Excellencies of a prince and a worker
Providence desired to ennoble the working class, deigning that the foster father of Jesus also be a manual labourer, fulfilling the profession of a carpenter. In this way, Saint Joseph united the two extremes of the social ladder in the internal harmony of his sanctity and his person. He was at the pinnacle as a Prince of the house of David, but an impoverished Prince, who drew from his artisan’s labour the sustenance of the Holy Family.
As a worker, he knew how to be humble and render the due respect to those who were superior to him. As a prince, he also knew the mission he was entrusted with, and he fulfilled it in a magnificent way, contributing to the preservation, defence and earthly glorification of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Eternal Father place this Treasure in his hands, the greatest treasure that ever was and ever will be in the history of the universe! And such hands can only be those of an authentic leader and ruler, a man of great prudence and of profound discernment, as well as of elevated affection, in order to surround the Son of God made man with the necessary adoring and venerable tenderness.
At the same time, he was a man ready to face, with perspicacity and firmness, any difficulty that presented itself: whether of a spiritual and interior nature, or those originating from the persecutions of Our Lord’s adversaries.
Dr. Plinio Magazine, Vol.1, No.10, p.14
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