In this year of Jesus, we consider the example of the intimacy between St. Joseph and Our Lord Jesus as a model for our love of Christ. It was Mary who brought Jesus to St. Joseph, and both the Mother of God and the Patron of the Universal Church desire ardently to bring us close to the Savior of the world who looked to them as his earthly parents.

"Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:20-21). Thus did Joseph's astonishment grow as he considered the awesome mystery of Mary's motherhood. The angel's words introduce him to Jesus as the one who is 'of the Holy Spirit' and will save His people from their sins. Joseph never forgot these words. They found a permanent place in his just heart. Awe and wonder at the mysterious Person growing in Mary's womb, and a quiet contemplation of the beginnings of the mystery of the Incarnation fill Joseph's heart. Furthermore, Joseph hears within the angel's words, a commission entrusted to him to give the name of Jesus to the Incarnate Word. This is a father's duty, the giving of the name, yet this responsibility bespeaks a great task. Joseph is chosen as the one through whom God will give Jesus His name, and therefore His mission (cf. Mt 1:2 1, Acts 4:12, 10:43; Col 3:17). This was a name known among the Israelites and sometimes given to their sons. In this case, however, it is the Eternal Word who will bring to perfect fulfillment the meaning of the name Jesus -- Yehos ua' -- which means "God saves."

"When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife" (cf Mt 1:24). In this way he showed a readiness of will like Mary's with regard to what God asked of him through the angel. If Elizabeth said of the Redeemer's Mother, "blessed is she who believed," in a certain sense this blessedness can be referred to Joseph as well, since he responded positively to the word of God when it was communicated to him at the decisive moment. St. Joseph "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife." What he did is the clearest "obedience of faith" (cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26; 2 Cor 10:5-6). Joseph is a model for us: if we desire an intimate relationship with Jesus we must be willing like him to submit our wills wholly to God's will in a living relationship of faith and obedience.

Joseph's marriage to Mary is the juridical basis of his fatherhood. It was to assure fatherly protection for Jesus that God chose Joseph to be Mary's spouse. It follows that Joseph's fatherhood comes to pass through marriage to Mary. Analyzing the nature of marriage, both St. Augustine and St. Thomas always identify it with an "indivisible union of souls," a "union of hearts," with "consent." These elements are found in an exemplary manner in the marriage of Mary and Joseph. At the culmination of the history of salvation, when God reveals His love for humanity through the gift of the Word, it is precisely the marriage of Mary and Joseph that brings to realization in full "freedom" the "spousal gift of self" in receiving and expressing such a love. In this great undertaking which is the renewal of all things in Christ, marriage becomes a new reality, a sacrament of the New Covenant. We see that at the beginning of the New Testament, as at the beginning of the Old, there is a married couple. But whereas Adam and Eve were the source of evil which was unleashed on the world, Joseph and Mary are the summit from which holiness spreads all over the earth. The Savior began the work of salvation by this virginal and holy union, wherein is manifested. His all-powerful will to purify and sanctify the family -- that sanctuary of love and cradle of life.

In recalling that "the beginnings of our redemption" were entrusted "to the faithful care of Joseph," the Liturgy specifies that "God placed him at the head of his family, as a faithful and prudent servant, so that with fatherly care he might watch over his only begotten Son." Leo XIII emphasized the sublime nature of this mission: "He among all stands out in his August dignity, since by divine disposition he was guardian, and according to human opinion, father of God's Son. Whence it followed that the Word of God was subjected to Joseph, He obeyed him and rendered to him that honor and reverence that children owe to their father."

Since it is inconceivable that such a sublime task would not be matched by the necessary qualities to adequately fulfill it, we must recognize that Joseph showed Jesus "by a special gift from heaven, all the natural love, all the affectionate solicitude that a father's heart can know." Joseph is the father: his fatherhood is not one that derives from begetting offspring; but neither is it an "apparent" or merely "substitute" fatherhood. Rather, it is one that fully shares in authentic human fatherhood and the mission of a father in the family.

The total sacrifice, whereby Joseph surrendered his whole existence to the demands of the Messiah's coming into his home, becomes understandable only in the light of his profound interior life. It was from this interior life that "very singular commands and consolations came, bringing him also the logic and strength that belong to simple and clear souls, and giving him the power of making great decisions -- such as the decision to put his liberty immediately at the disposition of the divine designs, to make over to them also his legitimate human calling, his conjugal happiness, to accept the conditions, the responsibility and the burden of a family, but, through an incomparable virginal love, to renounce that natural conjugal love that is the foundation and nourishment of the family. We see in St. Joseph one who laid down his life to serve Jesus. We ought also to follow his example in this.

St. Joseph is a towering example of holiness, of one who dearly loved Jesus and served Him with his whole life. Many people through the centuries have been drawn to Jesus through the witness of the life of St. Joseph.

Blessed Andre Bessette (1845- 1937) and St. Teresa of Avila (1515- 1582) are examples of those who have had great devotion to St. Joseph. God worked thousands of miracles through Blessed Andre who attributed all these marvelous works of God to the intercession of St. Joseph before Jesus. Over one million people attended Blessed Andre's funeral and the place where he ministered,, St. Joseph's Oratory, is probably the greatest shrine in honor of St. Joseph.

An example of the devotion that St. Teresa of Avila had to the Patron of the Universal Church is seen in her following words, "Once when in need, for I didn't know what to do or how to pay some workmen, St. Joseph, my true father appeared to me and revealed to me that I would not be lacking, that I should hire them. And so I did, without so much as a penny, and the Lord in ways that amazed those who heard about it provided for me." Many are the testimonies of those who have been aided by St. Joseph. This Patron of the Universal Church, and Terror of Demons, Master of the Interior Life, Worker, Patron of a Happy Death will also assist us in our own relationship with Jesus. St. Joseph will protect the growth of the life of Christ within us just as he guarded the growth of Jesus Himself.

We pray with John Paul II, "Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin; graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness, and just as once you saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God's holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity." Today we still have good reason to commend everyone to St. Joseph.