Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. - The Chastity of Saint Joseph

St. Joseph - Foster Father of Jesus by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. The Chastity of Saint Joseph The Church's constant tradition holds that Saint Joseph lived a life of consecrated chastity. Some of the apocryphal gospels picture him as an old man, even a widower. This is not the Church's teaching. We are rather to believe that he was a virgin, who entered into a virginal marriage with Mary. This was to protect Mary's reputation and safeguard the dignity of her Son. What is the lesson for us? That chastity has an apostolic purpose. It is meant to help us win souls. It also shows how highly God regards the virtue of chastity, seeing that He providentially arranged a series of miracles of chastity: The virginal conception of the Savior. The virginal birth of the Son of God. The marriage of Mary and Joseph. The life of Jesus Christ. Chastity is the virtue that moderates the desire for sexual pleasure according to the principles of faith. For married people, chastity moderates the desire in conformity with their life. For the unmarried people who wish to marry, the desire is moderated by abstention until (or unless) they get married. For those who resolve not to marry, the desire is totally sacrificed. Chastity and purity, modesty and decency are comparable in that they have the basic meaning of freedom from whatever is lewd or salacious. Yet they also differ. Chastity implies an opposition to the immoral in the sense of lustful or licentious. It implies refraining from all acts or thoughts that are not in accordance with the Church's teaching about the use of one's reproductive powers. It particularly emphasizes an avoidance of anything that might defile or make the soul unclean because the body has not been controlled in the exercise of its most imperious passion.