Ave Maria Meditations
(About) St. Joseph: we know nothing of the beginnings of this wonderful saint. His early years are hidden in obscurity which his subsequent greatness renders beautiful, just as the sunset is reflected in the dark and clouded east. He was doubtless high in sanctity before his espousals with Mary. Gods eternal choice of him would seem to imply as much.
During the nine months (of waiting), the accumulation of grace upon him must have been beyond our powers of calculation. The company of Mary, the atmosphere of Jesus, the continual presence of the incarnate God, and the fact of his own life being nothing but a series of ministries to the unborn Word, must have a lifted him far above all other saints, and perchance all angels too.
Our Lord’s birth, and the side of His face, must have been to him like another sanctification. The mystery of Bethlehem was enough of itself to place him among the highest of saints. As with Mary, self-abasement was his greatest grace. He was conscious to himself that he was the shadow of the Eternal Father, and this knowledge overwhelmed him. With the deepest reverence he hid himself in the constant thought of the dignity of his office, in the profoundest self objection.
Commanding makes deep men more humble than obeying. St. Joseph’s humility was fed all through life by having to command Jesus, by being the superior of his God. For years Joseph lived in the awful sanctity of that which to the priest is but a moment. A life worthy of this, up to the mark of this, what a marvel of sanctity it must have been!
+Fr. Frederick William Faber (Bethlehem)
