When our Blessed Lady arrived at a marriageable
age, the Chief Priest summoned all the
unmarried men of the house of David, that from
them a husband might be chosen for her. There
is a tradition that to each of them a rod was
delivered, and that the High Priest, speaking under
Divine inspiration, declared that God would choose
a spouse for Mary in the same way that Aaron was
chosen to be High Priest in the Old Law. "Whomsoever
of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom"
(Num. xvii. 5). On the morrow the rod of
Joseph had budded and blossomed. He was thus
declared by God to be the worthy spouse of His
Holy Mother.
But Joseph had promised to God to remain
ever a virgin.* How could he then consent to
marriage? He knew by Divine revelation that
Mary had made a similar vow, and Mary knew the
same of him. O happy, O ideal union! where the
sublime gift of virginity was united to the mutual
love and dependence of husband on wife and wife
on husband.
But thus it is that God provides for His elect.
He plans for them in a way that utterly sets at
naught the prudence of the world. He never disappoints
those who leave themselves in His hands,
but exercises a Divine ingenuity in fulfilling all
the desires of their hearts in most unexpected ways,
in return for their submission and obedience to
His holy will. Thus it is that those who do God's
will always do their own will, for their will is His,
and His will is theirs.