By faith we realize that the Christ who comes to us in Holy Communion is the same Christ whom Saint Joseph knew so intimately at Nazareth. In our devotion to the Blessed Sacrament let us imitate Saint Joseph's unwavering faith, joyous hope, and generous love.
The interior life of Saint Joseph was deepened and beautified by his constant contact with the Person of the Incarnate Word. During those blessed years which we call the hidden life of Christ, Saint Joseph enjoyed the physical presence of God's own Son, whose divinity, though concealed beneath the veil of human flesh, he nevertheless perceived with the eyes of faith. The inevitable result of this close contact with Christ was peace, as Saint Paul proclaims: "He Himself is our peace." (Ephesians 2:14). Hence, Saint Joseph, living in the blessed peace of Nazareth, diffused that peace among his fellow men and became united with them through his Foster Son, who would later make to His Father that prayer of all-surpassing charity: "That all may be one." (John 17:21)
The peace of Nazareth was, then, for Saint Joseph, the prelude to that peace of heaven which is essentially union through Christ with the Father. For Saint Joseph, the physical presence of Christ was the efficacious cause of that peace. For those, however, who were not to experience His physical presence on this earth, Christ made provision through a miracle of love. On the altar, under the sacramental species, Christ is as truly present as He was in the carpenter shop at Nazareth. But, as Saint Thomas points out, in Nazareth only His divinity lay concealed; in the Eucharist, both humanity and divinity are hidden.
Because of his unique role of shadow of the Eternal Father, Saint Joseph was united with the Father through Christ, and thus lived in continual anticipation of the face-to-face vision of God in heaven. This same consciousness of the Father, this desire for union with Him in heaven, Christ intends His Presence among us in the Blessed Sacrament to effect. This is the emphatic message which He repeated so insistently the night before His passion. Not only is the Holy Eucharist a Sacrament which engenders faith and love; it is the basis of our hope. It prompts us to view all things in the light of eternity, and thereby to establish a proper order and peace in our lives. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." Saint Joseph, in his devotion to the Divine Child at Nazareth, sets the example for our devotion to the same Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
- Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J., "Reflecting on Saint Joseph"
- text taken from Joseph, Son of David, compiled and edited by Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J.