♔ Jan 23: Feast of the Holy Espousals of Mary and Joseph ♔

Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries: There are special reasons why Blessed Joseph should be explicitly named Patron of the Church and why the Church should in turn expect much from his patronage and guardianship. For he, indeed, was the husband of Mary and the father, as was supposed, of Jesus Christ. From this arises all his dignity, grace, holiness, and glory. The dignity of the Mother of God is certainly so sublime that nothing can surpass it; but none the less, since the bond of marriage existed between Joseph and the Blessed Virgin, there can be no doubt that, more than any other person, he approached that supereminent dignity by which the Mother of God is raised far above all created natures. For marriage is the closest possible union and relationship whereby each spouse mutually participates in the goods of the other. Consequently, if God gave Joseph as a spouse to the Virgin he assuredly gave him not only as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, and the guardian of her honor, but also as a sharer in her exalted dignity by reason of the conjugal tie itself.

For more on the Holy Espousals, please visit click HERE.

The Feast of the Holy Espousals was approved in 1546 by Pope Paul III.

 

 

 

 

✠ TO THEE O BLESSED ST. JOSEPH ✠ Prayer of Pope Leo XIII

To thee, O blessed Joseph, do we come in our tribulation, and having implored the help of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also.  

Through that charity which bound thee to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the paternal love with which thou embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg thee to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased by his Blood, and with thy power and strength to aid us in our necessities.

O most watchful Guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence; O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once thou rescued the Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God's Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of us by thy constant protection, so that, supported by thy example and thy aid, we may be able to live piously, to die holy, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. + Amen.

✠ LATIN ✠

AD te beate Ioseph, in tribulatione nostra confugimus, atque, implorato Sponsae tuae sanctissimae auxilio, patrocinium quoque tuum fidenter exposcimus. Per eam, quaesumus quae te cum immaculata Virgine Dei Genetrice coniunxit, caritatem, perque paternum, quo Puerum Iesum amplexus es, amorem, supplices deprecamur, ut ad hereditatem, quam Iesus Christus acquisivit Sanguine suo, benignus respicias, ac necessitatibus nostris tua virtute et ope succurras.

Tuere, o Custos providentissime divinae Familiae, Iesu Christi subolem electam; prohibe a nobis, amantissime Pater, omnem errorum ac corruptelarum luem; propitius nobis, sospitator noster fortissime, in hoc cum potestate tenebrarum certamine e caelo adesto; et sicut olim Puerum Iesum e summo eripuisti vitae discrimine, ita nunc Ecclesiam sanctam Dei ab hostilibus insidiis atque ab omni adversitate defende: nosque singulos perpetuo tege patrocinio, ut ad tui exemplar et ope tua suffulti, sancte vivere, pie emori, sempiternamque in caelis beatitudinem assequi possimus. Amen.

The Holy Espousals of Mary and Joseph

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St. Luke 1:27 The Virgin was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David.

Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican Gardens, 5 July 2010: The espousals between Joseph and Mary are an episode of great importance. Joseph was of the royal line of David and, in virtue of his marriage to Mary, would confer on the Son of the Virgin - on God's Son - the legal tile of "Son of David," thus fulfilling the prophecies. The espousals of Joseph and Mary are, because of this, a human event, but determinant in the history of humanity's salvation, in the realization of the promises of God; because of this, it also has a supernatural connotation, which the two protagonists accept with humility and trust.

Venerable Maria de Agreda:  The Most High spoke to the heart of the high priest, inspiring him to place into the hands of each one of the young men a dry stick, with the command that each ask his Majesty with a lively faith, to single out the one whom He had chosen as the spouse of Mary. While they were thus engaged in prayer the staff which Joseph held was seen to blossom and at the same time a dove of purest white and resplendent with admirable light, was seen to descend and rest upon the head of the saint... And the priest espoused Mary to the most chaste and holy of men, Saint Joseph.

St Josemaria Escriva: You don't have to wait to be old or lifeless to practice the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth is no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures. Anyone who cannot understand a love like that knows very little of true love and is a complete stranger to the Christian meaning of chastity.

St Albert the Great: Here is the name of Joseph which deserves the homage of virtue, because Mary was espoused to the just Joseph, but not united to him in concupiscence.  Reflect on the vow of virginity of both these spouses, for it is stated that the angel was sent by God to a virgin espoused to a man named Joseph.  And this is said because she was found to be with child before they were united.  Since therefore she had been espoused before this was revealed to her that is since she had been entrusted to his care, up to the time when, because of her physical condition, she was found to be with child, this union would not have continued unless, by mutual consent, they had already made a vow of virginity.

St. Francis de Sales: How exalted in the virtue of virginity must Joseph have been who was destined by the Eternal Father to be the companion in virginity of Mary! Both had made a vow to preserve virginity for their entire lives, and it was the Will of God to join them in the bond of a holy marriage.

Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, 18 March 2009: Joseph teaches us that it is possible to love without possessing. In contemplating Joseph, all men and women can, by God’s grace, come to experience healing from their emotional wounds, if only they embrace the plan that God has begun to bring about in those close to him, just as Joseph entered into the work of redemption through Mary and as a result of what God had already done in her.

St. Bernardino of Siena:  St Joseph was the living image of his Virgin Spouse; they resembled each other like two pearls.

Pope St. John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos: In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as "united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal love." There are really two kinds of love here, both of which together represent the mystery of the Church -virgin and spouse - as symbolized in the marriage of Mary and Joseph. “Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people,” the Covenant which is a communion of love between God and human beings.

St. Jerome: That God was born of a virgin we believe because we read it.  That Mary consummated marriage after her childbirth we do not believe because we do not read it.  Nor do we say this in order to condemn marriage, for virginity is itself a fruit of marriage, but because there is no license to draw rash conclusions about holy men.  For if we wish to take the mere possibility into consideration, we can contend that Joseph had several wives because Abraham and Jacob had several wives and that from these wives, the ‘brethren of the Lord’ were born, a fiction which most people invent with not so much pious as presumptuous audacity.  You say that Mary did not remain a virgin; even more do I claim that Joseph was virginal through Mary, in order that from a virginal marriage a virginal son might be born.  For if the charge of fornication does not fall on this holy man, and if it is not written that he had another wife, and if he was more of a protector than a husband of Mary, whom he was thought to have as his wife, it remains to assert that he who merited to be called the father of the Lord remained virginal with her.

Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries:  There are special reasons why Blessed Joseph should be explicitly named Patron of the Church and why the Church should in turn expect much from his patronage and guardianship.  For he, indeed, was the husband of Mary and the father, as was supposed, of Jesus Christ.  From this arises all his dignity, grace, holiness, and glory.  The dignity of the Mother of God is certainly so sublime that nothing can surpass it; but none the less, since the bond of marriage existed between Joseph and the Blessed Virgin, there can be no doubt that, more than any other person, he approached that supereminent dignity by which the Mother of God is raised far above all created natures.  For marriage is the closest possible union and relationship whereby each spouse mutually participates in the goods of the other.  Consequently, if God gave Joseph as a spouse to the Virgin he assuredly gave him not only as a companion in life, a witness of her virginity, and the guardian of her honor, but also as a sharer in her exalted dignity by reason of the conjugal tie itself.

The Obedience of St Joseph, Exile Into Egypt & Dismas the Good Thief

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Taken from the book: "St Joseph Prince of the Church"

Being the head of the Holy Family and its appointed guide and provider, Joseph received yet another message from the Archangel Gabriel, the Messenger of the Lord:

“Arise, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee! For Herod will seek the child to destroy him!” - St. Matthew 2:13

Joseph didn’t know why Herod wanted to kill the Child Jesus, nor did he have time to think about this, all he knew was he had to get his wife and son to safety. They quietly stole away into the night, moving like shadows in the street. The night would have been cold and dark, their only lamp the light of the moon and the stars in the sky. As Joseph guided the donkey out of Bethlehem, he pondered in his heart: “Why would a king want to hurt an innocent child? What has my son done to warrant this murderous plot? He’s just a baby!” Mary, too, wondered with Joseph as to why this child was a target for Herod’s anger.

The words of Simeon, the elder from the temple, echoed in their minds: “Behold,this child is destined for the fall and rise of many!” Could this already be the beginning fulfillment of his words? Jesus was barely two months old and already he had stirred up hope in the lowly and fear in the mighty! To St. Joseph was given the responsibility and honour of safeguarding the life of the Christ Child as well as that of the Blessed Virgin. The Wise Men of the East had inquired to Herod about the birth of the King of the Jews in Bethlehem and this made him nervous. Rather than risk losing his crown, Herod unleashed his wrath and his insecurities by sending his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill every boy under the age of two years of age, just to be sure. While soldiers were swarming into Bethlehem and tearing infants away from their mothers’ breasts, the Holy Family were already far into the desert.

... and he sent and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and all its neighbourhood who were two years old or under ... - St. Matthew 2:16

The angel had given no other instruction other than to flee to Egypt and to remain there until further word. This uncertainty would have been incredibly distressful to Joseph, but he being a perfect model of obedience to the Will of God asked no questions. He stands in great contrast to the great Lawgiver Moses who made numerous inquiries and hesitations as the Lord commanded him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, even though the Lord had promised to be among him and his people. The Lord even said that he would show many signs and wonders for their consolation, and yet they complained and caused themselves grief.

Joseph was commanded by the angel to get up and go, no help is promised, no directions given and no words of consolation. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Joseph is shown to us as a man of faith and a man of action - obedient upon receiving his instructions and is shown to us as a perfect example of complete submission to the Divine Will.

So he arose, and took the child and his mother

by night, and withdrew into Egypt...

- St. Matthew 2:14

Concerning this man of action, we are given the words of Pope Benedict XVI to contemplate the example St. Joseph gives us of his faith and fidelity to the Lord:

“In Joseph, faith is not separated from action. His faith had a decisive effect on his actions. Paradoxically, it was by acting, by carrying out his responsibilities, that he stepped aside and left God free to act, placing no obstacles in his way. Joseph is a ‘just’ man because his existence is ‘ad-justed’ to the word of God.”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Yaoundé, Cameroon, March 18, 2009

The sun, beginning to rise, and their cover of darkness slowly vanishing, we can imagine Our Lady praying silently over her boy, her lips whispering a prayer for divine help in her hour of need and especially for Joseph, her just husband who was leading them into exile:

“Hearken to my words, O Lord, attend to my sighing. Heed my call for help, my king and my God! To You I pray, O Lord; at dawn you hear my voice; at dawn I bring my plea expectantly before you. Protect [us], that you may be the joy of [us] who love your name! ... O Lord, bless the just man ... surround him with the shield of your good will.” - Psalm 5:2-5, 12

Though his wife was praying quietly, Joseph heard her pleas to the Lord and was touched by her reverence. She was a strong woman and though she cried, her tears filled him with the strength to walk onwards, regardless of how tired his feet were.

Thus says the Lord: “Cease your cries of mourning, wipe the tears from your eyes. The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward …” - Jeremiah 31:16

Christ was Joseph’s love and salvation, and though He was not flesh of his flesh or blood of his blood, Jesus was still his son. And as long as he kept his faith in the Lord - especially during trials and sufferings - Joseph would not fail. As the terrain turned rougher, the family spent several days walking in the hot sun and sleeping under whatever shelter they could find. Also, Joseph got very little sleep since he kept watch almost all night, as it was not uncommon to hear stories of travelers being robbed, raped, and even killed in the desert!

There is a tradition as early as the 3^rd century, found predominately in the Eastern Church, that the Holy Family themselves encountered thieves in the desert. Upon traveling, St. Joseph and his family found themselves in an area inhabited by a band of thieves – one of whom was named Dismas. Dismas saw this vulnerable family approaching and was about to attack and rob them when his eyes saw the face of the Divine Infant. It is said that he recognized the Child Jesus as his Lord and at once repented.

During their flight into Egypt the Holy Family fell into the hands of robbers. One of them, ravished by the beauty of the Child, said to his companions: ‘Verily I say to you that if it were possible for God to assume our nature I should believe this Child to be God.’ ... they allowed the Holy Family to depart unhurt. - Blessed James of Voragine (1226-1298), Sermon on the Flight into Egypt

It is said that later at the crucifixion, Dismas was the thief to the right hand of Our Lord, in whom he professed his faith, and asked pardon. Traditionally on a crucifix, Jesus tilts his head to his right-hand side, acknowledging the reverence paid to him by the Good Thief.

And he said to Jesus, “Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”

- St. Luke 23:42

The desert was a no man’s land, save for thieves and wild animals. On the rare occasions that the Holy Family encountered a group of nomads, St. Joseph would cautiously approach them to see if they had good intentions and if they had any food to spare, as their supplies were running low. He would accept only what was offered and would decipher if this group was noble or not to be trusted. If they were in fact well-meaning people, he would bring Mary and Jesus along to eat and rest. These encounters were few, but we imagine that they must have run into some people, as there would be other cautious travelers going to or from Egypt. But these rest stops were few and lasted only a few moments as they were not safe until they reached Egypt.

THE HOLY INNOCENTS

Meanwhile, Herod’s fury raged in Bethlehem and its surrounding towns, innocent blood streamed down the streets as mothers and fathers wept for their sons. Joseph saw his wife’s tears as she thought about these families - families that were just like theirs and he, though strong on the outside, was weeping bitterly in his heart. Just thinking about the fathers wrestling to save their sons made his heart swell with sorrow.

Had the angel not warned him, it would have been him, fighting to save his only son. It would have been his wife, sobbing in the streets. It would have been his boy who was killed by the sword of a jealous king. These men’s sons would be the first martyrs to spill their blood for Jesus Christ - these Holy Innocents dying for Christ without even knowing it, but great is their reward in Heaven.

After construction of the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot of Christ’s birth, the Empress St. Helena (ca. 250-330) brought the relics of some of these little children and placed them in one of the church’s underground chapels, which was subsequently dedicated to their memory. Under the altar repose the little bodies and holy relics of these innocent children, beloved by God and His Church.

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates these victim children, piously referred to as the “Holy Innocents”, on December 28^th. The Church also names them “Flowers of the Martyrs” as they were the buds of the new Church, being cut down in the persecution of Herod.   

... I saw under the altar, the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, ... and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, (holy and true), dost Thou refrain from judging and from avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” - Revelation 6:9

“Joseph 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 bitterness of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus.” - Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries, August 15, 1889