Saint Joseph

It's been a long day, and I won't make a long post. But there is something special about Saint Joseph's Day, all the more because our holy father chose to have his "installation" Mass today.

Saint Joseph was especially chosen by heaven to be the protector of the two people particularly precious to the Father: his Son and his Son's mother. Consider that!

Saint Joseph is one of a handful of people whose story is told in Scripture, who is presented in 100% positive terms. Of Saint Joseph is said the highest praise that Scripture gives: he did as the Lord directed. How far am I from being eligible for such an epitaph!

My thoughts go to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in Washington, D.C. If you wander back to the apse of the church--the upper church--and look to the left and right, you will see two massive, beautiful mosaics. If you never go back there, you would never know they are there. The one to the left (as you face the apse) is about our Lady; the one to the right is an image of Saint Joseph.

There is something deeply moving--to me--about that mosaic. It show Saint Joseph with a great mantle, and beneath his mantle (as I recall it now in my mind) are a variety of people, high and low, male and female, young and old--in short, everyone. And to the side is a quote from Pope Blessed John XXIII, who--as you may recall--inserted Saint Joseph into the Roman Canon. I can't recall the quote at the moment; but as I recall, it makes the point that as God gave Jesus and Mary to Joseph, so he entrusts all of us to him. And I recall that when I visit that mosaic, I am moved to tears. More than once.

I have total confidence in Saint Joseph; don't you?