Day 1: The Just Man

The first day of the Saint Joseph Novena begins with the title the Gospel itself places upon him: a just man. In the language of the Old Testament and the Gospel of Saint Matthew, just (in Greek dikaios, in Hebrew tsaddiq) names the man whose whole life is conformed to the will of God. Of every saint in the Catholic calendar, only one is given this title in the inspired Scriptures themselves, and it is Saint Joseph.

Today's meditation

The Gospel of Saint Matthew, in narrating the conception of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, says of Saint Joseph: "Her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly" (Matthew 1:19). The verse rewards careful attention. Joseph is just before he knows the truth of the Incarnation; his justness is visible in his desire to spare Mary from public shame even when, by the law of the day, he is empowered to expose her. Then the angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream: "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:20).

Saint Joseph's justness is expressed in his immediate obedience to the angelic instruction. He took Mary as his wife. He named the child Jesus when he was born. He protected the Holy Family in the flight to Egypt and in the return to Nazareth. The Gospel records no word he ever spoke. His justness is in his deeds, not in his discourses.

Today's intention

Bring to Saint Joseph today the intention for which you are praying this novena. Be specific. Then ask him for the gift of justness in your own life: the gift of doing the will of God in the ordinary obediences of family, work, and faith.

The traditional St Joseph novena prayer

O Saint Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires. O Saint Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that, having engaged here below your Heavenly power, I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage to the most Loving of Fathers. O Saint Joseph, I never weary contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. Saint Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen.

Reflection

Catholic spirituality has long observed that the silent justness of Saint Joseph is a distinctively Catholic kind of holiness. We do not have his preaching. We do not have his theological treatises. We have only his obediences. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26), writes Saint James, and Saint Joseph is the New Testament saint whose works carry the entire weight of his witness. His title just man is sealed by his life of fidelity in the work of carpentry, in the protection of his family, in his daily attendance at the synagogue and the temple, in his fatherly care of the boy Jesus.

The Catholic faithful often draw special consolation from Saint Joseph's silence. Many of us are not called to public witness; we are called to be just in the ordinary state. The husband who provides for his family in obscurity, the mother who raises her children in faith without recognition, the worker who keeps his integrity in a corrupt office, the elderly Catholic who prays his rosary daily without anyone noticing, all stand under the patronage of the Just Man of Nazareth.

Closing prayers

Pray seven times each, in honor of the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of Saint Joseph, the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Saint Joseph, Just Man of Nazareth, pray for us.