First Sunday of Lent
By
Rev.
Fr. Leonard Goffine's
This
Sunday is called Invocabit, because the Introit of the Mass begins
with this word, which is taken from the ninetieth psalm, wherein we
are urged to confidence in God, who willingly hears the prayer of the
penitent:
INTROIT: He
shall call upon me, and I will hear him; I will deliver him, and
glorify him; I will fill him with length of days. (Ps. XC. 15-16.) He
that dwelleth in the aid of the Most high shall abide under the
protection of the God of heaven. (Ps. XC. 1.) Glory be to the Father,
etc.
COLLECT: O
God who dost purify Thy Church by the yearly fast of Lent; grant to
Thy household that what we strive to obtain from Thee by abstinence,
by good works we may secure. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE: (II.
Cor. VI. 1-10) Brethren, we exhort you that you receive not the grace
of God in vain. For he saith: In an acceptable time have I heard
thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Behold, now is
the acceptable time; behold, now, is the day of salvation. Giving no
offence to any man, that our ministry be not blamed: but in all
things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God; in much
patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes,
in prisons, in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in
chastity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy
Ghost, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of
God, by the armor of justice on the right hand, and on the left, by
honor and dishonor, by evil report, and good report; as deceivers,
and yet true; as unknown, and yet known; as dying, and behold we
live; as chastised, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; as needy, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and
possessing all things.
EXPLANATION: The
Church very appropriately reads on this day this epistle of St. Paul,
in which he exhorts the Christians to make use of the time of grace.
A special time of grace is Lent, in which everything invites to
conversion and penance, a time, therefore, in which God is ready to
make rich bestowal of His graces. St. Anselm says, those do not use
the grace who do not cooperate. Let us, therefore, follow St. Paul's
exhortation, and earnestly practise those virtues he places before
us, and especially those of temperance, patience, chastity,
liberality, love of God and of our neighbor. Let us arm ourselves
with the arms of justice at the right and the left, that is, let us
strive to be humble in prosperity and in adversity, confident of
God's help. Let us never be led from the path of virtue, by mockery,
contempt, nor by persecution, torments, or death.
ASPIRATION: Grant,
O Jesus
,
that we may always faithfully cooperate with Thy graces, and employ
well the time Thou hast again given for our salvation.
,
that we may always faithfully cooperate with Thy graces, and employ
well the time Thou hast again given for our salvation.
GOSPEL: (Matt.
IV. 1-11.) At that time, Jesus was
led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was
hungry. And the tempter coming, said to him: If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said:
It is written: Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word
that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up
into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is
written: He hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their
hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shaft
not tempt the Lord thy 'God. Again the devil took him up into a very
high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them; and said to him: All these will I give thee, if,
falling down, thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus said to him: Begone,
Satan, for it is written, The Lord thy God shaft thou adore, and him
only shaft thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold, angels
came, and ministered to him.
was
led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And
when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was
hungry. And the tempter coming, said to him: If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said:
It is written: Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word
that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him up
into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is
written: He hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their
hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shaft
not tempt the Lord thy 'God. Again the devil took him up into a very
high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them; and said to him: All these will I give thee, if,
falling down, thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus said to him: Begone,
Satan, for it is written, The Lord thy God shaft thou adore, and him
only shaft thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold, angels
came, and ministered to him.
INSTRUCTION:
I.
Christ went into the desert by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to
prepare by fasting and prayer, for His mission, and to endure the
temptations of Satan, that, as St. Paul says, He might be one tempted
in all things such as we are, without sin, and so become for us a
High-priest who knew how to have compassion on our infirmities, (Heb.
IV. 15.) and to show us by His own example, how we should, armed with
the word of God, as with a sword, overcome the tempter. (Eph. VI.
17.) – Let us, therefore, courageously follow Christ to the combat
against all temptations, with His assistance it will not be hard to
conquer them. He has certainly taught us to overcome the hardest
ones: the lust of the eyes, of the flesh, and the pride of life, and
if we overcome these, it will be easy to conquer the rest.
II.
If Christ, the only Son of God, permitted Himself to be tempted by
Satan, even to be taken up on a high mountain, and to the pinnacle of
the temple, it should not appear strange to us, that we are assailed
by many temptations, or that we should find in the lives of so many
saints that the evil spirit tormented them by various images of
terror and vexation. This we find in the history of the pious Job,
where we also find at the same time, that the evil spirit cannot harm
a hair of our head without God's permission.
III.
From the coming of the angels to minister to Christ, after He had
conquered Satan, we see that all who bravely resist temptations, will
enjoy the assistance and consolations of the heavenly spirits.
INSTRUCTION
ON TEMPTATION
To
be tempted by the devil. , (Matt. IV. I.)
What
is a temptation?
A
temptation is either a trial for instruction and exercise in virtue,
or a deception and incitement to sin. In the first sense, God tempts
man; in the second, he is tempted by the devil, the world or bad
people, and the flesh, by evil thoughts, feelings, words, or work.
By
what are we principally tempted?
By
our own evil concupiscence and inclination to sin which adhere to us
through original sin, (Fam. I. 14.) on account of which it is said,
that the flesh lusteth against the spirit. (Gal. V. 17.)
Does
the devil also tempt us?
He
does, and is therefore called, in this day's gospel, the tempter. St.
Peter teaches us this, having himself experienced it: Be sober and
watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring-lion, goeth
about, seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter V. 8.) Not all
temptations are to be ascribed to the devil, however, they often come
from our own corrupt nature, our own incautiousness, or looseness of
our senses, by which we expose ourselves to the danger of falling
into sin.
How
does the devil tempt us to sin?
In
a twofold manner: He incites the concupiscence of man to those sins
to which he sees him inclined, and then seeks to blind and confuse
his imagination, so that he neither reflects, nor properly sees the
temporal injury, disgrace, and derision, nor the shamefulness of sin
and its eternal punishment. Thus the devil seduced Eve, our first
mother, and thus he tempted Christ, with whom he could not, of
course, succeed, for He was incapable of sin. He tempts bad people to
persecute us, or to try us by their wicked vanities, as he did by the
friends of Job.
Can
the devil force us to evil?
He
cannot; “for as a chained dog,” says St. Augustine, "can
bite none but those who go near him, so the devil cannot harm with
his temptations those who do not consent to them. Like the dog he can
bark at you, but cannot bite you against your will.” Not by force
but by persuasion Satan strives to injure, he does not force our
consent, but entreats it. Seek, therefore, to subdue your passions
and your senses, especially your eyes, and you will either remain
free from all temptations, or easily overcome them.
Does
God also tempt us?
God
does indeed tempt us, but not to sin, as St. James expressly teaches.
(Fam. I. 13.) God either Himself proves us by sufferings and
adversities, or He permits the temptations of the devil or
evil-minded people to give us opportunity to practise the virtues of
love, patience, obedience, etc. Thus He said to the Jews through
Moses: The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you
love him with all your heart, and with all your soul, or no. (Deut.
XIII. 3.)
Does
God permit us to be tempted by man also?
He
does, and for the same reasons. Thus He permitted the chaste Joseph
to be tempted by Putiphar's wife; (Gen.XXXIX. 7.) Job by his wife and
his friends. (Job II. 9.) But He never permits us to be tempted
beyond our strength, but gives us always sufficient grace to overcome
and even to derive benefit from the temptation. (I Cor. X. 13.)
Are
temptations pernicious and bad?
No;
they are useful and necessary, rather. “Hard is the fight,” St.
Bernard writes, “but meritorious, for although it is accompanied by
suffering, it is followed by the crown;”
(Apoc.
III. 12.) and Origen says. (Libr. Num.) “As meat becomes corrupt
without salt, so does the soul without temptations.” Temptations,
then, are only injurious when consent is given, and we suffer
ourselves to be overcome by them.
When
do we consent to temptations?
When
we knowingly and willingly decide to do the evil to which we are
tempted; as long as we resist we commit no sin.
What
are the best means of overcoming temptations?
Humility;
for thus answered St. Anthony, when he saw the whole earth covered
with snares, and was asked "Who will escape?" "The
humble;" he who knows his own frailty, distrusts himself, and
relies only on God who resists the proud and gives His grace to the
humble; (Dam. IV. 6.) the fervent invocation of the Mother of God, of
our holy guardian angels and patron saints; the pronouncing of the
holy name of Jesus,
making the sign of the cross, sprinkling holy water; the remembrance
of the presence of God who knows our most secret thoughts, and before
whom we are indeed ashamed to think or do that which would cause us
shame in the presence of an honorable person; frequent meditation on
death, hell, and eternal joys; fleeing from all those persons by
whom, and places in which we are generally tempted; fervent prayers,
especially ejaculations, as:
,
making the sign of the cross, sprinkling holy water; the remembrance
of the presence of God who knows our most secret thoughts, and before
whom we are indeed ashamed to think or do that which would cause us
shame in the presence of an honorable person; frequent meditation on
death, hell, and eternal joys; fleeing from all those persons by
whom, and places in which we are generally tempted; fervent prayers,
especially ejaculations, as:
"Lord,
save me, lest I perish! Lord, hasten to help me!" finally, the
sincere acknowledgment of our temptations at the tribunal of penance,
which is a remedy especially recommended by pious spiritual teachers.
PRAYER: O
Lord Jesus!”
who
spent forty days in the desert without food or drink, and didst
permit Thy self to be tempted by the evil spirit, give me, I beseech
Thee by that holy fast, the grace to combat, during this holy season
of Lent, under Thy protection, against intemperance, and to resist
the suggestions of Satan that I may win the crown of eternal life.
Amen.
Sermon: Temptation
This commentary on the
Universal Church’s patron, St. Joseph, was written by Fr. Reginald
Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P and has been taken from his classic
mariological work The
Mother of the Saviour and Our Interior Life.
–Assistant Ed.
Endnotes
(1) Sermo in Nativitatem Virginis Mariae, IVa consideratio.
(2) Sermo I de S. Joseph, c. iii, Opera, Lyon, 1650, t. IV, p. 254.
(3) Summa de donis S. Joseph, ann. 1522. There is a new edition by Fr Berthier, Rome, 1897.
(4) In Summam S. Thomae, IIIa, q. 29, disp. 8, sect. I.
(5) Sermone di S. Giuseppe, Discorsi Morali, Naples, 1841.
(6) Saint Joseph Intime, Paris, 1920.
(7) Tractatus de Sancto Joseph, Paris, 1908.
(8) La Grandezza di San Giuseppe, Rome, 1927, pp. 36 sqq.
(9) Cf. Dict. Théol Cath., art. Joseph, col. 1518.
(10) Homil. II super Missus est.
(11) Sermo I de S. Joseph.
(12) Summa de donis sancti Joseph, Pars IIIa, c. xviii. This work was very highly praised by Benedict XIV.
(13) In Summam S. Thomae, IIIa, q. 29, disp. 8, sect. I.
(14) La Grandezza di San Giuseppe, Rome, 1927, pp. 36 sqq.
(15) Cf. IIIa, q. 24, a. 1, 2, 3, 4.
(16) First Panegyric of St. Joseph, edit. Lebarcq, t. II, pp. 135 sqq.
(17) We read that Jesus was subject to Mary and Joseph. Joseph in his humility must have been confounded that he, the least of the three, should be the head of the Holy Family.
(18) Second Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(19) First Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(20) Second Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(21) Treatise of the Love of God, Bk. VII, ch. xiii.
(22) Cf. in Matth. xxvii and IV Sent., dist. 42, q. 1, a. 3.
(23) Cf. IIIa, q. 53, a. 3, ad 2.
Sermon: Temptation
The Predestination of Saint Joseph and his Eminent Sanctity
By
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
 |
| Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. |
“He that is lesser
among you all, he is the greater” (Luke 9:48)
His
Pre-eminence Over the Other Saints
The opinion that St. Joseph is the
greatest of the saints after Our Lady is one which is becoming daily
more commonly held in the Church. We do not hesitate to look on the
humble carpenter as higher in grace and eternal glory than the
patriarchs and the greatest of the prophets—than St. John the
Baptist, the Apostles, the martyrs and the great doctors of the
Church. He who is least in the depth of his humility is, because of
the interconnection of the virtues, the greatest in the height of his
charity: “He that is the lesser among you all, he is the greater.”
St. Joseph’s pre-eminence was taught
by Gerson (1) and St. Bernardine of Siena. (2) It became more and
more common in the course of the 16th century. It was admitted by St.
Teresa, by the Dominican Isidore de Isolanis, who appears to have
written the first treatise on St. Joseph, (3) by St. Francis de
Sales, by Suarez, (4) and later by St. Alphonsus Liguori, (5) Ch.
Sauve, (6) Cardinal Lépicier (7) and Msgr. Sinibaldi; (8) it is very
ably treated of in the article “Joseph” in the Dict. de Théol.
Cath. by M. A. Michel.
The doctrine of St. Joseph’s
pre-eminence received the approval of Leo XIII in his encyclical
Quamquam pluries, August 15th, 1899, written to proclaim St. Joseph
patron of the universal Church:
The dignity of the Mother of God is so
elevated that there can be no higher created one. But since St.
Joseph was united to the Blessed Virgin by the conjugal bond, there
is no doubt that he approached nearer than any other to that
super-eminent dignity of hers by which the Mother of God surpasses
all created natures. Conjugal union is the greatest of all; by its
very nature it is accompanied by a reciprocal communication of the
goods of the spouses. If then God gave St. Joseph to Mary to be her
spouse He certainly did not give him merely as a companion in life, a
witness of her virginity, a guardian of her honor, but He made him
also participate by the conjugal bond in the eminent dignity which
was hers.
When Leo XIII said that Joseph came
nearest of all to the super-eminent dignity of Mary, did his words
imply that Joseph is higher in glory than all the angels? We cannot
give any certain answer to the question. We must be content to
restate the doctrine which is becoming more and more commonly taught:
of all the saints Joseph is the highest after Jesus and Mary; he is
among the angels and the archangels. The Church mentions him
immediately after Mary and before the Apostles in the prayer A
cunctis. Though he is not mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, he has
a proper preface, and the month of March is consecrated to him as
protector and defender of the universal Church.
The multitude of Christians in all
succeeding generations are committed to him in a real though hidden
manner. This idea is expressed in the litanies approved by the
Church:
St.
Joseph, illustrious descendant of David, light of the Patriarchs,
Spouse of the Mother of God, guardian of her virginity, foster-father
of the Son of God, vigilant defender of Christ, head of the Holy
Family; Joseph most just, most chaste, most prudent, most strong,
most obedient, most faithful, mirror of patience, lover of poverty,
model of workers, glory of domestic life, guardian of virgins,
support of families, consolation of the afflicted, hope of the sick,
patron of the dying, terror of demons, protector of the Holy Church.
He is the greatest after Mary.
The
Reason For St. Joseph’s Pre-eminence
What is the justification of this
doctrine which has been more and more accepted in the course of five
centuries? The principle invoked more or less explicitly by St.
Bernard, St. Bernardine of Siena, Isidore de Isolanis, Suarez, and
more recent authors is the one, simple and sublime, formulated by St.
Thomas when treating of the fullness of grace in Jesus and of
holiness in Mary: “An exceptional divine mission calls for a
corresponding degree of grace.” This principle explains why the
holy soul of Jesus, being united personally to the Word, the Source
of all grace, received the absolute fullness of grace. It explains
also why Mary, called to be Mother of God, received from the instant
of her conception an initial fullness of grace which was greater than
the initial fullness of all the saints together: since she was nearer
than any other to the Source of grace she drew grace more abundantly.
It explains also why the Apostles who were nearer to Our Blessed Lord
than the saints who followed them had more perfect knowledge of the
mysteries of faith. To preach the gospel infallibly to the world they
received at Pentecost the gift of a most eminent, most enlightened,
and most firm faith as the principle of their apostolate.
The same
truth explains St. Joseph’s pre-eminence. To understand it we must
add one remark: all works which are to be referred immediately to God
Himself are perfect. The work of creation, for example, which
proceeded entirely and directly from the hand of God was perfect. The
same must be said of His great servants, whom He has chosen
exceptionally and immediately—not through a human instrument—to
restore the order disturbed by sin. God does not choose as men do.
Men often choose incompetent officials for the highest posts. But
those whom God Himself chooses directly and immediately to be His
exceptional ministers in the work of redemption receive from Him
grace proportionate to their vocation. This was the case with St.
Joseph. He must have received a relative fullness of grace
proportionate to his mission since he was chosen not by men nor by
any creature but by God Himself and by God alone to fulfill a mission
unique in the world. We cannot say at what precise moment St.
Joseph’s sanctification took place. But we can say that, from the
time of his marriage to Our Lady, he was confirmed in grace, because
of his special mission. (9)
To
What Order Does St. Joseph’s Exceptional Mission Belong?
St. Joseph’s mission is evidently
higher than the order of nature—even by angelic nature. But is it
simply of the order of grace, as was that of St. John the Baptist who
prepared the way of salvation, and that the Apostles had in the
Church for the sanctification of souls, and that more particular
mission of the founders of religious orders? If we examine the
question carefully we shall see that St. Joseph’s mission surpassed
the order of grace. It borders, by its term, on the hypostatic order,
which is constituted by the mystery of the Incarnation. But it is
necessary to avoid both exaggeration and understatement in this
matter.
Mary’s unique mission, her divine
motherhood, has its term in the hypostatic order. So also, in a
sense, St. Joseph’s hidden mission. This is the teaching of many
saints and other writers. St. Bernard says of St. Joseph: “He is
the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord made the support of
His Mother, the foster-father of His flesh, and the sole most
faithful co-operator on earth in His great design.” (10)
St. Bernardine of Siena writes: “When
God chooses a person by grace for a very elevated mission, He gives
all the graces required for it. This is verified in a specially
outstanding manner in the case of St. Joseph, Foster-father of Our
Lord Jesus Christ and Spouse of Mary….” (11) Isidore de Isolanis
places St. Joseph’s vocation above that of the Apostles. He remarks
that the vocation of the Apostles is to preach the gospel, to
enlighten souls, to reconcile them with God, but that the vocation of
St. Joseph is more immediately in relation with Christ Himself since
he is the Spouse of the Mother of God, the Foster-father and
Protector of the Savior. (12) Suarez teaches to the same effect:
Certain offices pertain to the order of
sanctifying grace, and among them that of the Apostles holds the
highest place; thus they have need of more gratuitous gifts than
other souls, especially gratuitous gifts of wisdom. But there are
other offices which touch upon or border on the order of the
Hypostatic Union … as can be seen clearly in the case of the divine
maternity of the Blessed Virgin, and it is to that order that the
ministry of St. Joseph pertains. (13)
Some years
ago Msgr. Sinibaldi, titular Bishop of Tiberias and secretary of the
Sacred Congregation of Studies, treated the question very ably. He
pointed out that the ministry of St. Joseph belonged, in a sense,
because of its term, to the hypostatic order: not that St. Joseph
co-operated intrinsically as physical instrument of the Holy Spirit
in the realization of the mystery of the Incarnation—for under that
respect his role is very much inferior to that of Mary—but that he
was predestined to be, in the order of moral causes, the protector of
the virginity and the honor of Mary at the same time as foster-father
and protector of the Word made flesh: “His mission pertains by its
term to the hypostatic order, not through intrinsic physical and
immediate cooperation, but through extrinsic moral and mediate
(through Mary) co-operation, which is, however, really and truly
co-operation.” (14)
St.
Joseph’s Predestination Is One With the Decree of the Incarnation
St. Joseph’s pre-eminence becomes all
the clearer if we consider that the eternal decree of the Incarnation
covered not merely the Incarnation in abstraction from circumstances
of time and place but the Incarnation here and now—that is to say,
the Incarnation of the Son of God Who by the operation of the Holy
Spirit was to be conceived at a certain moment of time by the Virgin
Mary, espoused to a man of the family of David whose name was Joseph:
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David” (Luke 1:26-27).
All the indications are therefore that
St. Joseph was predestined to be foster-father of the Incarnate Word
before being predestined to glory; the ultimate reason being that
Christ’s predestination as man to the natural divine sonship
precedes the predestination of all the elect, since Christ is the
first of the predestined. (15) The predestination of Christ to the
natural divine sonship is simply the decree of the Incarnation,
which, as we have seen, includes Mary’s predestination to the
divine motherhood and Joseph’s to be foster-father and protector of
the Incarnate Son of God.
As the predestination of Christ to the
natural divine son-ship is superior to His predestination to glory
and precedes it, and as the predestination of Mary to the divine
motherhood precedes (in signo priori) her predestination to glory, so
also the predestination of St. Joseph to be foster-father of the
Incarnate Word precedes his predestination to glory and to grace. In
other words, the reason why he was predestined to the highest degree
of glory after Mary, and in consequence to the highest degree of
grace and of charity, is that he was called to be the worthy
foster-father and protector of the Man-God.
The fact
that St. Joseph’s first predestination was one with the decree of
the Incarnation shows how elevated his unique mission was. This is
what people mean when they say that St. Joseph was made and put into
the world to be the foster-father of the Incarnate Word and that God
willed for him a high degree of glory and grace to fit him for his
task.
The
Special Character of St. Joseph’s Mission
This point is explained admirably by
Bossuet in his first panegyric of the saint:
Among
the different vocations, I notice two in the Scriptures which seem
directly opposed to each other: the first is that of the Apostles,
the second that of St. Joseph. Jesus was revealed to the Apostles
that they might announce Him throughout the world; He was revealed to
St. Joseph who was to remain silent and keep Him hidden. The Apostles
are lights to make the world see Jesus. Joseph is a veil to cover
Him; and under that mysterious veil are hidden from us the virginity
of Mary and the greatness of the Savior of souls… He Who makes the
Apostles glorious with the glory of preaching, glorifies Joseph by
the humility of silence.
The hour for the manifestation of the
mystery of the Incarnation had not yet struck: it was to be preceded
by the thirty years of the hidden life.
Perfection consists in doing God’s
will, each one according to his vocation; St. Joseph’s vocation of
silence and obscurity surpassed that of the Apostles because it
bordered more nearly on the redemptive Incarnation. After Mary,
Joseph was nearest to the Author of grace, and in the silence of
Bethlehem, during the exile in Egypt, and in the little home of
Nazareth he received more graces than any other saint.
His mission was a dual one.
As regards Mary, he preserved her
virginity by contracting with her a true but altogether holy
marriage. The angel of the Lord said to him: “Joseph, son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
of her is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 1:20; Luke 2:5). Mary is truly
his wife. The marriage was a true one, as St. Thomas explains (IIIa,
q. 29, a. 2) when showing its appropriateness. There should be no
room for doubt, however light, regarding the honor of the Son and the
Mother: if ever doubt did arise Joseph, the most informed and the
least suspect witness, would be there to defend it. Besides, Mary
would find help and protection in St. Joseph. He loved her with a
pure and devoted love, in God and for God. Their union was stainless,
and most respectful on the side of St. Joseph. Thus he was nearer
than any other saint to the Mother of God and the spiritual Mother of
men—and he too was a man. The beauty of the whole universe was
nothing compared with that of the union of Mary and Joseph, a union
created by the Most High, which ravished the angels and gave joy to
the Lord.
As regards the Incarnate Word, Joseph
watched over Him, protected Him, and contributed to His human
education. He is called His foster-father, but the term does not
express fully the mysterious supernatural relation between the two. A
man becomes foster-father of a child normally as a result of an
accident. But it was no accident in the case of St. Joseph: he had
been created and put into the world for that purpose: it was the
primary reason of his predestination and the reason for all the
graces he received. Bossuet expressed this well:
If nature does not give a father’s
heart, where will it be found? In other words, since Joseph was not
Jesus’ father, how could he have a father’s heart in His regard?
Here we must recognize the action of
God. It is by the power of God that Joseph has a father’s heart,
and if nature fails God gives one with His own hand; for it is of God
that it is written that He directs our inclinations where he wills….
He gives some a heart of flesh when He softens their nature by
charity…. Does He not give all the faithful the hearts of children
when He sends to them the Spirit of His Son? The Apostles feared the
least danger, but God gave them a new heart and their courage became
undaunted…. The same hand gave Joseph the heart of a father and
Jesus the heart of a son. That is why Jesus obeys and Joseph does not
fear to command. How has he the courage to command his Creator?
Because the true Father of Jesus Christ, the God Who gives Him birth
from all eternity, having chosen Joseph to be the father of His only
Son in time, sent down into his bosom some ray or some spark of His
own infinite love for His Son; that is what changed his heart, that
is what gave him a father’s love, and Joseph the just man who feels
that father’s heart within him feels also that God wishes him to
use his paternal authority, so that he dares to command Him Who he
knows is his Master. (16)
That is equivalent to saying that
Joseph was predestined first to take the place of a father in regard
to the Savior Who could have no earthly father, (17) and in
consequence to have all the gifts which were given him that he might
be a worthy Protector of the Incarnate Word.
Is it necessary to say with what
fidelity St. Joseph guarded the triple deposit confided to him: the
virginity of Mary, the Person of Jesus Christ, and the secret of the
Eternal Father, that of the Incarnation of His Son, a secret to be
guarded faithfully till the hour appointed for its revelation?
In a discourse delivered in the
Consistorial Hall on the 19th of March, 1928, Pope Pius XI said,
after having spoken on the missions of St. John the Baptist and St.
Peter:
Between these two missions there
appears that of St. Joseph, one of recollection and silence, one
almost unnoticed and destined to be lit up only many centuries
afterwards, a silence which would become a resounding hymn of glory,
but only after many years. But where the mystery is deepest it is
there precisely that the mission is highest and that a more brilliant
cortège of virtues is required with their corresponding echo of
merits. It was a unique and sublime mission, that of guarding the Son
of God, the King of the world, that of protecting the virginity of
Mary, that of entering into participation in the mystery hidden from
the eyes of ages and so to co-operate in the Incarnation and the
Redemption.
That is
equivalently to state that Divine Providence conferred on St. Joseph
all the graces he received in view of his special mission: in other
words, St. Joseph was predestined first of all to be as a father to
the Savior, and was then predestined to the glory and the grace which
were becoming in one favored with so exceptional a vocation.
The
Virtues and Gifts of St. Joseph
St. Joseph’s virtues are those
especially of the hidden life, in a degree proportioned to that of
his sanctifying grace: virginity, humility, poverty, patience,
prudence, fidelity, simplicity, faith enlightened by the gifts of the
Holy Spirit, confidence in God and perfect charity. He preserved what
had been confided to him with a fidelity proportioned to its
inestimable value.
Bossuet makes this general observation
about the virtues of the hidden life:
It
is a common failing of men to give themselves entirely to what is
outside and to neglect what is within; to work for mere appearances
and to neglect what is solid and lasting; to think often of the
impression they make and little of what they ought to be. That is why
the most highly esteemed virtues are those which concern the conduct
and direction of affairs. The hidden virtues, on the contrary, which
are practiced away from the public view and under the eye of God
alone, are not only neglected but hardly even heard of. And yet this
is the secret of true virtue. . . a man must be built up interiorly
in himself before he deserves to be given rank among others; and if
this foundation is lacking, all the other virtues, however brilliant,
will be mere display . . . they will not make the man according to
God’s heart. Joseph sought God in simplicity; Joseph found God in
detachment; Joseph enjoyed God’s company in obscurity. (18)
St. Joseph’s humility must have been
increased by the thought of the gratuity of his exceptional vocation.
He must have said to himself: why has the Most High given me, rather
than any other man, His Son to watch over? Only because that was His
good pleasure. Joseph was freely preferred from all eternity to all
other men to whom the Lord could have given the same gifts and the
same fidelity to prepare them for so exceptional a vocation. We see
in St. Joseph’s predestination a reflection of the gratuitous
predestination of Jesus and Mary. The knowledge of the value of the
grace he received and of its absolute gratuitousness, far from
injuring his humility, would strengthen it. He would think in his
heart: “What have you that you have not received?”
Joseph appears the most humble of the
saints after Mary—more humble than any of the angels. If he is the
most humble he is by that fact the greatest, for the virtues are all
connected and a person’s charity is as elevated as his humility is
profound. “He that is lesser among you all, he is the greater”
(Lk. 9:48).
Bossuet says well:
Though
by an extraordinary grace of the Eternal Father he possessed the
greatest treasure, it was far from Joseph’s thought to pride
himself on his gifts or to make them known, but he hid himself as far
as possible from mortal eyes, enjoying with God alone the mystery
revealed to him and the infinite riches of which he was the
custodian. (19) Joseph has in his house what could attract the eyes
of the whole world, and the world does not know him; he guards a
God-Man, and breathes not a word of it; he is the witness of so great
a mystery, and he tastes it in secret without divulging it abroad.
(20)
His faith cannot be shaken in spite of
the darkness of the unexpected mystery. The word of God communicated
to him by the angel throws light on the virginal conception of the
Savior: Joseph might have hesitated to believe a thing so wonderful,
but he believes it firmly in the simplicity of his heart. By his
simplicity and his humility, he reaches up to divine heights.
Obscurity follows once more. Joseph was
poor before receiving the secret of the Most High. He becomes still
poorer when Jesus is born, for Jesus comes to separate men from
everything so as to unite them to God. There is no room for the
Savior in the last of the inns of Bethlehem. Joseph must have
suffered from having nothing to offer to Mary and her Son.
His confidence in God was made manifest
in trials. Persecution came soon after Jesus’ birth. Herod tried to
put Him to death, and the head of the Holy Family was forced to
conceal the child, to take refuge in a distant country where he was
unknown and where he did not know how he could earn a living. But he
set out on the journey relying on Divine Providence.
His love of God and of souls did not
cease to increase during the hidden life of Nazareth; the Incarnate
Word is an unfailing source of graces, ever newer and more choice,
for docile souls who oppose no obstacle to His action. We have said
already, when speaking of Mary, that the progress of such docile
souls is one of uniform acceleration, that is to say, they are
carried all the more powerfully to God the nearer they approach Him.
This law of spiritual gravitation was realized in Joseph; his charity
grew up to the time of his death, and the progress of his latter
years was more rapid than that of his earlier years, for finding
himself nearer to God he was more powerfully drawn by Him.
Along with the theological virtues the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are connected with charity, grew
continuously. Those of understanding and of wisdom made his living
faith more penetrating and more attuned to the divine. In a simple
but most elevated way his contemplation rose to the infinite goodness
of God. In its simplicity his contemplation was the most perfect
after Mary’s.
His loving contemplation was sweet, but
it demanded of him the most perfect spirit of abnegation and
sacrifice when he recalled the words of Simeon: “This child will
be. . . a sign that will be contradicted” and “Thy own soul a
sword shall pierce.” He needed all his generosity to offer to God
the Infant Jesus and His Mother Mary whom he loved incomparably more
than himself.
St.
Joseph’s death was a privileged one; St. Francis de Sales writes
that it was a death of love. (21) The same holy doctor teaches with
Suarez that St. Joseph was one of the saints who rose after the
Resurrection of the Lord (Mt. 27:52 sqq.) and appeared in the city of
Jerusalem; he holds also that these resurrections were definitive and
that Joseph entered heaven then, body and soul. St. Thomas is much
more reserved regarding this point. Though his first opinion was that
the resurrections were definitive (22) he taught later, after an
examination of St. Augustine’s arguments in the opposed sense, that
this was not the case. (23)
St.
Joseph’s Role in the Sanctification of Souls
The humble carpenter is glorified in
heaven to the extent to which he was hidden on earth. He to whom the
Incarnate Word was subject has now an incomparable power of
intercession. Leo XIII, in his encyclical Quamquam pluries finds in
St. Joseph’s mission in regard to the Holy Family “the reasons
why he is Patron and Protector of the universal Church…. Just as
Mary, Mother of the Savior, is spiritual mother of all Christians….
Joseph looks on all Christians as having been confided to himself….
He is the defender of the Holy Church which is truly the house of God
and the kingdom of God on earth.”
What strikes us most in St. Joseph’s
role till the end of time is that there are united in it in an
admirable way apparently opposed prerogatives. His influence is
universal over the whole Church, and yet, like Divine Providence, it
descends to the least details; “model of workmen,” he takes an
interest in everyone who turns to him. He is the most universal of
the saints, and yet he helps a poor man in his ordinary daily needs.
His action is primarily of the spiritual order, and yet it extends to
temporal affairs; he is the support of families and of communities,
the hope of the sick. He watches over Christians of all conditions,
of all countries, over fathers of families, husbands and wives,
consecrated virgins; over the rich to inspire them to distribute
their possessions charitably, and over the poor so as to help them.
He is attentive to the needs of great sinners and of souls advanced
in virtue. He is the patron of a happy death, of lost causes; he is
terrible to the demon, and St. Teresa tells us that he is the guide
of interior souls in the ways of prayer. His influence is a wonderful
reflection of that of Divine Wisdom which “reacheth from end to end
mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly” (Wis. 8:1).
He has been clothed and will remain
clothed in Divine splendor. Grace has become fruitful in him and he
will share its fruit with all who strive to attain to the life which
is “hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
Endnotes
(1) Sermo in Nativitatem Virginis Mariae, IVa consideratio.
(2) Sermo I de S. Joseph, c. iii, Opera, Lyon, 1650, t. IV, p. 254.
(3) Summa de donis S. Joseph, ann. 1522. There is a new edition by Fr Berthier, Rome, 1897.
(4) In Summam S. Thomae, IIIa, q. 29, disp. 8, sect. I.
(5) Sermone di S. Giuseppe, Discorsi Morali, Naples, 1841.
(6) Saint Joseph Intime, Paris, 1920.
(7) Tractatus de Sancto Joseph, Paris, 1908.
(8) La Grandezza di San Giuseppe, Rome, 1927, pp. 36 sqq.
(9) Cf. Dict. Théol Cath., art. Joseph, col. 1518.
(10) Homil. II super Missus est.
(11) Sermo I de S. Joseph.
(12) Summa de donis sancti Joseph, Pars IIIa, c. xviii. This work was very highly praised by Benedict XIV.
(13) In Summam S. Thomae, IIIa, q. 29, disp. 8, sect. I.
(14) La Grandezza di San Giuseppe, Rome, 1927, pp. 36 sqq.
(15) Cf. IIIa, q. 24, a. 1, 2, 3, 4.
(16) First Panegyric of St. Joseph, edit. Lebarcq, t. II, pp. 135 sqq.
(17) We read that Jesus was subject to Mary and Joseph. Joseph in his humility must have been confounded that he, the least of the three, should be the head of the Holy Family.
(18) Second Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(19) First Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(20) Second Panegyric on St. Joseph.
(21) Treatise of the Love of God, Bk. VII, ch. xiii.
(22) Cf. in Matth. xxvii and IV Sent., dist. 42, q. 1, a. 3.
(23) Cf. IIIa, q. 53, a. 3, ad 2.
Friday, March 1
QUAMQUAM PLURIES
ENCYCLICAL
OF POPE LEO XIII ON DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH
To
Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
other Ordinaries, in Peace and Union with Holy See.
Although
We have already many times ordered special prayers to be offered up
in the whole world, that the interests of Catholicism might be
insistently recommended to God, none will deem it matter for surprise
that We consider the present moment an opportune one for again
inculcating the same duty. During periods of stress and trial -
chiefly when every lawlessness of act seems permitted to the powers
of darkness - it has been the custom in the Church to plead with
special fervor and perseverance to God, her author and protector, by
recourse to the intercession of the saints - and chiefly of the
Blessed Virgin, Mother of God - whose patronage has ever been the
most efficacious. The fruit of these pious prayers and of the
confidence reposed in the Divine goodness, has always, sooner or
later, been made apparent. Now, Venerable Brethren, you know the
times in which we live; they are scarcely less deplorable for the
Christian religion than the worst days, which in time past were most
full of misery to the Church. We see faith, the root of all the
Christian virtues, lessening in many souls; we see charity growing
cold; the young generation daily growing in depravity of morals and
views; the Church of Jesus Christ attacked on every side by open
force or by craft; a relentless war waged against the Sovereign
Pontiff; and the very foundations of religion undermined with a
boldness which waxes daily in intensity. These things are, indeed, so
much a matter of notoriety that it is needless for Us to expatiate on
the depths to which society has sunk in these days, or on the designs
which now agitate the minds of men. In circumstances so unhappy and
troublous, human remedies are insufficient, and it becomes necessary,
as a sole resource, to beg for assistance from the Divine power.
2.
This is the reason why We have considered it necessary to turn to the
Christian people and urge them to implore, with increased zeal and
constancy, the aid of Almighty God. At this proximity of the month of
October, which We have already consecrated to the Virgin Mary, under
the title of Our Lady of the Rosary, We earnestly exhort the faithful
to perform the exercises of this month with, if possible, even more
piety and constancy than heretofore. We know that there is sure help
in the maternal goodness of the Virgin, and We are very certain that
We shall never vainly place Our trust in her. If, on innumerable
occasions, she has displayed her power in aid of the Christian world,
why should We doubt that she will now renew the assistance of her
power and favour, if humble and constant prayers are offered up on
all sides to her? Nay, We rather believe that her intervention will
be the more marvellous as she has permitted Us to pray to her, for so
long a time, with special appeals. But We entertain another object,
which, according to your wont, Venerable Brethren, you will advance
with fervor. That God may be more favorable to Our prayers, and that
He may come with bounty and promptitude to the aid of His Church, We
judge it of deep utility for the Christian people, continually to
invoke with great piety and trust, together with the Virgin-Mother of
God, her chaste Spouse, the Blessed Joseph; and We regard it as most
certain that this will be most pleasing to the Virgin herself. On the
subject of this devotion, of which We speak publicly for the first
time to-day, We know without doubt that not only is the people
inclined to it, but that it is already established, and is advancing
to full growth. We have seen the devotion to St. Joseph, which in
past times the Roman Pontiffs have developed and gradually increased,
grow into greater proportions in Our time, particularly after Pius
IX., of happy memory, Our predecessor, proclaimed, yielding to the
request of a large number of bishops, this holy patriarch the patron
of the Catholic Church. And as, moreover, it is of high importance
that the devotion to St. Joseph should engraft itself upon the daily
pious practices of Catholics, We desire that the Christian people
should be urged to it above all by Our words and authority.
3.
The special motives for which St. Joseph has been proclaimed Patron
of the Church, and from which the Church looks for singular benefit
from his patronage and protection, are that Joseph was the spouse of
Mary and that he was reputed the Father of Jesus Christ. From these
sources have sprung his dignity, his holiness, his glory. In truth,
the dignity of the Mother of God is so lofty that naught created can
rank above it. But as Joseph has been united to the Blessed Virgin by
the ties of marriage, it may not be doubted that he approached nearer
than any to the eminent dignity by which the Mother of God surpasses
so nobly all created natures. For marriage is the most intimate of
all unions which from its essence imparts a community of gifts
between those that by it are joined together. Thus in giving Joseph
the Blessed Virgin as spouse, God appointed him to be not only her
life's companion, the witness of her maidenhood, the protector of her
honour, but also, by virtue of the conjugal tie, a participator in
her sublime dignity. And Joseph shines among all mankind by the most
august dignity, since by divine will, he was the guardian of the Son
of God and reputed as His father among men. Hence it came about that
the Word of God was humbly subject to Joseph, that He obeyed him, and
that He rendered to him all those offices that children are bound to
render to their parents. From this two-fold dignity flowed the
obligation which nature lays upon the head of families, so that
Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender
of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course
of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set
himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his
spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what
was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing;
he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch's jealousy,
and found for Him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the
bitternesses of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and
the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus. Now the divine house which
Joseph ruled with the authority of a father, contained within its
limits the scarce-born Church. From the same fact that the most holy
Virgin is the mother of Jesus Christ is she the mother of all
Christians whom she bore on Mount Calvary amid the supreme throes of
the Redemption; Jesus Christ is, in a manner, the first-born of
Christians, who by the adoption and Redemption are his brothers. And
for such reasons the Blessed Patriarch looks upon the multitude of
Christians who make up the Church as confided specially to his trust
- this limitless family spread over the earth, over which, because he
is the spouse of Mary and the Father of Jesus Christ he holds, as it
were, a paternal authority. It is, then, natural and worthy that as
the Blessed Joseph ministered to all the needs of the family at
Nazareth and girt it about with his protection, he should now cover
with the cloak of his heavenly patronage and defend the Church of
Jesus Christ.
4.
You well understand, Venerable Brethren, that these considerations
are confirmed by the ,opinion held by a large number of the Fathers,
to which the sacred liturgy gives its sanction, that the Joseph of
ancient times, son of the patriarch Jacob, was the type of St.
Joseph, and the former by his glory prefigured the greatness of the
future guardian of the Holy Family. And in truth, beyond the fact
that the same name - a point the significance of which has never been
denied - was given to each, you well know the points of likeness that
exist between them; namely, that the first Joseph won the favour and
especial goodwill of his master, and that through Joseph's
administration his household came to prosperity and wealth; that
(still more important) he presided over the kingdom with great power,
and, in a time when the harvests failed, he provided for all the
needs of the Egyptians with so much wisdom that the King decreed to
him the title "Saviour of the world." Thus it is that We
may prefigure the new in the old patriarch. And as the first caused
the prosperity of his master's domestic interests and at the same
time rendered great services to the whole kingdom, so the second,
destined to be the guardian of the Christian religion, should be
regarded as the protector and defender of the Church, which is truly
the house of the Lord and the kingdom of God on earth. These are the
reasons why men of every rank and country should fly to the trust and
guard of the blessed Joseph. Fathers of families find in Joseph the
best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a
perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity; virgins
at the same time find in him the model and protector of virginal
integrity. The noble of birth will earn of Joseph how to guard their
dignity even in misfortune; the rich will understand, by his lessons,
what are the goods most to be desired and won at the price of their
labor. As to workmen, artisans, and persons of lesser degree, their
recourse to Joseph is a special right, and his example is for their
particular imitation. For Joseph, of royal blood, united by marriage
to the greatest and holiest of women, reputed the father of the Son
of God, passed his life in labour, and won by the toil of the artisan
the needful support of his family. It is, then, true that the
condition of the lowly has nothing shameful in it, and the work of
the labourer is not only not dishonoring, but can, if virtue be
joined to it, be singularly ennobled. Joseph, content with his slight
possessions, bore the trials consequent on a fortune so slender, with
greatness of soul, in imitation of his Son, who having put on the
form of a slave, being the Lord of life, subjected himself of his own
free-will to the spoliation and loss of everything.
5.
Through these considerations, the poor and those who live by the
labour of their hands should be of good heart and learn to be just.
If they win the right of emerging from poverty and obtaining a better
rank by lawful means, reason and justice uphold them in changing the
order established, in the first instance, for them by the Providence
of God. But recourse to force and struggles by seditious paths to
obtain such ends are madnesses which only aggravate the evil which
they aim to suppress. Let the poor, then, if they would be wise,
trust not to the promises of seditious men, but rather to the example
and patronage of the Blessed Joseph, and to the maternal charity of
the Church, which each day takes an increasing compassion on their
lot.
6.
This is the reason why - trusting much to your zeal and episcopal
authority, Venerable Brethren, and not doubting that the good and
pious faithful will run beyond the mere letter of the law - We
prescribe that during the whole month of October, at the recitation
of the Rosary, for which We have already legislated, a prayer to St.
Joseph be added, the formula of which will be sent with this letter,
and that this custom should be repeated every year. To those who
recite this prayer, We grant for each time an indulgence of seven
years and seven Lents. It is a salutary practice and very
praiseworthy, already established in some countries, to consecrate
the month of March to the honor of the holy Patriarch by daily
exercises of piety. Where this custom cannot be easily established,
it is as least desirable, that before the feast-day, in the principal
church of each parish, a triduo of prayer be celebrated. In
those lands where the 19th of March - the Feast of St. Joseph - is
not a Festival of Obligation, We exhort the faithful to sanctify it
as far as possible by private pious practices, in honor of their
heavenly patron, as though it were a day of Obligation.
7.
And in token of heavenly favors, and in witness of Our good-will, We
grant most lovingly in the Lord, to you, Venerable Brethren, to your
clergy and to your people, the Apostolic blessing.
Given
from the Vatican, August 15th, 1889, the 11th year of Our
Pontificate.
LEO
XIII
