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110.1 First Point
Because
Saint Joseph was made responsible by God for the care and external
guidance of Jesus Christ, it was important that he have the qualities and
virtues necessary to fulfill worthily so holy and exalted a ministry. The
Gospel tells us about three, all very fitting for the responsibility
entrusted to him: he was just, he was very submissive to God's orders,[i]
and he had a very special solicitude for the education and the protection
of Jesus Christ.[ii]
The first quality that the Gospel attributes to Saint Joseph is
that he was just. This was also the main virtue he needed in order to be
able to provide guidance to Jesus Christ. Since Our Lord was God and
holiness itself, it would not be fitting that the person in charge of
guiding him not be holy and just before God.
It was even entirely proper that Saint Joseph be, after the Most
Blessed Virgin, one of the holiest persons to be found in the world at
that time, so that he might have some conformity with Jesus Christ, who
was entrusted to him and confided to his care. The Gospel also says of him
that he was just before God, that is, holy in every way. We even have
grounds to believe that Saint Joseph, thanks to a special privilege, was
entirely exempt from sin.
You also have been charged, very much like Saint Joseph, with a
holy work, a work that is very similar to his and requiring that your
piety and your virtue be more than ordinary. Take Saint Joseph as your
model, since he is your patron, and strive to make yourself worthy of your
ministry and to excel in virtue after the example of this great saint.
110.2
Second Point
The
second virtue which the Gospel points out to us in Saint Joseph is his
holy and entire submission to God's orders. God instructed him by an angel
to remain with the Blessed Virgin when he was questioning whether he
should leave her; at once he banished the thought from his mind. After the
birth of the Child Jesus, God warned him during the night to take the
Child to Egypt in order to save him from the persecution of Herod; at
once he arose and departed in order to bring the Child and his
virgin-mother to Egypt.[iii]
After Herod's death God told Joseph to come back to Judea, and without
delay he returned there.[iv]
Ah! how admirable is this prompt and simple obedience in this great
saint! He does not hesitate a single instant to carry out what God desired
of him! Do you have as much at heart to do God's will as this saint?
If you want God to bestow many graces on you, both for yourself and
for the Christian education of the children you have to protect and guide,
you must imitate this saint in his love for and in his fidelity to
obedience, which of all virtues is the one most appropriate for you in
your state and work, and which will bring you the most grace.
110.3 Third Point
The
Gospel also makes us admire in Saint Joseph the care he had for the holy
Child Jesus, which he showed in the promptness with which he took him
to Egypt[v]
when God told him to do so; in the precaution he took on leaving Egypt not
to take him to Judea for fear of Archelaus who then occupied the throne of
this father, Herod,[vi]
and in the sorrow he felt at having lost Jesus when they were returning
from Jerusalem, as the Most Blessed Virgin testified in these words, Your
father and I have been searching for you in great sorrow and in great
affliction.[vii]
Two things inspired this great solicitude Saint Joseph felt for Jesus: the
commission the eternal Father had given him, and the tender love he had
for Jesus.
You must have a similar great attention and affection for
preserving or procuring the innocence of the children entrusted to your
guidance, and to keep them away from whatever might interfere with their
education or prevent them from acquiring piety, just as Saint Joseph had
for all that could contribute to the welfare of the Child Jesus. For you
have been made responsible for these children just as Saint Joseph was
made responsible by God for the Savior of the world. This is also the
first care you should have in your work, if you wish to imitate Saint
Joseph, who had nothing more at heart than to provide for the needs of the
Child Jesus.
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De
La Salle had a special love for Saint Joseph, developed
undoubtedly as part of his training in the seminary of Saint
Sulpice. The first seal of the Institute, of which we have samples on
obediences as early as 1707, depicts Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus,
and this special devotion to the Infant Jesus and Saint Joseph is
mentioned in the Bull of Approbation. This meditation explains the several
reasons why such a devotion was considered by the Founder as very
appropriate for the Brothers. The original morning and night community
prayers of the Brothers included a special prayer to Saint Joseph, also a
litany to Saint Joseph after the midday recreation before returning to
school. The Rule of 1705 states: "At one o'clock the Brothers will
assemble in the oratory to recite the litany of Saint Joseph, patron and
protector of the Community [Institute] in order to ask for his spirit and
his help in the Christian education of children" (CL 25:100). The Pratique
du Réglement Journalier, which was the original text for the order of
the Brothers' day, lists the feast of the Great Saint Joseph as one of the
special days for a holiday. On this day in 1719 De La Salle was able to
say his last Mass with the Brothers at Saint Yon, an event which was
regarded as a kind of special favor from Saint Joseph. The Founder died
less than three weeks later on April 7.
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