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Shin
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« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2011, 06:59:40 AM » |
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Excerpts from:
'The purity of Joseph was quite angelical; or, according to St. Bernard, more than angelical, inasmuch as this virtue is more meritorious in men than in Angels. The holy virtue of virginity was so tenderly beloved by him, that had it been necessary to lose it, in becoming the spouse of the Virgin Mary, he would probably have chosen the virtue of the Angels, rather than the Queen of Angels; while she also would have preferred to be a virgin without Divine maternity, rather than Mother of God without virginity. Gerson has a very high idea of the excellence of St. Joseph's purity. He believes that he was sanctified in his mother's womb, and delivered from the source of concupiscence which singes and devastates human nature. To me this opinion seems most probable. For if Jeremias was purified before his birth, who was only to be the prophet announcing the holy Word of God, how much more pressing were the reasons for granting the same favour to the spouse of Mary, the reputed father of the Messias, a man in constant communication with the Angels who came to confer with him about the order of the Incarnation, who, in a word, was one of the two flowers, the two lilies, between which the Word made flesh should take His delight!'
'How much happier was St. Joseph, the last of the Patriarchs, than all those who preceded him! Moses desired ardently to contemplate the divine Face of the Messias, and he was obliged to wait fifteen centuries before enjoying this happiness for an instant on Mount Tabor. Abraham saw in spirit the day of the coming of the Saviour upon earth, and this vision, which passed like a flash of lightning, transported him with joy. How many kings, princes, pontiffs, and prophets longed to see, if only for one instant, this Desired of the nations, and to prostrate themselves in adoration before Him; yet, never could they obtain this grace! And behold, Joseph carries Him in his arms, calls Him his Son, hears himself called Father by the Infant God. 'When I saw the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord,' says the Prophet Ezechiel, 'I fell upon my face.' St. John writes: 'I saw one like to the Son of Man, and when I had seen Him I fell at His feet as dead.' Scripture says: 'No man shall see God and live. I have seen God; I must die.' Yet Joseph sees the Incarnate God face to face. He sees Him everyday, and each moment of the day, and he does not die either of fear or of love, or let us rather say, he dies of love; but the love which kills also resuscitates him. The same flames make him die, and bring him again to life.'
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