St. Joseph is our guide in the way of salvation by helping us to obtain a great purity of heart, a fervent love of the interior life, and the spirit of prayer through his prayer and example.
In the Litany of St. Joseph, we invoke “Joseph most chaste, pray for us.” Pope Francis explained the chaste love of St. Joseph. The Holy Father wrote, “Being a father entails introducing children to life and reality. Not holding them back, being overprotective or possessive, but rather making them capable of deciding for themselves, enjoying freedom and exploring new possibilities.
“Perhaps for this reason, Joseph is traditionally called a ‘most chaste’ father. That title is not simply a sign of affection, but the summation of an attitude that is the opposite of possessiveness. Chastity is freedom from possessiveness in every sphere of one’s life. Only when love is chaste is it truly love. A possessive love ultimately becomes dangerous: it imprisons, constricts and makes for misery.”
False love is self-centred and selfish, whereas true love is God-centred and self-giving. False love seeks mainly utility and pleasure in relationships, whereas true love seeks mainly the good of others.
Sister Lucia of Fatima wrote, “The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and the family.”
On Oct. 13, 1917, at the last apparition in Fatima, the three children saw the Holy Family. Sister Lucia wrote, “We saw, beside the sun, St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and our Lady clothed in white with a blue mantle. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands.”
Marriage and family are in crisis today, and two important remedies are authentic fatherhood and holy purity. St. Joseph is the model of both.
Marian Father Donald Calloway pointed out that St. Joseph “was married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and he treated her with respect, dignity, and reverence. If men today were more like St. Joseph – protectors and defenders of beauty, instead of users and abusers of the feminine mystery – what a different world this would be.”
In some religious communities, the Feast of the Holy Spouses or the Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph is celebrated on Jan. 23. Recently, Father Calloway wrote a letter to the Holy Father asking him to consider putting the feast into the universal liturgical calendar. Father Calloway believes it would be a wonderful gift for our troubled times.
Regarding the espousals of Our Lady and St. Joseph, the great mystic Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich said, “The espousals of Our Lady and St. Joseph took place, I think, upon our 23rd of January. They were celebrated in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion in a house often used for such feasts … Afterwards I saw Joseph and Mary in the house of Nazareth. Joseph had a separate apartment in the front of the house, a three-cornered chamber this side of the kitchen. Both Mary and Joseph were timid and reserved in each other’s presence. They were very quiet and prayerful.”
St. Josemaria Escriva said, “You don’t have to wait to be old or lifeless to practise the virtue of chastity. Purity comes from love; and the strength and gaiety of youth are no obstacle for noble love. Joseph had a young heart and a young body when he married Mary, when he learned of the mystery of her divine motherhood, when he lived in her company, respecting the integrity God wished to give the world as one more sign that he had come to share the life of his creatures. Anyone who cannot understand a love like that knows very little of true love and is a complete stranger to the Christian meaning of chastity.”
『若瑟至潔者』
聖若瑟是我們救恩路上的嚮導，他以祈禱和榜樣幫助我們獲得純潔的心，熱愛內修生活和祈禱的精神。
在聖若瑟禱文中，我們借助：『若瑟至潔者，為我轉求。』教宗方濟各解釋聖若瑟為至潔之父。他寫道：『作為一位父親要牽涉到為子女引進生命和現實。不要因過份保護或佔有而退縮，但卻要使他們有能力去為自己作決定，享用自由和探索新的可能。也許是這些理由，聖若瑟傳統上被稱為「至潔之父」。這名銜並不單是愛慕的標記，但卻是一個相反於佔有欲態度的總結。貞潔是在生命所有領域免於佔有欲。只有當愛是貞潔的，才是真愛。一個具佔有的愛，最終會變成危險的：它關禁，約束以致苦痛。』
假愛是自我中心和自私的，然而真愛是以天主為中心，獻出自己的。假愛在人的關係中主要追求快感和利用他人，而真愛卻主要追求為他人的好處。
法地瑪修女路濟亞寫道：『我主和地獄王國魔鬼的最後戰爭會是關於婚姻和家庭。』
在1917年10月13，花地瑪最後的顯現，三位小孩見到聖家。路濟亞寫運：『我們看見，在太陽旁邊，聖若瑟，小孩耶穌和身穿白衣，披藍色抖篷的聖母。聖若瑟和小孩耶穌出現在降福世界，因為他們以手作十字聖號。』
婚姻和家庭現今處於危機中，有兩件重要的補救法則，真的父親身份和聖潔。聖若瑟就是兩者的模範。
Calloway神父指出聖若瑟『是娶了世上最美的女士為妻，他對她以尊重，尊嚴和尊敬。如果今天的男士都能相似聖若瑟—保護和守護她的美麗，不是利用和侵犯女性的奧秘—這世界就會截然不同。』
在一些修會團體中，聖母淨配或聖若瑟的瞻禮在一月二十三日。近期Calloway神父給教宗寫了一封信，請求他考慮把這瞻禮放在普世的禮儀日曆中。Calloway神父相信，這會是在這困難的時代中，一件美好的禮物。
關於聖母聖若瑟的淨配，神視者Anne Catherine Emmerich說：『聖母聖若瑟的淨配，我想，是在一月二十三日發生。他們在耶路撤冷，錫安山，一間專為作此宴會用途的屋內慶祝…除後我看見若瑟和瑪利亞在納匝肋的這屋內。若瑟在這屋前有一間隔開的房間，廚房邊的一個三角房間。瑪利亞和若瑟兩人都很羞怯，兩人同處時都很拘謹。他們都相當靜默和虔誠祈禱。』
聖施禮華說：『你不需要等到老的時候—或沒有生氣的時候，才可以實踐潔淨美德行。純潔生於愛；年青人的精力和歡愉並不是高貴的愛的障礙。若瑟跟瑪利亞結婚時，他有一顆年青的心，一個年青的身體，當他知道她至聖母親身份的奧秘，當他跟她一起時，他尊重天主願意給予世界的廉正------祂到來分享祂受造物的生活的另一標記。任何人如果不能明白這樣的愛，他不知道什麼是真愛，並且是基督徒貞潔意義的陌生人。』