♔ Ecstasy of St. Joseph at the Nativity ♔

he oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered, - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/ecstasy#sthash.DESlhT0l.dpuf

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The hearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened. - Numbers 24:4

he oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered, - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/ecstasy#sthash.DESlhT0l.dpuf

A seldom asked question is, “Was Joseph present at the moment of Christ’s Birth?” Some Eastern Rites believe that he went out looking for a midwife and when he returned with her, the child had already been born. However, according to Venerable Maria de Agreda (1602-1665) and St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), St. Joseph was indeed present at Christ’s birth. We are told that blessed Joseph was enraptured in holy ecstasy and called out of it when Our Lord was born:

Venerable Maria de Agreda:  Saint Joseph retired to a corner of the entrance, where he began to pray. He was immediately visited by the Holy Spirit and felt a most sweet and extraordinary influence, by which he was wrapt and elevated into an ecstasy. In it was shown him all that passed during that night in this blessed cave; for he did not return to consciousness until his heavenly spouse called him. Such was the sleep which Saint Joseph enjoyed in that night, more exalted and blessed than that of Adam in paradise.  . . .  Joseph issued from his ecstasy and, on being restored to consciousness, the first sight of his eyes was the divine Child in the arms of the Virgin Mother reclining against her sacred countenance and breast. There he adored Him in profoundest humility and in tears of joy he kissed His feet in great joy and admiration. 

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska: . . . I saw the stable of Bethlehem filled with great radiance. The Blessed Virgin, all lost in the deepest of love, was wrapping Jesus in swaddling clothes, but Joseph was still asleep as it were (in his ecstacy). Only after the Mother of God put Jesus in the manger, did the light of God awaken Joseph, who also prayed. 

Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Gardens, 5 July 2010: On that holy night, in Bethlehem, with Mary and the Child, is Joseph, to whom the Heavenly Father entrusted the daily care of his Son on earth, a care carried out with humility and in silence.

So as we can see, St. Joseph was present at the birth of the Holy Child as God would not want him to miss the greatest moment of his life. Though St. Joseph was experiencing an ecstasy of the Nativity, he was still present and once he was awakened from it he was the first man to adore the Divine Child. He held the Infant in his arms and kissed the feet of the Lord. Joseph was, as most fathers would be, at this moment: anxious, joyful, and proud! His wife had just given birth to Love Incarnate, the Saviour, and a New Adam for the world!

Genesis 17:16 – I will bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations . . .

St. Luke 2:7 – . . . she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Revelation 12:5 – And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations.

Words cannot truly express the magnitude of this event in history. This single moment, the bringing of this child into our world, means one thing to us, yet there are so many ways to describe what has just taken place. Salvation has just been given to us in this Child! We hear the choirs of angels rejoicing at the birth with the night sky illuminated as if it were day, the choirs emanating light as they sound the hymn of praise to Almighty God. Salvation has come to mankind!

Revelation 19:6-7 – And I heard as it were a voice of a great crowd, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, “Alleluia! . . . Let us be glad and rejoice and give glory to Him;”

Psalm 113:1-4 – Praise, you servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord . . . From the rising and setting of the sun is the name of the Lord to be praised! High above all nations is the Lord; above the heavens is His glory!

♔ PATERNAL AUTHORITY ♔

On this most holy of nights, Joseph entered into the nobility of fatherhood and his paternity was far more superior to that of a “legal guardian” or “foster-father” as many people are known to label him. Jesus, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, was the crowning splendour of the virginal espousals of St. Joseph and Our Lady. He wished to humble himself by being born of a woman and by submitting himself to the paternal authority of his chosen father Joseph, thereby establishing a true relationship between father and son. Joseph assumed all responsibility and honour befitting a father and it was Jesus who willed that he be master over himself and his Blessed Mother, giving St. Joseph his rightful place as the head of the Holy Family. Though Christ is King and Our Lady is Queen, Joseph has sovereign authority over both of them as the established father-head of the family.

Psalm 105:21 – He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possessions.

St. Luke 12:42, 44 – Who dost thou think, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will set over his household . . . ? Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his goods. 

St Joseph Patron of the Catholic Church

Psalm 105:21 - He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his possessions.

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Inclytum Patriarcham: In these latter times in which a monstrous and most abominable war has been declared against the Church of Christ … we should more efficaciously implore the compassion of God through the merits and intercession of Saint Joseph … Hence, by a special decree… We solemnly declare the blessed patriarch Joseph Patron of the Universal Church! … O God, who in your ineffable providence was pleased to choose blessed Joseph as the spouse of your most holy mother, grant, we beseech you, that we may be made worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven whom we venerate as our protector on earth…

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Inclytum Patriarcham: The Catholic Church rightly honors and venerates, with a feeling of deep reverence, the illustrious patriarch blessed Joseph, now crowned with glory and honor in heaven. On earth Almighty God, in preference to all His saints, willed him to be the chaste and true spouse of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as well as the putative father of His only-begotten Son. He indeed enriched him and filled him to overflowing with entirely unique graces, enabling him to execute more faithfully the duties of so sublime a state.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 19 March 2009: Dear brothers and sisters, our meditation on the human and spiritual journey of Saint Joseph invites us to ponder his vocation in all its richness, and to see him as a constant model for all those who have devoted their lives to Christ in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in the different forms of lay engagement. Joseph was caught up at every moment by the mystery of the Incarnation. Not only physically, but in his heart as well, Joseph reveals to us the secret of a humanity which dwells in the presence of mystery and is open to that mystery at every moment of everyday life.

Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries: The Blessed Patriarch Joseph looks upon the multitude of Christians who make up the Church as confided especially 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.

Venerable Pope Paul VI, Homily, 19 March 1969: The Church invokes St. Joseph as her Patron and Protector through her unshakable trust that he to whom Christ willed to confide the care and protection of His own frail human childhood, will continue from heaven to perform his protective task in order to guide and defend the Mystical Body of Christ Himself, which is always weak, always under attack, always in a state of peril. We call upon St. Joseph for the world, trusting that the heart of the humble working man of Nazareth, now overflowing with immeasurable wisdom and power, still harbors and will always harbor a singular and precious fellow-feeling for the whole of mankind. So may it be.

Pope Benedict XV, Bonum Sane: We, full of confidence in the patronage of the one to whose provident supervision God was pleased to entrust the custody of his only-begotten Incarnate Son, and the Virgin Mother of God, we earnestly exhort all the Bishops of the Catholic world that, in times so turbulent for Christianity, to induce the faithful to pray with greater commitment for valuable help of St. Joseph. And since there are several ways approved by the Apostolic See with whom you can venerate the Holy Patriarch, especially every Wednesday throughout the year and month consecrated to Him, We want, for every Bishop to heed these requests - that all these devotions, as much as possible, are practiced in every diocese.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 19 March 2009: The life of Saint Joseph, lived in obedience to God’s word, is an eloquent sign for all the disciples of Jesus who seek the unity of the Church. His example helps us to understand that it is only by complete submission to the will of God that we become effective workers in the service of his plan to gather together all mankind into one family, one assembly, one ‘ecclesia.’

St. Bernardino of Sienna: What then is Joseph’s position in the whole Church of Christ? Is he not a man chosen and set apart? Through him and, yes, under him, Christ was fittingly and honorably introduced into the world. Holy Church in its entirety is indebted to the Virgin Mother because through her it was judged worthy to receive Christ. But after her we undoubtedly owe special gratitude and reverence to Saint Joseph.

Pope Benedict XV, Bonum Sane: We now see, with true sorrow, that society is now much more depraved and corrupt than before, and that the so-called "social question" has been aggravating to such an extent as to create the threat of irreparable ruin. … World Government will no longer acknowledge the authority of the father over his children, or of the public power over the citizens, or of God over human society. All things which, if implemented, would lead to terrible social convulsions, like those which are already happening… We, therefore, concerned most of all by the course of these events … remind those on Our side, who earn their bread by their work, to save them from socialism, the sworn enemy of Christian principles, with great solicitude recommend them in particular to St. Joseph, to follow him as their guide and to receive the special honor of his heavenly patronage.

Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris: To hasten the advent of that "peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ" so ardently desired by all, We entrust the vast campaign of the Church against world Communism under the standard of St. Joseph, her mighty Protector. He belongs to the working-class, and he bore the burdens of poverty for himself and the Holy Family, whose tender and vigilant head he was. To him was entrusted the Divine Child when Herod loosed his assassins against Him. In a life of faithful performance of everyday duties, he left an example for all those who must gain their bread by the toil of their hands. He won for himself the title of "The Just," serving thus as a living model of that Christian justice which should reign in social life.

Pope Francis, Inaugural Mass, 19 March 2013: How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. […] Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, and he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!