In the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Today we celebrate St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, foster father of Jesus, and this great solemnity gives us an opportunity in this Lenten season to be filled with renewed joy. Renewed joy in this great saint, in this great saint who is considered after the Blessed Virgin Mary the closest and greatest saint after the Blessed Virgin Mary in heaven.
St. Joseph, of course, his role is very unique and very, very—his role is very unique in the sense that he was called in a very special way to be the spouse, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of the child Jesus. And to fulfill this role we know that he was a man of great integrity, great holiness, of great holiness that he had been chosen by God to fulfill this role, fulfill this role which he accompanied and protected our Blessed Mother and the child Jesus and provided for them and assisted in all their needs, all their needs.
St. Joseph, of course, his, his, his—in the Gospels there's very little that we know about him, his personal life, and he doesn't—no words of his are recorded. He does not actually speak in the Gospels at all, but we can surmise from his example his great desire to carry out the will of God, his obedience to God and his, he, his great interior life in which he contemplated the mysteries which were unfolding before him in the, in, in, in the role in his role as the foster father of the Son of God.
St. Joseph never doubted in the integrity of our Blessed Mother and has often said that he felt unworthy. He knew that he knew our Blessed Mother and he knew that what was happening in her was something that beyond his understanding, that he felt unworthy, unworthy to be her, to be her husband, and that is why the angel reassures him in the dream not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
St. Joseph also is a wonderful foster father for each of us to help us in our spiritual life, to help us in our growing close to Jesus and growing close to Mary, that we ask him to help us to have that same love and affection of Jesus and Mary that he did, to keep our hearts always close to them and to help us in our daily life in serving God.
St. Joseph was obedient, he was humble, and carried out God's plan perfectly, and so we can ask him to help us in our own vocation that we may fulfill God's plan in us.
Many, many saints, of course, sing the praises of St. Joseph. One of the most famous is St. Bernardino of Siena, who was a great promoter to devotion to St. Joseph. And he believed that there's a tradition that St. Joseph was actually assumed into heaven, of course, the Immaculate Conception was a privilege unique to our Blessed Mother, but not necessarily the assumption. And St. Bernardino was preaching on the assumption of St. Joseph, and as he preached, a great light was seen shining upon him. A great light appeared, shining upon him as a confirmation of this. Of course, the Church has never made any definitive statement on this. It's a sacred—but also St. Francis de Sales was another saint who believed in the assumption of St. Joseph.
In any case, what's important for us is that we see in St. Joseph a model for us to follow, a model to help us in our own journey, in our own spiritual life. In our prayer life, as St. Teresa of Avila said, she said that every thing she learned, she learned about prayer, she learned from St. Joseph, that she learned the contemplative prayer from St. Joseph to foster that interior life.
As I said, we can ask St. Joseph to help us in carrying out the will of God and His divine plan for us in our vocation, and he's a great protector for us in so many ways.
The litany of St. Joseph expounds upon all these wonderful virtues of this great saint, which is a wonderful reflection for us, that he was, of course, illustrious son of David, light of patriarchs, spouse of the mother of God, chaste guardian of the virgin, foster father of the Son of God, defender of Christ, head of the holy family. He was most just, most chaste, most prudent, most valiant, most obedient, most faithful, mirror of patience, lover of poverty, model of workmen, glory of home life. He's a guardian of virgins. He's a guardian of virgins. He's a pillar of families. He's a solace of the afflicted, hope of the sick, patron of the dying, terror of demons, and protector of holy Church.
And so we have great consolation today that St. Joseph is our foster father in the spiritual life. And, we can ask him today to help us to be renewed in our love and devotion to him, above all, to help us to always keep Christ and Mary first and foremost in our hearts and in our life.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.