intercessor with Jesus. He is even
more than that, for he joins us in our offering. He places himself at the head of our Offertory
procession. The Offertory says of him and of us, since we are united with him: “My truth [God’s
grace] and My mercy shall be with him; and in My name shall his horn be exalted.” In the
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