THE PURITY OF ST JOSEPH
Virginity is the law of this marriage; a marriage, however, is called to bear fruit. “That fruit”, says Saint Augustine, “God gives in the Person of his own Son taking flesh in the womb of Mary.” In the hidden designs of God, the union of the two spouses prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Now, the Messiah becomes their Child. Yes, affirms the great Doctor, Saint Augustine, Jesus can rightly be called the fruit of the virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph; he is given, not separately to Mary, but to her and her spouse, to be theirs together.
Saint Joseph was not informed immediately of the Incarnation of the Son of God in his chaste spouse, because she stands ahead of him in election and holiness. Furthermore, the perplexity of Joseph was to serve as witness to the virginal conception of the Saviour. Consider the words of the angel to Saint Joseph. He does not give him rights over the Child, rights which he could not have; he simply informs him that Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that she remains his spouse in her divine maternity. The bond of marriage is not destroyed by the intervention of the Holy Spirit, who gives it its fruit; it is strengthened by the coming of the divine child.
Joseph was the spouse of the Virgin Mary; now he is the spouse of the Mother of God. He is invited to exercise the right of a father over the child by giving him his name, Jesus.
O Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God! What dazzling greatness is concealed in that matchless title! And that greatness springs from the exquisite purity of your soul. You are the spouse of the Virgin Mother of God, because you are a virgin yourself, a virgin in soul and body. Ah! Obtain for us something of that celestial purity which made you so great, yet which left you so humble.
– Dom Bernard Marchaux, 19th century
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