Faith consists in the ready acceptance of God's
messages to us on His authority. It is tested by the
difficulty of believing, and by the painful
consequences to ourselves. We will try St. Joseph's
faith by these methods.
The first message which is recorded as having
been given to St. Joseph, was that Mary was about
to become a mother through the operation of the
Holy Ghost. The news announced was a miracle
of stupendous magnitude, a mystery inscrutable.
Yet St. Joseph never doubted, never hesitated. He
accepted it on God's authority, as if it were the
simplest thing in the world.
The second message enjoined him to take the
Divine Child and His Mother, and fly in the
darkness of the night to Egypt. There was no
apparent reason, no danger known to St. Joseph.
The journey was a perilous, painful, and most
inconvenient one, and seemingly unnecessary. Yet
St. Joseph hesitated not for an instant, doubted not,
delayed not, but started before day dawned. What
living, practical faith! How different from my
doubling slowness.
It was this habit of faith which earned for
him the continual society of Jesus Christ. St.
Joseph never ceased to have present to him the
Godhead of his Son; but at times he would forget
the outward form before him, and would adore his
God. So we should seek to realize that the Sacred
Host does but veil the same God Incarnate, and
should make many acts of faith before the
Blessed Sacrament and say, "My Lord and my
God."