Yesterday, I shared a quote from the Council fathers presenting Mary as a model for the laity. Of course, her husband, Saint Joseph, also is a wonderful model for the laity.
It is one of my laments that St. Joseph seems to be overlooked in Catholic piety. (Although I would piously speculate that a man so devoted to the Blessed Mother and the Christ-child would have it no other way.) So, upon my recent visit to Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Parish, I was excited to see that the Icon of the Nativity of the Lord included this scene depicting St. Joseph. I'm told that the scene is of a story passed down from Tradition. St. Joseph, sitting on a rock, has a troubled look on his face. The hunched over old man before him is Satan, tempting St. Joseph to doubt the virgin birth of Jesus, telling him that it is impossible and that he would be a fool to believe it.
I find the Icon helpful because it begs the question of St. Joseph's importance: why would Satan target him? It makes it impossible for me to think of St. Joseph as merely a bystander to the Mystery of the Incarnation, rather than one who participated in it in a way more unique than anyone other than the Mother of God. It also seems quite fitting, given the title of St. Joseph that Pope John Paul II chose for the name of his exhortation on this saint. For the depicted scene would have occurred shortly after the Annunciation. I think it is reasonable to surmise that Satan works mightily to oppose God every step of the way through the history of salvation. Preventing the Incarnation itself no longer being an option, it seems only fitting that he would target the Guardian of the Redeemer.
If you never have, I highly recommend reading Pope John Paul II's exhortation, Guardian of the Redeemer. Many -- St. Escriva, St. Therese and the Carmelites and Pope JP II to name a few -- have offered St. Joseph as the master of the interior life and as a wise teacher for the rest of us.
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