St. Joseph, a Saint for our age
4 min • Digitized on June 29, 2021
From St. Joseph’s Life, Virtues, Privileges, Power, page 253
By Very Rev. Archdeacon Kinane, P.P.
From the very beginning, for great work, the Almighty has usually selected weak instruments to carry out His designs; and hence the candid observer must attribute the success, not to human wisdom or power, but to God alone.
In this spirit the Redeemer chose for the first preachers of His Gospel twelve fishermen, without learning, power, eloquence, or wealth; and their mission was to storm the citadel of paganism, to refute the most learned, eloquent, and subtle philosophers, and to proclaim to a sensual, selfish, and proud world the hard doctrines of chastity, self-denial, and humility.
To set the world on fire with the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, God chose Margaret Mary, a weak, timid nun, hidden and buried in her cloister at Paray-le-Monial.
To give examples would be to write the history of the Church; to narrate the spread of the Gospel in every country; to describe the origin and progress of every new Devotion; and to record the battles and victories of the Church in every age, over heresy, sin, and schism.
In all great works, as St. Paul says, “the foolish things of the world hath God chosen that he may confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that he may confound the strong. And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are. That no flesh should glory in his sight” (1 Cor. i. 27).
Signal and speedy, no doubt, will be the victories of the Church in these her days of sore and bitter trials and persecutions; since God in His infinite wisdom has given her St. Joseph as a Protector and Patron.
As St. Joseph guarded Jesus in His Divine Infancy, from the hands of His enemies, so will our great Saint protect the Church, the Spouse of Jesus, from her adversaries.
To an age in revolt against lawful authority, and puffed up with a spirit of independence and inquiry, the Church holds up St. Joseph as a model of perfect obedience and resignation, without murmur or hesitation, to God’s holy will.
To an age devoured by love of wealth and riches, St. Joseph is a model of holy poverty, ministering with joy and happiness to the wants of Jesus and Mary, by the labour of his hands.
To an age corrupt and wallowing in sensual pleasures, the Church presents St. Joseph as a model of perfect continency and holy purity.
To an age enslaved by ambition for honours, applause, glory, and high station, the Church presents St. Joseph, the noble descendant of the royal house of David, hidden and unknown, as well as happy and contented, in his workshop at Nazareth.
To all Christians St. Joseph is a perfect model of simple faith in the most sublime mysteries; of prompt obedience to the calls of Divine Providence; of perfect resignation in all things to God’s holy will; of immaculate purity of soul and body; of a laborious and holy life; and of a happy death in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
“Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and the holy Church.”
Memorare to St. Joseph.
“Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary, my amiable protector, that never was it known that anyone who invoked thy protection and implored thy help remained without consolation. Full of confidence in thy power, I come into thy presence, and recommend myself to thee with fervour. Oh, thou, who art called the father of the Redeemer, do not disdain my prayers, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”