St. Joseph was endowed by God with unmatched virtues and privileges, making him the worthy spouse of the Queen of Heaven and guardian of the Messiah. Because of his unique holiness, his intercession is powerful in helping souls grow in purity, return to God, and find aid in trials, even invoking fear in demons at the mention of his name. Those who seek his help with true devotion will experience profound spiritual and temporal blessings.
IN God’s providence, Joseph had to die before Jesus did, because Joseph could not have endured His crucifixion; he was too gentle, too loving. He had already suffered much from the persecution Jesus had had to endure from the malice of the people from His twentieth to His thirtieth year; for they could not bear the sight of Him. Their jealousy often made them exclaim that the carpenter’s Son thought He knew everything better than others, that He was frequently at variance with the teachings of the Pharisees, and that He always had around Him a crowd of young followers.
Divine Gifts Granted to Saint Joseph
In addition, the Lord had given him great knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and of prophecy so that he knew all that the Redeemer would have to suffer. The cross that Jesus had ever before Him in His thoughts from the first moment of His conception, Joseph too had present in his mind, and his soul was pierced by it. For this reason, while holding the Most Holy Lord in his arms, and often reflecting on all He would have to endure, Joseph’s tears poured down. At other times, while keeping the Babe folded in his arms when it was cold, Joseph would warm His sacred hands by breathing on them.
We must note, then, that the long sickness and sufferings that preceded the death of Joseph were not the sole cause and occasion of his passing away. For with all his infirmities, he could have extended the term of his life if to these infirmities he had not joined the fire of the intense love within his breast. So that his death might be more the triumph of his love than the effects of original sin, the Lord suspended the special and miraculous assistance by which Joseph’s natural forces had been enabled to withstand the violence of his love during his lifetime.
As soon as this divine assistance was withdrawn, his nature was overcome by his love. The bonds and chains by which this most holy soul was detained in its mortal body were at once dissolved, and the separation of the soul from the body that is death took place. Love was then the real cause of the death of Joseph. This was at the same time the greatest and most glorious of all his infirmities; for him, death was but a sleep of the body and the beginning of real life.
Graces Granted to Saint Joseph
There is a certain difference in the graces given to this great patriarch and those granted to other saints. For many saints were endowed with graces and gifts that are intended not for the increase of their own sanctity but for the advance of the service of the Most High in other souls. They were, so to say, gifts and graces freely given and not dependent upon the holiness of the receiver.
But in our blessed patriarch, all the divine favors were productive of personal virtue and perfection; for the mysterious purpose, toward which they tended and helped along, was closely connected with the holiness of his own life. The more angelic and holy he grew to be, the more worthy he was to be the spouse of most holy Mary, the depository and treasury of heavenly mysteries. He was to be a miracle of holiness, as he really was.
For the confirmation and increase of Joseph’s good qualities was then added the intercession of the blessed Lady. For as soon as she was informed that the Lord wished her to enter the married state with him, she earnestly sought the Lord to sanctify him and inspire him with most chaste thoughts and desires in accordance with her own. The Lord listened to her prayer and permitted her to see what great effects His right hand worked in the mind and spirit of the patriarch Joseph.
These effects were so abundant that they cannot be described in human words. God infused into his soul the most perfect habits of all the virtues and gifts. He balanced anew all his faculties and filled him with grace, confirming it in an admirable manner.
Perfection in Chastity
In the virtue and perfection of chastity this holy spouse was elevated higher than the seraphim; for the purity that they possessed without a body, Joseph possessed in his earthly body and in mortal flesh. Never did an image of the impurities of the lower nature of the senses engage, even for one moment, any of his faculties. This freedom from all such imaginations, and his angelic simplicity, fitted him for the companionship and presence of the purest among all creatures, and without this excellence he would not have been worthy of so great a dignity and rare excellence.
So perfectly was he dead to the world and the flesh, he desired nothing but the things of heaven. In the other virtues as well he was wonderfully distinguished, especially in charity. For he dwelled at the fountainhead of the living water that flows on to eternal life [ Jn 4:14]. He was in close proximity to that sphere of fire and was consumed without resistance.
Saint Joseph’s Death
The manner of Joseph’s death was a privilege of his unique love, for his sweet sighs of love surpassed and finally put an end to those of his sickness, being far more powerful. Because the objects of his love, Christ and His Mother, were present with him always, and both of them were more closely bound to him than to any others of those born to women, his most pure and faithful heart was inevitably consumed by the loving effects of such a close union.
Blessed be the Author of such great wonders, and blessed be the most fortunate of mortals, Joseph, who so worthily corresponded to their love! He deserves to be known and extolled by all generations of all nations, since the Lord has worked such things with no other man, and to none has He shown such love.
Ask Saint Joseph for these Special Privileges
In virtue of these special privileges, the intercession of Joseph is most powerful: first, for attaining the virtue of purity and overcoming the sensual inclinations of the flesh; second, for procuring powerful help to escape sin and return to the friendship of God; third, for increasing love and devotion to most holy Mary; fourth, for securing the grace of a happy death and protection against the demons in that hour; fifth, for inspiring the demons with terror at the mere mention of his name by those who seek his assistance; sixth, for gaining health of body and assistance in all kinds of difficulties; seventh, for obtaining children in families. These and many other favors God grants to those who properly and with good disposition seek the intercession of Joseph, the spouse of our Queen.
Let all the faithful children of the Church be deeply devoted to him. For they will experience these favors in reality if they dispose themselves as they should in order to receive and be fit for them.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Life of Saint Joseph as Seen by the Mystics compiled by Paul Thigpen which is available from TAN Books.
