St. Joseph is one of the few saints to have more than one feast day. He also happens to be my patron saint, so when my wife Maureen and I were getting married, she asked me which feast day I celebrated. Before I had the chance to answer, she mused out loud, “Definitely not St. Joseph the Worker.”
She happened to be right, as I instead celebrate the feast devoted to St. Joseph, Husband of Mary. Even so, I've teased her ever since about this apparent commentary on my work habits!
I suspect that many guys today think St. Joseph got it all wrong. After all, this is the age of Viagra and Levitra. Try watching a sports event for a half hour this weekend without seeing a commercial for these products.
This is also the age of the “sexual revolution,” meaning sex without commitment, sex without openness to children. It follows that this is the age of widespread fornication, cohabitation without marriage, “no-fault” divorce, and now same-sex unions. The goal today seems to be sex without responsibility. To those immersed in such a culture, St. Joseph seems hopelessly out of touch, in that he accepted the serious responsibility of marriage and family life while foregoing the pleasure of physical intimacy.
Rather, Christians through the ages proclaim that Joseph got it exactly right. He is a vitally important witness to modern man that it's possible and necessary — in fact, noble and manly — to live in accordance with biblical teachings on sexual morality. Certainly this does not mean that all men, particularly married men, are called to perpetual continence. But all men according to their state in life are assuredly called to chastity and at certain times in their lives (e.g., before marriage and possibly at times during marriage) are called to abstain from sexual relations.
The marital act is a sacred expression of one's total, exclusive gift to one's spouse. It must never degenerate into a merely recreational, selfish act of self-gratification.
St. Joseph, whom Scripture describes as a “just man,” gave himself totally to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He embodied true love and marital fidelity to his beloved spouse even in the absence of physical intimacy. What a fitting foster father for the Son of God!
There is also a lesson here on the sacred priesthood. Priests act in the person of Christ, our eternal high priest. Our blessed Lord is the Bridegroom, the Church is His Bride. (As an aside, this marital imagery alone should be reason enough not to ordain homosexual men to the priesthood.) In a very real sense, then, priests are wedded to the Church and their ministry has an unmistakably spousal character. Priests' chaste, faithful betrothal to the Family of God — and their fidelity to the teachings of Christ as preserved and proclaimed by the Church (cf. 1 Tm 6:20) — renders their spiritual fatherhood life-giving and fruitful.
Good St. Joseph, pray for us.
Leon J. Suprenant, Jr. is the president of Catholics United for the Faith (CUF) and Emmaus Road Publishing and the editor-in-chief of Lay Witness magazine, all based in Steubenville, Ohio. He is a contributor to Catholic for a Reason III: Scripture and the Mystery of the Mass and an adviser to CE’s Catholic Scripture Study. His email address is leon@cuf.org.
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