This series explores Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the aspect of their Hidden Life.
Namely by drawing on 2 Maccabees 2:4-8 which mentions how at the time of
the Babylonian conquest Jeremiah hid the tabernacle tent, ark of the
covenant and altar of incense in a cave. Part III of IV looks at God's
incremental unveiling of the glories of St. Joseph, Altar of Incense of the New Covenant.
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| The Altar of Incense in the Temple of Solomon |
PART III: UNVEILING THE ALTAR OF ST. JOSEPH
1. Step Three: Unveiling the Altar of Incense
1.1 Historical Overview
We now come to St. Joseph, the Altar of Incense of the
New Covenant. The most obscure of the three members of the Holy Family. It is no surprise that for the
most part the first 1300 years of Christendom had little to say about him. After
all, first things first, second things second, and third things third.
Some form of devotion to St. Joseph has existed since the
earliest times, as is exampled in the prayer invoking his aid commonly dated to the first
century. Yet it’s difficult to assess the extent of such devotion. Many of the
Early Fathers, such as Augustine, Jerome and Ephrem, held Joseph in great
esteem. The devotion was present but it was subtle. Little was said
about St. Joseph for over a millennium.
1.1.1 The Fourteenth to Eighteenth Century
A deep understanding about Joseph’s dignity and the universality
of devotion to him only began sprouting up around the end of the fourteenth
century. Figures such as St. Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444), St. Vincent
Ferrier (1350-1419), Pierre d’Ailly (1351-1420), and Jean Gerson (1363-1429)
helped paved the way, and for the first time in 1479 Pope St. Sixtus IV
introduced the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19. Over the next century much
contributed towards unveiling St. Joseph in the life of the Church, especially
by the Dominicans, Franciscans and newly formed Discalced Carmelites—most notably
St. Teresa of Avila, who has been referred to as the ‘Daughter of St. Joseph’. By
1570 Pope Pius V had extended the Feast of St. Joseph to the entire Roman Rite.
Over the next three hundred years devotion to Joseph grew
among the faithful. This was especially the case in France in the
counter-reformation period leading into the seventeenth-century which would
later be referred to by the Marquis de La Franquerie as “the great century of
Saint Joseph in France”. At this time numerous religious institutes were
founded with a deeply seated devotion to Joseph, taking his patronage and
naming churches and cloisters after him. Yet there were no major developments
taking place ‘from the top,’ most of the action was at the grass roots and concentrated
in France. However as a sign of looming increase in devotion to Joseph in the
Church at large, on December 19, 1726, Joseph was officially added to the Litany
of the Saints by Pope Benedict XIII.
1.1.2 Nineteenth Century - 'The Great Century of Saint Joseph'
A major turn ‘from the top’ occurred during the
pontificate of Pius IX (1846-1878) in the nineteenth century, which has been
called for the Universal Church, ‘The Great Century of Saint Joseph’. During Pius
IX’s pontificate the month of March was dedicated to Joseph’s honour, and in
1870 in Quemadmodum Deus, the Pope proclaimed St. Joseph as the
Universal Patron of the Church. Writing, “Because of this sublime dignity… the
Church has always most highly honoured and praised Saint Joseph next to his spouse,
the Virgin Mother of God”.
At the time of Quemadmodum Deus the Bishop of
Poitiers, Cardinal Pie (1815–1880) wrote to his clergy in a Pastoral
Instruction in response to the question: ‘Why has devotion to St. Joseph
appeared so late?’:
Devotion to St. Joseph was one of
the gifts that the father of the family, with prudent economy, reserves among
his treasures for a later date… The silence surrounding the name and the power
of the blessed Joseph during the early ages of Christianity appears as an
extension of the silence that surrounded his time on earth; it is a
continuation of the hidden life whose splendors proved all the more amazing to
the minds and the hearts of the faithful for having remained unrevealed.
This response by Cardinal Pie relates to a well-known prediction by the Dominican Isidore of Isolano (d.1522), who wrote in his Summa of the Gifts of Saint Joseph:
Before the day of judgement all
the peoples will know and revere the name of the Lord, and the magnificent
gifts that God has given St. Joseph, gifts he has wanted to keep almost hidden
for a long period of time. It is then that the name of Joseph will abound […] for
the Lord will open the ears of their intelligence and great men will scrutinize
the inner gifts of God hidden in St. Joseph […] St. Joseph will give graces
from heaven on high to people who will invoke him.
1.1.3 'Joseph is a Growing Son'
On this note, speaking about the growing devotion to St. Joseph in the Church in these latter times, Edward Thompson, writing a decade after Pius IX’s 1870 decree, compares the sudden spring-time like growth of Josephine devotion to the ivy that sprung up overnight, to shelter Jonah from the heat of the day.
This protecting tree, which has so
marvellously grown and flourished in these latter days, has no worm at its root
to destroy it as had Jonas's, but will prosper and extend its branches more and
more; for it is the tree [as the words of Jacob’s blessing to the old Joseph
were] “planted by the running waters”. “Joseph is a growing son, a growing son
by the fountain.”[i]
Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Quamquam Pluries, On
Devotion to St. Joseph (1889), is another important Church document regarding
the central role of Joseph in the life of the Church. He says devotion to
Joseph has “developed and gradually increased, grow[ing] into greater
proportions in Our time, particularly after Pius IX.”[ii]
He goes on to clearly state the eminent dignity of Joseph unparalleled after
that of Mary his Spouse, in whose dignity he shares. Therefore, Leo writes, “devotion
to St. Joseph should engraft itself upon the daily pious practices of Catholics”
stating that “We desire that the Christian people should be urged to it above
all by Our words and authority.”[iii]
1.1.4 Twentieth Century
In the early 20th Century at the apparitions of
Fatima, God seemed pleased to also reveal a sign regarding the central role St.
Joseph will play in this epoch of the Church’s life. Sr. Lucia recounts:
"After Our Lady had disappeared in the
immensity of the firmament we saw, next to the sun, Saint Joseph with the Child
Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph and the
Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, tracing the sign of the cross with
their hands. "
Many Catholics are familiar with the apparitions of the
Virgin Mary at Fatima, yet few are aware of St. Joseph’s presence. Mike Wick, the
executive director of the Institute for Religious Life comments that “this
reaffirms the importance of the role of St. Joseph within the Church. It says a
lot about our world today.”[v] [More on this topic].
On this theme we are led to Pope St. John Paul II, a
modern champion of St. Joseph. His 1989 Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris
Custos – Guardian of the Redeemer: On the Person and Mission of Saint Joseph in
the Life of Christ and the Church, is a modern milestone in the Church’s recognition
of St. Joseph. At the end of the document John Paul II writes:
It is my heartfelt wish that these
reflections on the person of St. Joseph will renew in us the prayerful devotion
which my Predecessor called for a century ago. Our prayers and the very person
of Joseph have renewed significance for the Church in our day in light of the
Third Christian Millennium.[vi]
He ends the text with an invocation that reminds us of
Joseph’s apparition at Fatima: “May St. Joseph obtain for the Church and for
the world, as well as for each of us, the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.”
1.2 Is this Altar Unveiled?
We might then ask, where are we today regarding
recognising St. Joseph and his dignity? As a Church we have come a long way in
growing to understand St. Joseph and developing a devotion to him. It would be
fairly accurate to say that in certain spheres of the Church’s life since the
decree of 1870, we have advanced somewhat in our Josephology (a term even
employed since Isidore in the sixteenth-century)—both theologically and
intellectually. There is also a basic sense of devotion to Joseph that has
established itself in much of the grass roots of the Church, possibly more than
it ever has.
Still, Joseph is, mind the phrase, a 'genie-saint' in the
devotional lives of most of the contingent who invoke him. That term is a
little crass, since although it is problematic with God, there is nothing overly
wrong with simply invoking saints for favours, but when it comes to St. Joseph
he is after Mary, the Saint of Saints. The Church reserves the term latria,
adoration and worship for God alone. Yet simple veneration, what is called dulia,
is due to the saints out of respect for God who abides in them. But Mary and
Joseph are no ordinary saints. Thus hyper-dulia is due to Mary, to whom
the greatest veneration is due, as the most blessed creature, most filled with
God, and after Her – proto-dulia, first-veneration is due to Joseph,
greatest among all other saints.
Thus Joseph, as the Papacy has urged, ought to occupy a
significant role, even if subtle, in our spiritual lives, just as he did in the
House of Nazareth. This is no light statement, since Joseph, although inferior
to Mary in holiness and obviously inferior to Jesus as God, was appointed as the
head of the Holy Family and its household, and a living part of its dynamic. Devotion
to Joseph is thus something which is dynamic or lived more than it is a
devotional element that can be reduced to a novena or prayer card. It is, in
the phrasing of St. Louis de Montfort (yet regarding Mary in his instance), a
disposition of soul. A disposition of living in communion with Joseph, and
through him devoting oneself to Mary, and in turn, coming to worship Jesus
perfectly as He was worshiped perfectly in the House of Nazareth.
Without forgetting a Josephine trend in the Papacy,
especially in our modern Popes from Pius IX to Francis today, when we think of the
primacy of devotion to St. Joseph, its ‘live character’ and the accompanying
understanding which it necessitates (along with many other understandings presently
beyond us), the Church as a whole hasn’t come that far in apprehending St.
Joseph. He remains largely confined to the shadowy cavern and it would be fair
to say that Joseph—this New Altar of Incense, is yet to be mostly unveiled
within the Temple of the Church on earth.
This is nothing to blame anyone about, rather, it is exciting, and we are in a time, in this “Third Christian Millennium,” which is especially dedicated by God in His Providence, to the unveiling of this Altar. It is interesting to note a tangible parallel in John XXIII’s 1961 command “that the altar of St. Joseph [within the Lateran Cathedral] be faced with new splendor, made broader and more solemn, and become a point of attraction and religious piety for every soul and the countless multitudes.”[vii]
This is nothing to blame anyone about, rather, it is exciting, and we are in a time, in this “Third Christian Millennium,” which is especially dedicated by God in His Providence, to the unveiling of this Altar. It is interesting to note a tangible parallel in John XXIII’s 1961 command “that the altar of St. Joseph [within the Lateran Cathedral] be faced with new splendor, made broader and more solemn, and become a point of attraction and religious piety for every soul and the countless multitudes.”[vii]
Again, most recently, in 2013 Pope Francis included St.
Joseph in the Canon of the Mass in the three other Eucharistic Prayers. This is
another sign of the Josephine ‘unveiling’ quietly but surely underway in our
own day. What an honour to think that we can play our little part, especially by
means of our praying for this great unveiling to take place universally. Yet
most importantly, by asking God to begin this unveiling in our own interior
lives.
1.3 This Altar Glorifies the Son
The unveiling of the glories won by God within Joseph, as
with Mary, are by no means an affront to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. It
is God’s work after all! As was said before regarding Mary, we now apply the
same logic to Joseph. Knowing the man who was chosen by God to be His own
earthly father could only serve to make us know Jesus more, especially in His
hidden life.
Honouring Joseph along with Mary is also for the greater
glory of God in Christ, because in Jesus, God honoured them as His very own
parents; and who could outdo God in honouring? This parental honouring of Mary
and Joseph by God, is showcased in Scripture which is infallibly inspired by
the Holy Spirit. It has pleased God to perpetually regard this couple as the
earthly parents of Himself in Christ. For as Augustine writes, “the Gospel does
not lie, in which one reads […] ‘Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year’
(Lk 2:41) and again a little afterwards, ‘His mother said to Him, Son, why have
You thus dealt with us? Behold, Your father and I have sought You sorrowing.’
(Lk 2:48).’”[viii]
Knowing and honouring Joseph, the chosen father to God, is thus an enterprise that
glorifies God completely. Recognising and running with this truth enshrined in the
written Word, honours the Incarnate Word. The symbol of the altar of incense is
thus fitting because its sole purpose was to serve as an instrument of divine worship
within the temple. So too in the life of the Church, this Altar of Incense, St.
Joseph, is a mighty instrument to be used in worshiping God, and only pity
belongs to those Christians who do not ‘use it’.
1.4 John the Baptist’s Annunciation and the Altar of Incense
There is a biblical mention of the altar of incense in
the New Testament which can be used to explore this theme. The angel Gabriel
appears to Zechariah in the temple while he is performing the ritual incensing.
He announces the conception and birth of John the Baptist—one who will prepare
the way for the Messiah. In the Gospel we read that the angel appeared “standing
on the right side of the altar of incense” (Lk 1:11). The words that foretell
the vocation of John the Baptist are thus announced beside the altar of
incense. The purpose of John’s life will be to prepare people to receive Jesus,
God Incarnate, doing so by drawing them nearer to the Father, YHWH, whom the
Jewish faith acknowledges as God. In the words of the angel, “he will turn many
of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God” (Lk 1:16). John’s role is thus to
bring people to the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they are
ready for the Son.
There is no coincidence that the angel was appointed to
reveal John and his ministry while standing beside the altar of incense. Much
could be inferred from this, but along the lines of our enquiry, seeing the
altar as a symbol of Joseph, we are prompted to see a parallel between John’s
vocation and Joseph’s. John the Baptist’s vocation is almost a public manifestation
of the distinct vocation Joseph exercises from heaven, hereto mostly privately
and hiddenly, and soon to be manifestly, in the Church on earth. Yet whilst
John is called to lead people to the Father, preparing the way to the Son, so
that they might be drawn to the Son; Joseph acts as Adoptive-Father, through
whom the Father acts, and in exercising this office he draws souls not just to
the Son, but to his Son; and not so much preparing the way to the Son, but
being the very way to the Son. Those who allow this Altar of Joseph to be
erected within their soul are thus enshrining and paving a way to perfectly
adore the Son.
1.5 The Altar as Signifying a Holy Place
The symbol of Joseph as an altar is not a whimsical appellation.
We come across numerous accounts in the Old Testament where after a
manifestation of God, an altar is erected to serve as a testimony of what took
place, and a sign post of remembrance to worship God in such a place with
offerings. Noah did so, as well as Abraham, Jacob, Moses… the list goes on. Altars
thus served as signs of the consecration of a holy place.
We have come to understand that God was not pleased to
reduce His mediation to physical objects—to a material tent, ark and altar. These
were merely symbolic types of His true purpose which He intended from the
beginning with the mystery of the Incarnation in His mind. He wanted a living
Tent, Ark and Altar.
Joseph is the Living Altar and this Altar, the Most
Reverend Joseph, was the owner of the Holy Place where God Incarnate lived and
moved and had His being—the House of Nazareth. As the Jewish father, Joseph was
the earthly head of the household. So whilst the altars of old used to serve as
signs of consecration of a holy place where God had manifested His Presence,
Joseph was the Living Altar who testified to God’s Presence in Jesus within the
House of Nazareth. Yet even more so, Joseph as Living Altar served as the custodian
and spouse of the Holy Place—the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Living Ark in whom
God dwelt and around whom His Presence encompassed when God pitched the Tent of
His Humanity on earth. Joseph as Altar testified to the blessedness of this Ark
and to the divinity of this Tent—honouring Mary as Mother and Spouse, and
worshiping Jesus as Son and God.
2. St. Joseph—God’s Hiding Place
When we think about how God accomplished His hiding of
the Holy Family we realise that St. Joseph was the key to this covert
operation. Without Joseph, Mary and Jesus would have been exposed to the
harshness of the world. False-charges of extramarital relations would have been
charged to Mary, and Jesus would have been labelled an illegitimate child.
Joseph as Spouse and Father thus protected Jesus and Mary from the world’s
misunderstanding. Yet more than this, because he himself had made vows of
celibacy Joseph safeguarded Mary’s Virginity. Preserving Her also from the
shame attached to women who never married in ancient Jewish culture, and
screening Her from other men who were not celibate and godly like himself.
The word ‘screened’ is a perfect word for describing
Joseph’s vocation—he was like the veil in the temple that separated the holy
place from the holy of holies where the ark and Divine Presence dwelt. He
preserved the Divine Child and New Ark from exposure. Without Joseph, Mary and
Jesus would have stood out in such a culture—seen as a single mum and her
illegitimate son. In most of the ancient world, especially Palestine, this was
a severe taboo. The legitimacy of Jesus’ latter mission was also at stake, even
fewer would have heeded His message if they thought He was the product of an
unlawful relation. As veil, Joseph thus protected the holiness of Jesus and
Mary, and the Holy Family itself.
2.1 The Altar’s Cloud
The imagery of Joseph as the Altar of Incense ties into this
theme— that Joseph is the one through whom the Father hides Jesus and Mary,
thus enabling their ‘hidden life’. In the holy place a cloud of incense used to
arise from the altar of incense and this cloud, like a ‘smoke screen,’ would
serve to hide and veil the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Hiding the ark and
tent as it were, symbolic of how Joseph as the Supernal Cloud of Incense hid
Mary and Jesus from the vain eyes of the world. Scripture allegorically refers
to this when we read:
Solomon said: “The LORD has said
that he would dwell in the dark cloud. I have built thee an exalted house, a
place for thee to dwell in for ever.” (1 Kings 8:12)
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| 'The Cloud of Glory,' Free Bible Images. |
Joseph as the Living Altar is encompassed by the Paternal
Cloud, charged and blazing with the Holy Spirit who is the Father’s Incense of Praise
for the Son, such that Joseph himself becomes on one level the mirrored-creation
of this Uncreated Cloud. We read in Revelation: “the temple was filled with
smoke from the glory of God and from His power” (15:8). Spiritually this refers
to Joseph—the Living Cloud infused with the glory and power of God the Father, filling
the Holy House, that is wholly surrounding Mary in loving protection and the
Child Jesus who dwelt therein. No one can enter this Holy House, arriving at a
relationship and knowledge of Jesus and Mary unless they pass through its
protecting veil, the “thick cloud” of St. Joseph.
This is alluded in 2 Chronicles where we read…
The house of the LORD was filled
with a cloud and because of it the priests could not continue ministering, for
the glory of the LORD [in the form of the cloud] filled the LORD’s house.
(5:13-14).
The ancient priests could not enter the temple because
the cloud of the Lord prevented them from entering. Likewise with St. Joseph—no
one can enter the Holy House, the Abode of the Holy Family, entering into their
company which mediates the Trinity, unless he allows the soul to enter. ‘No one
can come to the Father, except through the Son’ (Jn 14:6*) so ‘No one can come
to the Son, except through Joseph.’[ix] For
just as Jesus the Son of God leads us to God the Father, Joseph as Human Father
leads us to Jesus the Son of Man. So if Jesus says, “I am the gate” (Jn 10:9), we
can see Joseph is Its Keeper.
The good thing is that St. Joseph readily allows the
sincere seeker, no matter how sinful, into His Home. Any sincere worshiper of
Jesus and devotee of Mary will be permitted access, and like the wise men whom
he admitted into his home, these souls shall find “the child with Mary his
mother” (Mt 2:11). Not all of those whom Joseph admits will notice him, but happy
are those who honour this father with all their heart (Sir 7:27). Since “whoever
honours his father atones for sins” and “kindness to a father will not be
forgotten” (Sir 3:3,14).
3. St. Joseph—Custodian of the Secrets of the Holy Family
The Holy Family’s hiddenness relies upon God’s operation
through St. Joseph. He plays the central role of hiding Mary and Jesus under
his spousal and fatherly embrace, and safeguards their dignity by doing so.
Even now in heaven Joseph continues this mission of safeguarding the dignity of
Jesus and Mary, and he acts secretly as the treasurer to their secrets,
admitting souls who seek them out.
In this regard, St. Joseph, Master of the Holy House—just
as the ancient patriarch by the same name was master of Potiphar’s house (Gen
39:4)—can also be termed the Supernal Scribe of the Church, responsible for
discharging the truths that pertain to Jesus and Mary and himself. Hence the
words of our Lord aptly apply to him: “Every scribe who has been trained for the
kingdom of heaven is like the man, the master of the house, who brings out of
his treasure what is new and what is old” (Mt 13:52).[x] For
“master of the house” the Vulgate uses the dative form of the phrase pater
familiās, ‘father of the household/family.’ Joseph the Scribe of God,
Master of the House, Father of the Holy Family, and Appointed Father of the
House and Family of the Church, brings forth the truths of the Kingdom by the
authority of the Father Who has entrusted this task and office to Joseph by
means of their mutual Son. When we speak about unveiling the glories of the
Holy Family we must therefore keep in mind that this is all taking place
through the discreet and subtle mediation of the Father’s Chosen Instrument: St.
Joseph.
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| The Prophet Daniel |
Yet we can only access Jesus in, with and through Mary, by means of Joseph, even if we are unaware of it, because God has ordained Joseph as the Custodian of Revelation, Scribe of the Word, Treasurer of the Kingdom, and Guardian of Its Mysteries. We see this prefigured in the ancient figure of Daniel who was appointed “the third ruler in the kingdom” (Dan 5:29) and through whom God “the Revealer of Mysteries” (Dan 2:47) made known His mysteries, especially as they pertained to the Kings of Babylon and Persia. Likewise, after Jesus and Mary, King and Queen of the Kingdom, Joseph is “the third ruler in the kingdom” of God, and He has been appointed by God “the Revealer of Mysteries” to instrumentally serve as His very own Revealer of Mysteries; especially those mysteries that pertain to Christ the King and His Heavenly and Earthly Family.
In Part IV we'll explore how the revealing of the glories of the Holy Family was prophesied from old, and what its fulfillment should practically and spiritually mean for us as Catholics today.
[i]
Edward Healy Thompson, The Life and Glories of Saint Joseph (Burns and
Oates, Limited: London, 1888), Chp. XLIX.
[ii]
Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries, On Devotion to St. Joseph, Encyclical,
1889, 2, http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15081889_quamquam-pluries.html
[iii]
Ibid.
[iv]
See John XXIII, Le voci che da tutti, For the Protection of St.
Joseph on the Second Vatican Council, Encyclical, 1961, http://www.papalencyclicals.net/john23/j23levoci.htm
[v]
Ryan, “Do you know that Saint Joseph was present at the miracle of the sun of
Fatima?” Mystic Post, https://mysticpost.com/2018/03/do-you-know-that-saint-joseph-was-present-at-the-miracle-of-the-sun-of-fatima-heres-what-happened-st-joseph-and-the-child-seemed-to-bless-the-world/
[vi]
John Paul II, Redemptoris Custos: On the Person and Mission of Saint Joseph in
the Life of Christ and the Church, Apostolic Exhortation, Aug 15 1989, 32, http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_15081989_redemptoris-custos.html
[vii]
John XXIII, Le voci che da tutti, 9.
[viii]
Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence, Book I, Ch. 12.
[ix]
*Jn 14:6 – a paraphrase.
[x]
In line with the Greek (οἰκοδεσπότῃ) and Peshitta (מרא ביתא) texts.
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