Wounded human nature is particularly susceptible to assaults upon the virtue of purity, Satan knows this well, and he cleverly employs his diabolical wiles in order to undermine this virtue, Saint Joseph stands ready to assist those who appeal to him for protection.
Joseph's close relation with the august Virgin was another source of great graces for him. His marriage with her was a virginal one: in it there was a mutual donation of virginity. Mary committed hers to Joseph as a treasure for him to guard, to protect and reverence. There was a reciprocal surrender on Joseph's part. These two holy spouses were bound together by a deep and pure and chaste conjugal affection, which sprang from the love each bore to the other's purity. To this marriage Mary brought a dowry composed, not of the riches of this world, but of the treasures of grace. From the moment of the Incarnation Mary entered into her office of Dispensatrix of Divine Grace. To whom ought she to impart in greater abundance these treasures of which she had the keeping, than to him to whom she stood in such a close and intimate relation and to whom she was so much indebted? What saint can claim to have had Mary in his debt? Yet this claim can be vindicated with justice by Saint Joseph. Mary owed much to him for the care, the providence, and the affection with which he enveloped her and the Child she brought him. To be chosen to play the part of spouse of Mary, the Virgin of virgins and the Mother of God, there was already needed an extraordinary purity and sanctity: to sustain worthily and unfalteringly that lofty role, there was needed a continuous stream of exceptional graces. Since Mary had the privilege of dispensing all those graces, she must have given them with the utmost generosity to her holy spouse. Everything in this marriage was spiritual and perfect - and since in perfect marriage there is a complete reciprocal donation of goods between spouse and spouse, there must have been given to Joseph in the way of graces all that was in Mary's power to obtain for any creature.
- Father Edward Leen, C.S.Sp., "In the Likeness of Christ"
- text taken from Joseph, Son of David, compiled and edited by Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J.