The Solemnity of Saint Joseph

The Solemnity of St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an annual celebration in honor of the earthly guardian of Our Lady and the Incarnate Word. On 14 July 1570, Pope Pius V extended the feast of St. Joseph to the entire Roman Rite by his Apostolic Constitution Quo primum. St. Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church. He is the patron of the dying because Jesus and Mary were on his deathbed. He is also the patron of fathers, carpenters, and social justice. By saying Joseph was "just," the Bible means that he was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him. The just man was joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, naming Jesus, shepherding Mary and Jesus to Egypt, and bringing them to Nazareth in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage.

Pope Francis, in the Apostolic Letter ""Patris Corde,"" notes that St. Joseph's paternity was concretely expressed ""in having converted his human vocation to domestic love into the superhuman offering of himself, of his heart, and of every ability, in the love placed at the service of the Messiah."" He is, therefore, a ""beloved father"" because he is a silent and luminous example of authority that welcomes the life generated by the Holy Spirit in Mary and takes care of it. He was the first to allow himself to be transformed by the Word, which reached him in a dream at night through the angel. 

St. Peter Julian Eymard says, "Devotion to St. Joseph is one of the choicest graces that God can give to a soul, for it is tantamount to revealing the entire treasury of our Lord's graces. When God wishes to raise a soul to greater heights, he unites it with St. Joseph by giving it a strong love for the good saint."

St. Joseph, the spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for us a pure, humble, charitable mind and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be our guide through life so that we may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)