| St. Joseph: Perpetual
Adorer
In profound adoration he [St. Joseph] united himself
to the special
grace of each one of the events in the life of Jesus. He adored
our Lord in
His hidden life and in His Passion and Death; he adored in advance
the
Eucharistic Christ in His tabernacles: there was nothing that our
Lord
could hide from Saint Joseph.
Aside from the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph was the first and most
perfect adorer of our Lord.
How greatly the Word Incarnate was glorified by the adoration of
Mary and Joseph as they atoned for the indifference and ingratitude
of His
creatures!
Saint Joseph joined with Mary in adoration and united himself to
Christ, Whose heart surged with sentiments of adoration, love and
praise for
the Father and of charity for men.
Saint Joseph’s adoration kept pace with every stage of our Lord’s
life, drawing upon the grace, the spirit, and the virtue of each
mystery. In
the Incarnation he adored the self-annihilation of the Son of God;
at
Bethlehem, the poverty; at Nazareth, the silence, the apparent weakness,
the
obedience, and all the other virtues of Christ. He knew them
well and he grasped
clearly the reason why Christ practiced them—for the love and glory
of
His Heavenly Father.
Faith, humility, purity, and love—these were the keynotes of his
adoration. No saint ever vibrated with a more ardent faith
or bowed
down in deeper humility; no angel ever glistened with brighter purity;
and as
for his love, neither saint nor angel ever has or ever will come
within range
of his burning charity which expressed itself so fully in devotedness.
Because his faith was so strong, Joseph's mind and heart bowed in
perfect adoration. Imitate his faith as you kneel before the humble
Christ
annihilated in the Eucharist. Pierce the veil which covers
this
furnace of love and adore the hidden God. At the same time
respect the veil of
love and make the immolation of your mind and heart your most beautiful
homage
of faith.
Among the graces which Jesus gave to His foster-father—and
He
flooded him with the graces attached to every one of His mysteries—is
that special
to an adorer of the Blessed Sacrament. That is the one we
must ask of St.
Joseph. Have confidence, strong confidence in him. Take
him as the patron and
the model of your life of adoration.
From close union with this holy adorer I shall
learn to adore our
Lord and to live in intimacy with Him. I shall then be the
Joseph of the
Eucharist as he was the Joseph of Nazareth. (St. Peter Julian Eymard)
St. Joseph worshiped Jesus as no saint before had done. From
his deep,
calm soul he poured out a very ocean of love—tenderest love, humblest
love,
love shrinking from being like the Father's love, yet also daring
to be like
it as Mary's had been like the conjoined loves of Father and of
Spirit, as
she was Mother and Spouse conjoined. No angel might love Jesus
as Joseph loved
Him, as Joseph was bound to love Him. No temporal love but
Mary's could be
more like an eternal love than the love of Joseph for the Child,
because of
its likeness to the love of the everlasting Father. (Fr. Faber)
Saint Joseph served the Incarnate Word with perfect fidelity.
Think of
the lively faith which inspired his uninterrupted contemplation
of the
Divinity of the Christ Child; think of the love and faith with which
he adored
his God hidden in this little Child Whom he held in his arms and
carried about
always with the respect due to God. And when the Child had
grown a little,
notice how Joseph follows attentively everyone of His movements,
His gestures,
His acts, and His works. (St. Bernardine)
...“In speaking of Our Savior's Mother, we had included her august
and
chaste spouse; for what God has united should never be separated.
Near the
Sacred Host and, as it were, in the halo of light that surrounds
It, appears
this dearly beloved father, this great patriarch of the New Alliance.
It is
in this role that we want you to consider him today, at the same
time
keeping in mind the spirit and motto of our coat of arms—
The Blessed Sacrament and St. Joseph. Behold our hope in these
perilous times!” (Peter Anastasius Pichenot, Bishop of Tarbes)
“Of old the Patriarch Joseph stored up food not only for himself
but
for all the people. (Gen. 42): Saint Joseph received the living
bread come down from
heaven and guarded it, both for himself and for the whole world.”
(St. Bernard)
“In the Eucharistic Sacrifice the Church venerates the memory of
Mary
the ever Virgin Mother of God and the memory of Saint Joseph, because
he
fed him whom the faithful must eat as the bread of eternal life.”
(Pope John Paul II)
St. Joseph please pray for the spread of Perpetual Eucharistic
Adoration throughout the Universal Church.
Contact us to schedule a Missionary, obtain information,
and materials
in starting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration:
Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament
PO Box 1701, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: (518) 561-8193 Fax: (518) 566-7103
E-mail: ACFP2000@aol.com Website: http://www.ACFP2000.com
Your generous monthly donations make it possible for
us to bring adorers to Jesus.
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