“Saint Joseph, our Father and Lord: most chaste, most pure. You were found worthy to carry the Child Jesus in your arms, to wash him, to hug him. Teach us to get to know God, and to be pure, worthy of being other Christs.” ~ Saint Josemaria Escriva
I particularly adore this little quote from St. Josemaria, it immediately reminds me of a verse from my favorite prayer of St. Joseph: “Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.” It is also reminiscent of a rather sweet and tender moment in the otherwise frighteningly apocalyptic visions at Fatima, when the children “saw Saint Joseph holding the Child Jesus and Our Lady dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the Child seemed to be blessing the world making the sign of the cross.” In all of these descriptions, I found a very different image of Joseph: not merely the distant, coldly silent, and stalwart protector of the Christ Child and the Virgin Mother, but a man of great affection, tenderness, and Love. And, this is the man whom Our Lord has given to the fatherless, the lost, the abused, the deceived, and the wounded – all because Our Lord understands that we all need a father, and the masculine Love that only a father can give us. For this reason, St. Joseph was chosen by God, from the beginning of time, to serve this very crucial function: as the foster-father to the world.