One who relegates Saint Joseph to a shadowy corner or who fails to render him a constant tribute of honor and love has not yet acquired the habit of thinking with the Church, This great Saint occupies a central place in the story of the Incarnation. He should occupy a central place in the spiritual life of each of the redeemed.
If you really want to know the rank of Saint Joseph, turn to the Bible. But first understand the spirit of the Bible, how it does not braid bright adjectives or paint words with the rouge of rhetoric or send off every sentence with a feather in its cap and a gold chain jingling round its neck. As a rule the Scripture is as simple as stone. On Good Friday you may hear a sermon that turns Calvary into technicolor with splashing blood and silver tears. The Bible says simply, "They crucified Him." And that is the way it was with Saint Joseph. All the Bible says about him is, he was "a just man." But in the Bible's sense "just" means holy and (as far as human nature can reach it) perfect. "Just" is a jeweler's tray sparkling with the gem of each virtue. "Just" is posing behind a man's head the golden halo of sainthood.
Ask Almighty God Himself what He thinks of Saint Joseph. He will not answer you literally, but if we can judge by what happened, once Almighty God bent over the balcony of heaven and saw all men who would ever live go swinging past His throne. Moses, the meekest of men, was there; and Solomon, the wisest, and Job, the most patient; patriarchs like Jacob, prophets like John the Baptist, Apostles like Peter; but - think of it! - God let them all go by, and His finger touched this man! Of all men, He chose as the protector of His Son Jesus and as the spouse of Mary, the humble, humdrum, commonplace carpenter Saint Joseph.
Ask the Church what she thinks of Saint Joseph. And she would reply that in twenty centuries she has seen all sorts of saints. Saints who were martyrs, saints who were virgins, saints who were abbots, saints who were kings, but when it came to choosing from among the countless figures in the dazzling court of heaven a guardian for the three hundred million of the Church's world-wide family, she went back to the guardian of the Holy Family of three, Saint Joseph. As if she had said, you Irish may honor your Saint Patrick, and you Germans your Saint Boniface, and you French your Joan of Arc, and you Italians your Saint Anthony; and so on-but when it comes to the official Patron of the whole Universal Church, there is no one but Saint Joseph!
Ask the popes what they think of Saint Joseph, and find that Pius IX has in a way spoken for them all. You may have heard how one day a celebrated artist came to him with the preliminary sketch of a huge painting. It was to portray Pius IX solemnly proclaiming the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. "See, Holy Father, you will be in the foreground, reading the parchment. Around you will spread the bishops and cardinals in their robes like a red sunset. Up above in pearly clouds of glory will be Our Lord and Our Lady and angels and archangels."
"Yes," said the Pope, "but where is Saint Joseph?"
"Oh, er, Saint Joseph. We'll put Saint Joseph over here." And the artist pointed to a corner of the picture where tiny cherubim were tumbling down like paratroopers.
The Pope laid his strong finger on the center of the picture. "You will put Saint Joseph here," he said quietly, "next to Jesus and Mary. That is where he was on earth, and that is where he is in heaven."
- Father Joseph E Manton, C.Ss.R., "Sawdust Halo"
- text taken from Joseph, Son of David, compiled and edited by Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J.