St. Joseph Wants You To Be A Better Man

26

St. Joseph is the second greatest saint, and the Church celebrates his feast twice a year.

He's a pretty big deal.

However, I have struggled to understand the importance of St. Joseph in my own personal spiritual life and the life of the Church. This past year I was attending Mass on his feast day, and the priest in his homily quoted Venerable Fulton Sheen.

The quote rocked my world and St. Joseph finally made sense to me. Venerable Fulton Sheen describes St. Joseph in this way:

Joseph was probably a young man, strong, virile, athletic, handsome, chaste, and disciplined; the kind of man one sees sometimes shepherding sheep, or piloting a plane, or working at a carpenter's bench. Instead of being a man incapable of love, he must have been on fire with love… Instead, then, of being dried fruit to be served on the table of the king, he was rather a blossom filled with promise and power. He was not in the evening of life, but in its morning, bubbling over with energy, strength, and controlled passion.

That description of St. Joseph is exactly who I want to be. So how do I go about transforming myself into a man like St. Joseph?

Virtue. Aristotle says that “excellence is an art won by training and habituation” and that virtue is essentially practicing good habits. To be an excellent man like St. Joseph, is to be virtuous.

I suggest four simple steps to forming virtue.

1. Start Small

When you embark on the journey to practice virtue, you must start small. Don’t try to practice every virtue all at once.

If you desire to become more patient, start by putting up with that one really annoying person at work. Or if you desire to be more mild and gentle, start holding your road rage at bay on your commute into work. If you desire to be more pious, start by waking up in the morning and making the Sign of the Cross.

Whatever virtue you decide to tackle, start small.

2. Be Mindful of Your Negative Thoughts and Temptations

Once you begin to form a new habit, you will be tempted to fall back into your old ways. Temptation comes from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world is the people and influences around you. They can either lead you to greatness or keep you in mediocrity.  I heard it once said, “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” The world will tempt us to be mediocre, but we are called to greatness.

The flesh is your own weak humanity that is further weakened by the effects of original sin.  Our love for bodily comforts can tempt us away from virtue. But the man endeavoring to live a life of virtue must “deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt. 16:24).

The devil, the third source of temptation, is the last person who wants us to be virtuous. St. Joseph is called the terror of the devils because he was virtuous. Don’t let the devil tempt you from being virtuous.

3. Have A Plan For When You Falter

Needless to say that when begin to struggle for virtue, we will falter. Have a plan for when you do falter.

Perhaps you got a little too aggressive on your commute and began to experience road rage. Make a plan to combat that road rage on your commute home by grabbing your rosary and praying a decade.

Perhaps that really annoying guy at work is beginning to grate on your nerves, have a compliment or kind word ready for him to help you regain your patience.

4. Rejoice At The Small Victories

All virtues are obtained by a hard fought struggle and with the help of God’s grace. When you win that struggle and the good habit is transformed into a virtue, rejoice!

“For you O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy” (Psalm 92:4)

St. Joseph was able to share in the fatherhood of God because he was virtuous.

If you are single man and hope one day to be a husband and father, you must struggle for virtue like St. Joseph. If you are a married man and you are already a father, you must be virtuous like St. Joseph by being an excellent father.

If you are a single lady who is looking for a husband, ask God to send you a virtuous man. If you are a married woman, be like Our Lady and help your husband be a virtuous man.

St. Joseph, pillar of families and glory of home life, pray for us!

Find Your Forever.

CatholicMatch is the largest and most trusted
Catholic dating site in the world.

Get Started for Free!CatholicMatch
— This article has been read 3276 times —