♔ THE NOBILITY OF ST JOSEPH SON OF DAVID ♔

And David the king begot Solomon... Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of her was born Jesus who is called Christ. – St. Matthew 1:1-16

In all, there were forty generations from Abraham to Jesus Christ. St. Joseph was a descendent of great patriarchs, princes, and kings, and when Jesus chose Joseph to be his father on earth, he too became linked with this esteemed lineage. This brings to mind a prophecy from the book of the prophet Isaiah:

“Fear not, O Jacob . . . I will pour out My Spirit upon your offspring, and My blessing upon your descendents. … One shall say, ‘I am the Lord’s’, another shall be named after Jacob, and this one will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s’ and Israel will be his surname.” – Isaiah 44:2-5

STOLEN BIRTHRIGHT

In the Book of Genesis, the prophecy of Jacob states that the kingdom will be taken away from God’s chosen people when the arrival of Jesus, the Redeemer, is at hand. The loss of the Davidic crown was the sign of the coming of the Christ.

The scepter shall not depart from Judea… until He comes to whom it   belongs. To Him will be the obedience of nations.

– Genesis 49:10

This removal of authority happened by the time when Joseph was born into the world, to be the herald of the Lord who was to come shortly and proclaim the Kingdom of God. This kingdom would surpass those of the earthly realm and Christ would be its king. Joseph was meant to serve the Lord as a worker and to hide and humble himself in domestic life—therefore sanctifying it and giving dignity to an honest day’s work, while at the same time being a nobleman. St. Joseph had perfect claim to the throne, but with what army would he defeat the foreign king who sat in his place? And besides, what was God’s will in all this? We read the words of St. Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868) and St. Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444) who comment that though throne was taken from Joseph’s family, he was no less a king because of it:

St.Peter Julian Eymard:  Therefore, since Christ was King, of the line of David, He made St. Joseph to be born of this same royal line. He wanted him to be noble, of earthly nobility. In the veins of St. Joseph, therefore, flows the blood of David and Solomon, and of all the noble kings of Judah. If his dynasty still sat on the throne, Joseph would be the heir and would have sat on the throne in his turn. Injustice had expelled his family from the throne to which he had the right. For this he is no less a king, the son of these kings of Judah, the greatest, noblest and richest in the world. Thus in the census records of Bethlehem, St. Joseph was inscribed and recognized by the Roman governor as the heir of David: therein lies his royal title, which is easily identifiable, and bears the royal signature.

St.Bernardino of Siena: St. Joseph was born of a patriarchal, royal and princely race in a direct line. The Gospel of St. Matthew establishes the direct line of all the fathers from Abraham to the spouse of the Virgin, clearly demonstrating that all patriarchal, royal and princely dignity came together in him.

The Sovereign Lord had deigned to make St. Joseph of royal blood, placing in him all the honor and glory of the House of David. Though St. Joseph’s family no longer sat on the throne, he was still a continuation of this nobility. He carried this heritage as though it were a secret between himself and his Lord – a sacred bond between an earthly prince and the Ruler of Heaven and Earth. St. Joseph’s royalty was not shown with an outward crown, but one which was hidden within his most Chaste Heart – a heart in which the Lord took great consolation and great delight.

DREAMS OF SPLENDOR

Imagine Joseph working hard during the day, a king hidden amongst us, sweat dripping off his brow as he fought to make ends meet. Imagine him lying in bed at night, pondering life and its meaning. Did he ever wonder what life would be like if he were ruler? He had a claim to the throne and yet here he was, a laborer, making his living by working with his hands. Did he dream of living in the palace with throngs of servants and visiting dignitaries? Did he imagine his beautiful bride, full of virtue and grace? How did he picture her? She would sit next to him at the royal table, her beauty the talk of all the people. They would have banquets in halls of gold and precious stones and entertain friends till dawn. The tables would glisten with gold plates and ornaments, overflowing with fresh fruit and nuts. Musicians would play a constant stream of melodies, filling the royal air that surrounded them. Sweet perfumes and lovely dancers, wine in abundance, entertainers and exotic birds to serenade them throughout the night. Imagine this splendor and luxury. Imagine all the wealth and power he would yield. He would be the envy of every man and he would never have to do manual labour again! Imagine Joseph waking up. Yes, this would all have been a dream, but in actuality would he really have wanted all this?

The covetous man is never satisfied with money, and the lover of wealth reaps no fruit from it; … Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except to feast his eyes upon? Sleep is sweet to the laboring man, whether he eats little or much, but the rich man’s abundance allows him no sleep.

– Sirach 5:9-12

Joseph’s humility exalted him above all his noble ancestors and made him great in the sight of God. Joseph did indeed have royal blood flowing through his veins, but he lived like an average Jewish man. He lived like an “average Joe.” No palace, no power, no crown. And this was fine with him because he enjoyed his life and felt blessed to have what he did. In him, the Lord was preparing a true friend, and just as Jesus chose some of His apostles from among the lowly, He too chose His father. When Christ gives us the Beatitudes, surely we see Joseph as one of the blessed in God’s eyes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. … Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. … Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in Heaven! – St. Matthew 5:3-12

♔ ASCENSION OF CHRIST - HOMILY OF POPE BENEDICT XVI 2006 ♔

HOMILY ON THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST BY POPE BENEDICT XVI

28 MAY 2006 - EXCERPTS

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven?” (Acts 1:11). Brothers and Sisters, today we hear this question from the Acts of the Apostles. This time it is directed to all of us: “Why do you stand looking up to heaven?” The answer to this question involves the fundamental truth about the life and destiny of every man and woman.

The question has to do with our attitude to two basic realities which shape every human life: earth and heaven. First, the earth: “Why do you stand?” - Why are you here on earth? Our answer is that we are here on earth because our Maker has put us here as the crowning work of his creation. Almighty God, in his ineffable plan of love, created the universe, bringing it forth from nothing. Then, at the completion of this work, he bestowed life on men and women, creating them in his own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26-27). He gave them the dignity of being children of God and the gift of immortality. We know that man went astray, misused the gift of freedom and said “No” to God, thus condemning himself to a life marked by evil, sin, suffering and death. But we also know that God was not resigned to this situation, but entered directly into humanity’s history, which then became a history of salvation. “We stand” on the earth, we are rooted in the earth and we grow from it. Here we do good in the many areas of everyday life, in the material and spiritual realms, in our relationships with other people, in our efforts to build up the human community and in culture. Here too we experience the weariness of those who make their way towards a goal by long and winding paths, amid hesitations, tensions, uncertainties, in the conviction that the journey will one day come to an end. That is when the question arises: Is this all there is? Is this earth on which “we stand” our final destiny?

And so we need to turn to the second part of the biblical question: “Why do you stand looking up to heaven?” We have read that, just as the Apostles were asking the Risen Lord about the restoration of Israel’s earthly kingdom, “He was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.” And “they looked up to heaven as he went” (cf. Acts 1:9-10). They looked up to heaven because they looked to Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, raised up on high. We do not know whether at that precise moment they realized that a magnificent, infinite horizon was opening up before their eyes: the ultimate goal of our earthly pilgrimage. Perhaps they only realized this at Pentecost, in the light of the Holy Spirit. But for us, at a distance of two thousand years, the meaning of that event is quite clear. Here on earth, we are called to look up to heaven, to turn our minds and hearts to the inexpressible mystery of God. We are called to look towards this divine reality, to which we have been directed from our creation. For there we find life’s ultimate meaning.

… I am asking you to look up from earth to heaven, to lift your eyes to the One to whom succeeding generations have looked for two thousand years, and in whom they have discovered life’s ultimate meaning. Strengthened by faith in God, devote yourselves fervently to consolidating his Kingdom on earth, a Kingdom of goodness, justice, solidarity and mercy. I ask you to bear courageous witness to the Gospel before today’s world, bringing hope to the poor, the suffering, the lost and abandoned, the desperate and those yearning for freedom, truth and peace. By doing good to your neighbour and showing your concern for the common good, you bear witness that God is love.

FULL HOMILY TEXT AVAILABLE HERE.

 

♔ THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST - ST THOMAS AQUINAS ♔

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS ON THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

 

The exaltation of Christ was the reward for His humiliation. Therefore a twofold exaltation of Christ had to correspond to His twofold humiliation.

Christ had humbled Himself, first, by suffering death in the passible flesh He had assumed; secondly, He had undergone humiliation with reference to place, when His body was layed in the sepulcher and His soul descended into hell. The exaltation of the Resurrection, in which He returned from death to immortal life, corresponds to the first humiliation. And the exaltation of the Ascension corresponds to the second humiliation. Hence the Apostle says, in Ephesians, 4:10, "He that descended is the same that ascended above all the heavens."

However, as it is narrated of the Son of God that He was born, suffered, and was buried, and rose again, not in His divine nature but in His human nature, so also, we are told, He ascended into heaven, not in His divine nature but in His human nature. In His divine nature He had never left heaven, as He is always present everywhere. He indicates this Himself when He says: “No man has ascended into heaven but He who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven” (John 3:13). By this we are given to understand that He came down from heaven by assuming an earthly nature, yet in such a way that He continued to remain in heaven. The same consideration leads us to conclude that Christ alone has gone up to heaven by His own power. By reason of His origin, that abode belonged by right to Him who had come down from heaven. Other men cannot ascend of themselves, but are taken up by the power of Christ, whose members they have been made.

As ascent into heaven befits the Son of God according to His human nature, so something else is added that becomes Him according to His divine nature, namely, that He should sit at the right hand of His Father. In this connection we are not to think of a literal right hand or a bodily sitting. Since the right side of an animal is the stronger, this expression gives us to understand that the Son is seated with the Father as being in no way inferior to Him according to the divine nature, but on a par with Him in all things. Yet this same prerogative may be ascribed to the Son of God in His human nature, thus enabling us to perceive that in His divine nature the Son is in the Father Himself according to unity of essence, and that together with the Father He possesses a single kingly throne, that is, an identical power. Since other persons ordinarily sit near kings, namely, ministers to whom kings assign a share in governing power, and since the one whom the king places at his right hand is judged to be the most powerful man in the kingdom, the Son of God is rightly said to sit at the Father’s right hand even according to His human nature, as being exalted in rank above every creature of the heavenly kingdom.

In both senses, therefore, Christ properly sits at the right hand of God. And so the Apostle asks, in Hebrew 1: 13: “To which of the angels said He at any time: Sit on My right hand?”

We profess our faith in this ascension of Christ when we say in the Creed: “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Compendium of Theology, 240).

♔ DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH'S PARENTS ♔ Revelations of Mother Cecilia Baij

For any accounting of the deaths of Joseph’s parents, we rely completely on the Imprimature & Nihil Obstat granted revelations of Mother Cecilia Baij, as no other venerable or saint has appeared to come forward with such revelations, as with much of St. Joseph’s childhood mentioned in earlier posts.

We are told that St. Joseph was 18 years of age when the time came for his parents to depart from this earth. His mother was first to die, due to illness. It was Joseph, who would one day become the Patron of a Happy Death, who ministered to her in her last days. Such happiness and consolation she experienced in her final moments in the presence of her holy son:

 

He rendered to his mother Rachel a most commendable assistance and service, strengthening and comforting her in her pain, constantly begging God to give her patience in her agonizing illness.

The holy youth spent many a night watching and assisting at his mother’s bedside, or praying for her. Just as he had previously shown his gratitude for her goodness to him, so now in these last moments of her life, his behavior was exemplary. He did not wish to leave her, and never tired of serving her or comforting her with his truly childlike, yet holy love. 

... Joseph remained with her until she expired. He was a great help not only to her, but also to his father, who was sorely grieved over the loss of so virtuous a companion in life.

St. Joseph, suffering and weakened by the loss of his mother, had little time to grieve, as it was soon after her departure that his father had become ill. He would continue in his role as devoted son to his father, just as he had done for his mother, ministering to him in his final moments:

It was not long afterwards that Joseph’s father Jacob became deathly sick. Joseph himself had been weakened considerably during the period of his mother’s painful illness, to which was now added this serious affliction. He fervently implored God for the help of His grace, and for the energy and strength needed to be able to assist his father during his final illness.

Joseph tended and served his father affectionately, both day and night, and encouraged him in the patient endurance of his sufferings and anxieties. As his father’s last hours arrived, Joseph attended him lovingly, encouraging and stimulating him to an ever greater trust in the divine goodness and mercy, and consoling him with his own conviction that he would soon enter into the domain of peace and joy. Thus, fully resigned and with a firm hope of obtaining eternal life, Joseph’s father finally expired. Once his father had breathed his last, Joseph withdrew and allowed his grief-stricken nature to find relief in tears. Indeed, he had every reason to be sorrowful, considering what a generous, loving and solicitous father he had lost.

After the departure of his father, we are shown the image of an 18 year old Joseph falling under the weight of his tears, not only allowing himself to grieve the loss of his parents whom he loved so dearly, but also, commending himself with filial trust to the care of the Heavenly Father:

After he had thus given free reign to his sorrow, he fell down upon his knees, and streaming with tears, besought the Divine Majesty for aid with these words:

“Oh God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-and my own God! Look down upon me, thus deprived of both father and mother. You have graciously placed them beyond reach of the cares of this mortal life, and I now beg You, that in Your goodness You take me entirely under Your protection. I give and surrender myself again entirely to You.

I have always been Yours’, and also have always been safeguarded and defended by You. I wish to renew my dedication to You, and desire to have   You reign over me completely. Since I am no longer subject to anyone but You, my God, give me the requisite grace, so that I too may be able to say with the royal prophet: ‘My father and mother have left me, but the Lord has taken me up’ (Psalm 27:10). From now on do You be my father, my protector, my mother, my refuge, my whole support. Do with me and mine as it pleases You. May Your holy will be accomplished in me in everything. Grant that I may always discern Your will, for it is my desire to follow it completely and perfectly.”
 

♔ THE ADOLESCENT ST. JOSEPH ♔

.

Venerable Maria de Agreda

Young St. Joseph was of a kind disposition, loving, and affable, sincere, showing inclinations not only holy but angelic, growing in virtue and perfection and advancing toward his espousal with most holy Mary by an altogether irreproachable life.

Servant of God, Mother CeciliaBaij

St. Joseph never caused God any displeasure, committing neither mortal sin, nor any deliberate venial sin; and he made every effort to avoid even the very shadow of sin, always taking to heart the admonition of the Holy Spirit: “Whosoever disregards little faults, will eventually fall into greater ones.” He was ever careful in this respect, and very conscientious about minor things.

As he grew older Joseph made great strides in the practice of virtue, in the love for God, and in the study of the Scriptures, especially the Psalms of David. He recited them so frequently, he knew most of them by heart. Joseph’s life developed along these lines for fifteen years. He continuously preserved undefiled his early innocence.

He guarded his senses most carefully, especially his eyes, remembering how David and many others had fallen through curious looks which ought to have been avoided. The more that he mortified his senses in order to remain faithful to God, the more grace did he receive from God, and the more intense did his love become for this one and only object of all his love and desires.

When he felt impelled to gaze at something which would delight the eye, but which became an occasion for remorse, considering the likelihood of being drawn into sin, he would quickly raise his eyes towards heaven and seek contentment in contemplating with the eyes of the spirit the uncreated beauties of God. By means of contemplation of heavenly things, he gradually lost all enjoyment in creatures; inflamed ever more with the love of God, he experienced all that joy which is to be found in occupying oneself solely with God and seeking one’s delight in Him alone.

… Among other things, Joseph had received a special faculty for giving effective assistance to the afflicted. Whenever he conversed with such people, his attitude and treatment somehow always managed to produce an alleviation of sorrow. Of course, he always had recourse to God, and pleaded fervently for comfort in behalf of those with whom he had to deal. His ability to ease the burden of the oppressed became known throughout the locality, and brought many to his home to listen to him and to obtain his assistance.

He gave encouragement to all to bear up under their afflictions; he would exhort them to confidently recommend themselves to God, from Whom they could expect all that was good, all that was comforting, and Who, in His power, could bestow generously upon everyone. At the same time he would ask them to pray that God, in His goodness, might expedite the manifestation of His mercy by sending the promised Messiah, because they all could expect to find their greatest consolation in Him. Many a man, weighed down with poverty, lacking even the bare necessities of life eventually had recourse to Joseph, and was confident that he would help him. Joseph then humbly had to ask his parents to provide what was necessary for the needy applicant. They always readily complied with their son’s wishes.

As he made the distribution to the poor, Joseph would say: “See what great benefits you are receiving from the good God! He has given all this to me through the hands of my father for the sole purpose of aiding you. It is no more than right that you give thanks to Him, even as I do, for these things.” In this way he hoped to avoid praise for any charitable deeds, for he also considered himself to be a poor wretch, and overwhelmingly blessed with heavenly benefactions for the sole purpose of having him share them with others.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find him so solicitous that everything should be received as coming from the bountiful hand of God, to Whom he wished to give all honor and thanksgiving. Those who came to him for alms esteemed him for this, and praised him throughout the village.

All this provided certain vicious characters with an inducement to envy and persecution. They spoke ill of Joseph, declaring that he did everything merely to be praised and honored. The devil made good use of these evil-minded creatures to bring the virtue of the holy youth into bad repute. When Joseph was informed of all this … he recommended all his calumniators to God, and when he encountered these critics he was always polite and friendly. If he had the opportunity to engage in a conversation with them, he would remark: “It matters but little what you do to me, but you ought to have more concern not to offend God.” Some of these individuals gradually grew to like Joseph, because of his gentle and charitable attitude. He was always humble and submissive towards everyone, and was really convinced that others possessed more virtue than he. Small wonder that obstinate hearts were softened by his kind and loving words. It was evident that the Saint lived in prayerful communion with God and that his soul was filled with the Holy Spirit.