For many years I pictured St Joseph as an old man. Possibly because he is often depicted that way and so my idea of him was influenced by what I saw. I don’t think that way anymore. Consider this from Fulton Sheen!

How much more beautiful Mary and Joseph become when we see in their lives what might be called the first Divine Romance! No human heart is moved by the love of the old for the young; but who is not moved by the love of the young for the young? In both Mary and Joseph there were youth, beauty and promise. God loves cascading cataracts and bellowing waterfalls but he loves them better, not when they overflow and drown his flowers but when they are harnessed and bridled to light a city and to slake the thirst of a child. In Joseph and Mary we do not find one controlled waterfall and one dried up lake but rather two youths who, before they knew the beauty of the one and the handsome strength of the other, willed to surrender these things for Jesus. Leaning over the manger crib of the Infant Jesus then, are not age and youth but youth and youth, the consecration of beauty in a maid and the surrender of strong comeliness in a man.’

I had never thought of Our Lady and St Joseph in such a way! And yet it rings true and isn’t it the answer to all our longings for chivalric love and romance?!

Fr Calloway says ‘In her feminine Heart, Mary knew that she was secure in the manhood of St Joseph. He was her knight and warrior. Every wife desires such a husband-a gentleman, a protector and a good father.’

St Joseph wasn’t a saint that was very prominent in my thoughts or prayers. He was just a member of the Holy Family, a quiet, in the background member. That tells us alot about him really. From what is recorded of him in Scripture we get a sense of him being someone quiet and in the background and yet when we start to really learn about and contemplate his life we see how pivotal he is, not just in the life of the Holy Family, but in the whole story of salvation and in our stories too.

It was through the line of Jesse that the Messiah would come and so it is through the family line of St Joseph that Jesus has a human family and a genealogy that fulfills the prophets and places Jesus in a particular time and place in history.

I recently completed Fr Donald Calloway’s 33 day “Consecration to St Joseph’ for the third time. Each time I’ve prayed through this long Consecration to St Joseph something new and incredible has stood out to me and touched my heart. I can’t get enough of reading and learning about St Joseph. I’ve been slow to tap into the wonders of this marvellous Saint and yet he has been beside me always. It’s only on looking back that I can see he was there with me in all the highs and lows of my life so far.

My husband and I visited the Holy House in Loreto in 2011 while visiting family in Italy. We were taken there by Mum’s uncle and cousin who live not far away. It was a significant moment in my life. As I entered the tiny stone house I had a visceral experience of Mary there and the child Jesus playing. I touched the walls and was overwhelmed with emotion at the thought of entering such a holy place. It was only years later, through praying as I imagined myself back in the Holy House that I realised St Joseph was there too. I remember praying that day, before I had a family home or any children, that the Holy Family would bless my family and make our home a place of love and learning.

These words from Blessed Januarius Maria Sarnelli hit me like a ton of bricks…

‘How thou St Joseph didst rejoice to have always near you God himself and to see the idols of the Egyptians fall prostrate to the ground before him.’

Through reading Fr Calloway’s book I’ve contemplated that journey to Egypt deeply, imagined myself taking those steps, put myself in the shoes of the Holy Family as they travelled, as exiles, to a dangerous place with, we assume, no home or work to go to but trusting completely in God the Father to provide for them, as He truly did.

St Joseph is foreshadowed by the Old Testament Joseph, the one of the coat of many colours, who was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt but in an awesome turn of events, through his rise to a position of influence within Pharaoh’s court, is able to save the lives of the very people who desired his death and sold him into slavery, his brothers and their families. God works in marvellous and mysterious ways. Fr Calloway says: ‘The story related in the Old Testament is true and is a prefigurement of a much greater Joseph who would bring his Son, the Bread from Heaven to safety in Egypt. Saint Joseph safeguarded a food capable of saving the entire world!’

The subtitle of Fr Calloway’s ‘Consecration to St Joseph’ is ‘The Wonders of our Spiritual Father’ and he truly is wondrous! The Litany of St Joseph is a beautiful prayer that highlights many of St Joseph’s greatest qualities. I have found myself praying to him often as the ‘Terror of Demons’ when I am feeling overwhelmed with horror and worry about the evil in the world and fear for my family and all people of goodness and faith. Some other titles that inspire hope, peace and wonder in this great saint are ‘Solace of the Wretched’, ‘Glory of Domestic Life’, ‘Pillar of Families’, ‘Patron of the dying’, ‘Lover of Poverty’ and ‘Model of Workers’.

‘Consecration to St Joseph is the key to overcoming the anthropological confusion so prevalent in our times’ says Fr Calloway. In a time where there is a crisis of masculinity, families are broken and many people are wounded and in pain, turning to St Joseph is the answer. Ite ad Joseph! As it says in Genesis 41:55 ‘Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you!’ referring to the Old Testament Joseph, it is now the time to go to St Joseph. St Bernard of Clairvaux wrote:

Who and what manner of man this blessed Joseph was…You may conjecture it from his very name, which, being interpreted, means ‘Increase.’

All of St Joseph’s life and being points towards Jesus, he wants to increase the presence of God in our lives and lead us, with Mary, to Jesus. We must turn to him and be guided by his quiet and humble yet strong and powerful example of loving and serving.

May we end with this prayer by Pope Leo XIII:

My dear St Joseph, be with me living, be with me dying and obtain for me a favourable judgement from Jesus, my merciful Saviour. Amen

~By Sara Moore

Sara is from southern NSW with her husband, Damian and their five children.  Apart from her faith and family, Sara’s great loves are literature, history, art and making her home a beautiful and restful place for her family and friends.