St. Joseph’s Secret Weapon

What is the greatest predictor of societal, familial and children’s psychological, emotional, physical health?
Over the course of the last fifty years, societal demographics and associated supporting statistical data have demonstrated persuasively that as fatherhood goes, so goes society.

The weakness, immorality, lack of meaning and true value of a society directly correlates to father’s, husband’s, men’s weakness, immorality, and loss of true identity and mission.

As oil separates from water, men of tradition and Christian morality, who identify as sons of God the Father in Christ, are becoming shining lights among men trapped in boys’ bodies.

I believe that if the world is to be converted, the Church must be renewed.
If the Church is to be renewed, the domestic churches that compromise that Church must be restored to being a living image of Trinitarian self-giving love.
If the family is to be restored, marriages must be revitalized.
If marriages are to be revitalized, that man who is husband, father, leader and son of God must become like St. Joseph, a father on earth like the Father in heaven.

The human father, the patriarch, is at the epicenter of the raging battle between God and the devil.

St. Joseph won the battle.
St. Joseph overcame fear.
St. Joseph protected his wife, his Son, his family.
St. Joseph raised the One who conquered sin and death.

How did he do it?
St. Joseph had a secret weapon that granted him victory.

St. Joseph’s Secret Weapon

The Ark was Israel’s secret weapon, which often was carried into battle, winning for the Jews decisive and often impossible victories.

God commanded Moses to make the Ark of the Lord from acacia wood and covered it in gold.1
The ark was approximately two yards wide by three yards long2 and was cherished as containing the very presence of God, for it contained the Ten Commandments;3 the manna from heaven in an urn;4 and Aaron’s staff that budded an almond shoot.5

The glory cloud, the Holy Spirit, overshadowed (Greek, episkiasei) the Ark of the Lord.6

It was the Ark of the Lord that caused the walls of Jericho to crumble.67
When the Israelites, led by Joshua, entered the promised land, it was the Ark, carried by the Levitical priests, that caused the waters of the Jordan to congeal at the city of Adam, enabling the Israelites to cross the riverbed dry shod.78

St. Luke, in his Gospel, draws a parallel association between the Ark of the Lord and Mary.

The same Holy Spirit that overshadowed the Ark, overshadowed (episkiasei) Mary.9

Mary contained the fulfillment of the ancient Ark’s possessions: Jesus, the Word of God (the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments);10 the Bread of Life (the fulfillment of the manna from heaven);11 and the priesthood of Jesus (the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood),12 the one who would rule the nations with an iron rod13, the shoot of David (prefigured by Aaron’s staff that budded an almond shoot).14

Indeed, as David proclaimed, “Who am I that the Ark of the Lord should come to me?”15 When Mary greeted her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth exclaimed (cried out) “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”16

The word Luke uses for “to cry out” (anephonesen) is an uncommon word, only used in Sacred Scripture in the context of a liturgical celebration wherein the Ark of the Lord was present. In other words, Luke is indicating that Mary is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Lord.

As the Ark of the Lord was the secret weapon of the Israelites, similarly Mary is the secret weapon of the Church and her faithful; for the presence of God is with her, and in her; as the angel of the Lord proclaims to her, “The Lord is with you.”17

The angel of the Lord commanded St. Joseph to “not fear” and to “take unto thee Mary,” “for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

When we withdraw from Mary, we withdraw from Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Yet, when we bring Mary into our hearts, she will obtain for us the power to topple the walls and crush the head of the adversary.
She will restrain the waters of original sin, which flow from Adam, from drowning us in its effects.
Indeed, if we like Joseph take Mary as our own, she will lead us safely to the promised land; for the Lord is with her.

A man can be tempted to believe that his wife holds him back.
Or that he doesn’t need her to become the man he desires to be.
That was not the case for St. Joseph.
He needed Mary.

By taking Mary as his wife, Joseph received his vocation, his fatherhood; he grew in responsibility, exercised strength, and learned to love profoundly.
Mary was the key to his success.
She taught Joseph about love.

Do you have trouble loving others?
Do you have difficulty respecting your wife, her ideas, her counsel?
Go to Joseph today.
He will show you the secret to becoming a loving, heroic husband: devotion to and love for Mary.

1. See Ex 25:13; 25:28, 30:5; Deut 10:3.
2. See Ex 25:10, 37: 1–9.
3. Ex 31:18, 25:51; Deut 10:2:5.
4. See Heb 9:4.
5. See Numb 17:8.
6. See Ex 40:34.
7. See Josh 5:13–6:27.
8. See Josh 3.
9. Lk 1:35: “And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore, also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” The Greek word for overshadow, episkiasei, is the same word used in the Exodus account to describe God’s Spirit overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant located in the tent of meeting.
10. See Jn 1.
11. See Jn 6.
12. See Heb 4:14–16.
13. See Ps 2.
14. See Isa 11:1.
15. 2 Sam 6:9: “And David was afraid of the Lord that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?”
16. Lk 1:43: “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
17. See Lk 1:28.

Devin Schadt | Executive Director of the Fathers of St. Joseph

Ite ad Joseph