St. Joseph during his long life had been
fulfilling the meaning of the name he bore with unbroken constancy. He had been "adding" to the
brightness of his virtues and the treasure of his
merits with an ever-increasing speed. In the
company of Jesus and Mary he had made more rapid
progress than any of the other saints. O Joseph,
what fervor must have been thine! what charity,
what perfect purity! Was there an arch-angel in
Heaven equal to thee in love of God? How
different thy lightning advance in grace to my
sluggish slowness.
What was the secret of St. Joseph's high perfection?
It was the calm, quiet peacefulness and
tranquillity that enabled his pure soul to reflect
in so wonderful a manner the likeness of God, and
quickened his ears to catch the faintest whisper
of Divine grace. We cannot imagine him ever
hurried, or over-eager, or anxious, or disorderly.
If we could remove those defects we should soon
become more like St. Joseph.
As St. Joseph grew old, and his natural powers
began to fail, the beauty of his soul became more
and more apparent. Some think that like Moses
he suffered none of the infirmities of age. At all
events, he who as foster-father of Jesus occupied in
some sort the place of the Eternal Father upon
earth, must have been an old man of incomparable beauty, the type and ideal of a saint and
patriarch. Never were grey hairs crowned with
such glory and honor as those of him whose happy
old age had been spent with Jesus and Mary.