Saint Joseph the Chaste

Saint Joseph’s mission was unique and rare: he raised the greatest person of all, Jesus Christ, and guided him as he grew “in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man”.
He remains a model and an example for all who raise and teach children, and especially for every father.
Saint Joseph is the model of the educator and the father; from him we learn how fathers should behave toward their children. That is why the Church places under his protection all parents, priests and educators, who are also fathers, and all those whose duty is to teach in the Church and in society.
With Saint Joseph, the child Jesus experienced fatherhood on earth and saw in him the reflection of God’s fatherhood.
Joseph is the man of steadfast faith, the man of boundless obedience to God’s will, and also the man of silence.

At the beginning of humanity, man wanted to be like God; he disobeyed God’s command in order to decide for himself what was good and evil. He obeyed his passions and desires, and brought suffering and misery into the human race.

With Joseph, by contrast, we see complete submission: he falls asleep and dreams of God’s will, and he wakes up to carry out that will, however difficult it may be.

Happy feast day to everyone, and especially to all who bear this name or have Saint Joseph as their patron.

Prepared by Rita, of the Sawt el Rab team