Since 1950 when the dogma was solemnly declared, every year the Church celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into the glory of heaven on August 15.
Although there is no such solemn teaching or declaration regarding St. Joseph, this did not prevent St. Francis de Sales from seeing the possibility for one.
For instance, in his celebrated Treatise on the Love of God (Book 7, chapter 13), Francis looks to the example of storks for a way of speaking of the assumption of St. Joseph. There he writes: “Storks provide a true picture of the mutual piety of children for their parents and parents for their children. They are birds of passage and they carry their aged fathers and mothers on their journeys, just as when they were small their own fathers and mothers had carried them on like occasions.”
You can see where the saint is going with this example. Joseph and Mary carried Jesus in their arms when he came to them as a newborn infant and cared for him with tenderness and love throughout his life. Francis continues, “who can doubt that when this holy father came to the end of his years, he, in turn, was carried by his divine foster Child on his journey from this world into the next, into Abraham’s bosom, from there to be translated into the Son’s own bosom, into glory, on the day of his Ascension?”
Francis then places on the lips of St. Joseph these beautiful words to his son, Jesus: “O my Child, as your heavenly Father placed your tender body in my hands on the day you came into the world, so do I place my spirit in your hands on this day of my departure from this world.” Francis could not imagine a loving son refusing such a prayer from so loving a father!
During this year we are asked to honor St. Joseph in a special way. Why not take to prayer the image of the Holy Family now joined once again in the blessedness of their heavenly home as once they shared a simple and loving family life in the village of Nazareth?
When I was a novice, these words were written above the altar: “Go to Jesus through Mary.” While Francis would certainly espouse that prayer, he would no doubt add a second: “Go to Jesus through Joseph.” Can Jesus, the son, refuse any request from either parent?
Pray to Mary; pray to Joseph!
Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial, Wilmington-Philadelphia Province
