Dark hour of history

 

“Pope Leo urged Catholics to reject comfort, power and domination and instead embrace a mission rooted in self-giving love, even when it requires risk, vulnerability and suffering”.

 

Taken from:

'In this dark hour of history,' do not shy away from your mission, pope says - Detroit Catholic

 

‘In this dark hour of history’, do not shy away from your mission, pope says

 

Carol Glatz and Josephine Peterson

Apr 2, 2026

….

 

ROME (CNS) -- God doesn't exist to grant victories or to be useful by providing wealth or power, Pope Leo XIV said.

 

Through Jesus, he serves humanity by offering himself in a way that transforms human hearts so that they may then be inspired to love others unconditionally, in turn, he said in his homily during Mass of the Lord's Supper in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

 

"Jesus purifies not only our image of God -- from the idolatry and blasphemy that have distorted it -- but also our image of humanity," he said April 2, Holy Thursday. "For we tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared."

 

However, he said, "Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service and love" so that humankind can learn how to love according to what true love is.

In fact, he said, learning to act like Jesus "is the work of a lifetime."

 

The Lord loves not because those he reaches out to are good or pure, Pope Leo said, but simply because "he loves us first."

"His love is not a reward for our acceptance of his mercy; instead, he loves us, and therefore cleanses us, thereby enabling us to respond to his love," he said. "He does not ask us to repay him, but to share his gift among ourselves."

"In him, God has given us an example -- not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it," Pope Leo said.

"As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed," he said. "In this way, we seek to follow the Lord's example."

 

Pope Leo XIV washes the foot of a priest during the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the

Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome April 2, 2026. The foot-washing ritual reflects the call

to imitate Christ by serving one another. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

 

The pope's words came during a Mass that commemorates Jesus' institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood, and includes the traditional foot-washing ritual, which reflects the call to imitate Christ by serving one another.

 

Pope Leo returned to an earlier practice of washing the feet of 12 priests from the Diocese of Rome in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. The pope poured water from a golden pitcher onto the foot of each priest, wiped each foot dry with a towel and then gently kissed each foot.

 

Pope Francis had departed from the norm after his election in 2013 by celebrating the Mass in one of Rome's "peripheries," such as prisons or nursing homes, and by washing the feet of men, women and their infants, Muslims or people of no faith, as a sign of his dedication to serve everyone unconditionally.

 

Pope Francis' predecessors had always chosen either 12 priests, laymen or boys from the diocese for the ritual held either in the Basilicas of St. John Lateran or of St. Peter.

By choosing 12 priests, 11 of whom he ordained last year, Pope Leo highlighted the Mass' commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist and of holy orders.

"The intrinsic bond between these two sacraments reveals the perfect self-gift of Jesus, the high Priest and living, eternal Eucharist," he said in his homily.

"Beloved brothers in the priesthood, we are called to serve the people of God with our whole lives," he said.

 

Jesus' disciples were astonished by their master's gesture and, like Peter, "we too must 'learn repeatedly that God's greatness is different from our idea of greatness … because we systematically desire a God of success and not of the Passion,'" he said, quoting Pope Benedict XVI.

"We are always tempted to seek a God who 'serves' us, who grants us victory, who proves useful like wealth or power. Yet we fail to perceive that God does indeed serve us through the gratuitous and humble gesture of washing feet," he said. "This is the true omnipotence of God."

 

Earlier in the day, Pope Leo urged Catholics to reject comfort, power and domination and instead embrace a mission rooted in self-giving love, even when it requires risk, vulnerability and suffering.

 

During the chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, he called on the faithful in his homily to overcome fear and a sense of powerlessness in responding to the world’s crises.

"In this dark hour of history, it has pleased God to send us to spread the fragrance of Christ where the stench of death reigns," he said. "Let us renew our 'yes' to this mission that calls for unity and brings peace."

While grounding his remarks in the teaching of his predecessors, saints and clergy, the pope in this homily placed particular emphasis on the Church’s mission through his own eyes as a missionary.

The first step of accepting the Christian mission, he said, is to risk leaving behind what is familiar and certain, in order to venture into something new.

"Every mission begins with that kind of self-emptying in which everything is reborn," he said.

It is through this self-emptying that Christians encounter the love of Christ, the pope said.

 

Pope Leo XIV celebrates the Mass of the Lord's Supper at the Basilica of St. John Lateran

in Rome April 2, 2026. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

 

At the heart of his first Holy Thursday homily as pope, he reflected on the nature of Christian love, saying it is rooted not in power, but in self-giving.

"Jesus' journey reveals to us that the willingness to lose oneself, to empty oneself, is not an end in itself, but a condition for encounter and intimacy," Pope Leo said. "Love is true only when it is unguarded."

 

He said true peace is not found in remaining comfortable, but in embracing the risk and detachment that mission requires. Calling it a "fundamental secret of mission," the pope said "everything is restored and multiplied if it is first let go, without fear,” a process repeated “in every new beginning, in every new sending forth."

 

God calls upon the faithful to take risks, so "no place becomes a prison, no identity a hiding place," he said. Every mission requires reconciliation with the past, with the "gifts and limitations of the upbringing we have received," the pope said.

 

Once the faithful are able to detach from what is familiar and comfortable, Pope Leo said they must then "encounter" the other through selfless service and the sharing of life. This detachment, he said, creates the conditions for authentic encounter rather than control.

He emphasized that it is a priority that "neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power."

 

He pointed to the example of missionaries, a role he held as an Augustinian in Peru, whose work must be rooted in service, dialogue and respect.

 

Rather than seeking to "reconquer" increasingly secular societies, the pope said Catholics must approach as guests, not to impose, but to listen and accompany.

 

The Church's mission, the pope said, is guided by the Holy Spirit, and the faithful must not try to control it but instead follow its lead, entering each culture with humility and "respecting the mystery that every person and every community carries within them."

 

In his third point, the pope explained that this mission is not a "heroic adventure" reserved only for a few, but rather the "living witness of a Body with many members," and every mission includes rejection and suffering.

 

He recalled that the people of Nazareth were filled with rage when they heard Jesus' words and drove him out of the town. Every Christian must "pass through" a trial just as Jesus did, the pope said.

 

"The cross is part of the mission: the sending becomes more bitter and frightening, but also more freeing and transformative," he said.

 

A successful mission is not about the results, but rather about the disciple's faithfulness and hope in God. Jesus embarked on a journey "in a world torn apart by the powers that ravage it," Pope Leo said.

"Within it arises a new people, not of victims, but of witnesses," he said.

 

 

Jesus does not listen to the prayers of the warmongers

 

“[Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen:

our hands are full of blood’,” he said, citing a passage from the Bible.

Pope Leo XIV

  

Pope says God rejects prayers of those who wage wars

 

Joshua McElwee
Mar 30, 2026 ….

 

Source: Al Jazeera

 

Pope Leo says God rejects the prayers of leaders ‌who start wars and have “hands full of blood” in in unusually forceful remarks as the Iran war enters ‌its second month.

 

Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, the celebration that opens the holiest week of the year in the lead-up to Easter for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, the pontiff said Jesus could not be used to justify any wars.

“This is ‌our God: Jesus, ‌King of ⁠Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify ​war,” the first US Pope told crowds in brilliant sunshine on Sunday (local time).

 

Palm Sunday begins the holiest week of the year for 1.4 billion Catholics

ahead of Easter. Photo: AAP

 

“[Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood’,” he said, citing a passage from the Bible.

Leo did not specifically ⁠name any world leaders, but he has stepped up ​criticism of the Iran war in recent weeks.

During an appeal at the end ‌of Sunday’s ​celebration, the Pope lamented that Christians in the Middle East “are suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict” and ​might not be ‌able to celebrate Easter.

 

The Pope, who is known for choosing his ​words carefully, has repeatedly ‌called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict and said on Monday military ​air strikes were indiscriminate and should be banned.

 

Some US officials have invoked Christian language to justify the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that initiated the expanding war.

 

US Defence ​Secretary ​Pete Hegseth, who has started leading Christian ​prayer services at the Pentagon, prayed at ‌a service on Wednesday for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”.

 

In his homily on Sunday, Leo referenced a Bible passage in which Jesus, about to be arrested ahead of his crucifixion, rebuked one of his followers for striking the person arresting him with a sword.

“[Jesus] did not arm himself, or ​defend himself, or fight any war,” Leo said.

“He revealed the gentle face of God, who always ​rejects violence. Rather than ⁠saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross.”

 

—AAP

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession

 

 

Pope condemns ‘scandal’ of war

as Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession

 

Patrick Hudson, Aili Winstanley Channer 

23 March 2026, The Tablet 

 

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem designated 28 March to pray the Rosary ‘to implore the gift of peace and serenity, especially for those suffering because of the conflict’.

 

Pope Leo again voiced his “dismay” at the war in the Middle East as he appealed for a halt to violence around the world.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many defenceless people who are victims of these conflicts,” he said after the Angelus on Sunday, deploring how the Middle Easy “like other regions of the world is torn apart by war and violence”.

“What hurts them hurts all of humanity. The death and pain caused by these wars is a scandal for the entire human family and a cry that rises to God,” the Pope said.

“I strongly renew my appeal to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and paths to peace may finally open, based on sincere dialogue and respect for the dignity of every human person.”

 

On Monday, in an address to a delegation from Italy’s national airline ITA Airways, Pope Leo condemned the use of aircraft for bombings, insisting that aeroplanes “should always be carriers of peace, never of war”.

“No one should be afraid that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky,” he said. “After the tragic experience of the twentieth century, aerial bombings should have been banned forever.”

 

He condemned the “regression” of technological development “being placed at the service of war”.

 

Israel continued to exchange strikes with Iran and its proxies last week, leading the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem to cancel its Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem and to postpone the Chrism Mass for the diocese.

 

“The restrictions imposed by the conflict and the events of recent days do not bode well for any imminent improvement,” said the Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa in an announcement on Sunday confirming that large public liturgies would not take place.

“In constant dialogue with the competent authorities, together with the other Christian Churches, we are evaluating how, in the ways to be agreed upon, we can celebrate the central mystery of our salvation in the heart of our Churches.”

 

He said this was “a wound that adds to the many others inflicted by the conflict” but urged Catholics to continue to pray for peace, designating 28 March to pray the Rosary “to implore the gift of peace and serenity, especially for those suffering because of the conflict”.

 

The announcement followed reports that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre faces closure during Holy Week, which prompted Church leaders in Jerusalem to confirm that liturgies would continue even if the public could not attend.

 

On Saturday, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement: “The community of Franciscan friars present at the Holy Sepulchre has never ceased, day or night, to carry out the scheduled celebrations, the rites, the daily processions, and the liturgical prayers according to the provisions of the Status Quo [the agreement governing shared use of the church].

“Even during these days, although access to the basilica is restricted to the faithful for security reasons, prayer continues unceasingly in the Holy Places.”

 

On Tuesday, the Palestinian and Israeli women’s movements Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace will together lead a barefoot walk through Rome to call for compassion, justice, and peace.  

 

In May 2024 Pope Francis signed their “Mothers’ Call” for a future of peace, freedom, equality, rights and security for children and the next generations.  

“For decades, mothers on both sides have borne the unbearable – grieving children lost to violence and fearing for those who remain,” the groups said in a statement. “From this shared pain comes an extraordinary act of courage: Palestinian and Israeli mothers walking together, barefoot, for peace.

“Walking barefoot is a universal gesture of humility and humanity. It is also a way to reconnect with the land that has absorbed both blood and tears, to feel the pain that unites mothers everywhere and the earth that sustains us all.  Every step we take is a call for life, for safety, for the future every child deserves.”

….

Pope condemns ‘scandal’ of war as Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession - The Tablet

 

Mary’s ‘Yes’ at the Annunciation was the turning point of history

 

 

Today is the feast-day of the Annunciation

(25^th March, 2026)

  

“Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus. Jesus invites us to be part of his Kingdom, just as he asked Mary for her ‘yes,’ which,

once given, was renewed every day”.

Pope Leo XIV

  

From Rome to the Holy Land: Annunciation of Mary

 

From Rome to the Holy Land: Annunciation of Mary

 

• Rudolf Gehrig

 

The place of the Incarnation. Credit: EWTN Vatican

 

It is a familiar scene in Rome. Every Sunday at noon, the Pope appears at the window of his apartment overlooking St. Peter’s Square to greet the faithful gathered below and those watching around the world.

“Cari fratelli e sorelle, buona domenica!” Pope Leo XIV calls out, beginning a tradition that has endured for generations.

 

At the heart of this weekly encounter is the Angelus—a prayer recited by Catholics worldwide, rooted in one of the most decisive moments in human history: the Annunciation.

 

“The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace…” the Pope prays, echoing words that have been repeated for centuries.

 

The “Yes” That Changed History

 

The Angelus centers on Mary’s response to God’s plan—her “yes” to becoming the Mother of Christ. This moment, often described as the turning point of salvation history, continues to shape the Church’s life today.

 

During the Jubilee dedicated to Marian spirituality in October 2025, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the enduring significance of Mary’s response.

 

“Brothers and sisters, Marian spirituality is at the service of the Gospel: it reveals its simplicity,” he said. “Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus. Jesus invites us to be part of his Kingdom, just as he asked Mary for her ‘yes,’ which, once given, was renewed every day.”

 

Mary’s fiat was not a single act confined to the past—it became a model of daily fidelity, a path of discipleship that continues to inspire believers. ….

 

 

 

Pope Leo to warmongers: ‘God cannot be enlisted by darkness’

 

 

“Some even claim to involve the name of God in these choices of death”,

the pope continued. “But God cannot be enlisted by darkness.

Rather, he always comes to give light, hope, and peace to humanity

— and it is peace that those who invoke him must seek”.

 

  

By Marco Mancini

….

March 15, 2026 at 2:18 PM ET

 

Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that God cannot be used to justify violence or war, warning that “God cannot be enlisted by darkness.”

 

The pope made the remarks March 15 during a pastoral visit to the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ponte Mammolo, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Rome, where he celebrated Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, known as Laetare Sunday.

 

Before the Mass, Leo XIV met with various parish groups, including children, young people, families, the sick, the elderly, and the poor assisted by volunteers from Caritas, the Catholic Church’s charitable aid network, and the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Rome-based Catholic lay community known for its service to the poor and peacemaking efforts.]

 

In his homily, the pope reflected on the suffering caused by armed conflicts around the world.

“Many of our brothers and sisters today suffer because of violent conflicts, caused by the absurd claim that problems and differences can be resolved with war,” he said. “Instead, we must tirelessly pursue dialogue for peace.”

“Some even claim to involve the name of God in these choices of death,” the pope continued. “But God cannot be enlisted by darkness. Rather, he always comes to give light, hope, and peace to humanity — and it is peace that those who invoke him must seek.”

 

Reflecting on the Gospel story of the man born blind, Leo XIV said the passage teaches believers to see others with the eyes of God.

 

To see in this way, he said, means overcoming prejudice — especially the tendency to look at someone who suffers “only as an outcast to be despised or a problem to be avoided,” retreating into “the fortified tower of selfish individualism.”

 

Jesus, by contrast, looks at the blind man with love, “not as an inferior being or a nuisance but as a person who is dear and in need of help,” the pope said.

 

By healing him, Jesus reveals his divine power and restores the man’s dignity as a creature made in the image and likeness of God. Having regained his sight, the man becomes “a witness to the light,” the pope said.

 

Leo XIV also warned of another form of blindness — the refusal to recognize God’s presence.

 

Those who accused Jesus and the healed man, he said, showed a deeper blindness: failing to see “right before them the face of God,” preferring instead the sterile security of rigid legalism.

“Jesus does not stop before such obstinacy,” the pope said, showing that “there is no Sabbath that can hinder an act of love.”

 

The pope also urged Christians to examine their own lives.

 

“We too can be blind when we fail to notice others and their problems,” he said. The first Christian community, he added, understood the call to live differently — sharing their goods, persevering in prayer, and living in communion and peace despite trials.

 

Addressing the parish community directly, Leo XIV praised its outreach to the poor and marginalized, including its attention to inmates at the nearby Rebibbia prison and its efforts to assist migrants with learning the language, finding housing, and securing stable employment.

 

He also commended the parish’s charitable initiatives, including family homes that welcome women and mothers in difficulty.

 

The pope concluded by encouraging the faithful to continue nurturing the “gift of light” entrusted to them through prayer, the sacraments, and charity.

“Let it grow within you and among you in all its gentleness,” he said, “and spread it throughout the world.”

 

Earlier, greeting children and young people, the pope also addressed parishioners who could not enter the church because of limited space, telling them that a vibrant parish community can be a sign of hope even in places marked by hardship.

“We who believe in Jesus Christ and live as brothers and sisters united can be a sign of hope in a world where these signs are often lacking,” he said. “In Jesus Christ there is salvation, and we want to live, receive, and share this great love that the Lord offers us.”

….

 

Pope Leo XIV: God ‘cannot be enlisted by darkness’

 

 

Saint Joseph the perfect icon of God the Father

 

“This is the theological foundation of the holy Patriarch’s greatness as virginal, messianic father of the Only-begotten of the Father: shadow and transparent icon of Him who wished to make Joseph unique partaker of his fatherhood in order to prepare the human nature of Christ for the holocaust of Calvary”. 

Jonathan Fleischmann

  

Today is the feast-day of Saint Joseph

 19^th March, 2026

  

The Vertex of Love

October 8, 2012 by Jonathan Fleischmann

 

When Mary was predestined in one and the same decree with

Jesus Christ by the design of God—before the creation of angels or

the universe, and before the existence of sin or evil—she was predestined to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit … to hold within herself 

all the love of creation.

Love’s Mechanics

 

In the return of all created things to God the Father (cf. Jn 1, 1; 16, 28), “the equal and contrary reaction,” says St. Maximilian Kolbe, “proceeds inversely from that of creation.”  In creation, the saint goes on to say, the action of God “proceeds from the Father through the Son and the Spirit, while in the return, by means of the Spirit, the Son becomes incarnate in (the Virgin Mary’s) womb and through Him, love returns to the Father.” …. 

The Saint of Auschwitz goes on:

 

In the union of the Holy Spirit with her, not only does love bind these two beings, but the first of them (the Holy Spirit) is all the love of the Most Holy Trinity, while the second (the Blessed Virgin Mary) is all the love of creation, and thus in that union heaven is joined to earth, the whole heaven with the whole earth, the whole of Uncreated Love with the whole of created love: this is the vertex of love. ….

 

Love’s Equilibrium

The form of the diagram shown in Figure 1 is not found in the work of St. Maximilian. 

     Figure 1:  The return of all created things to God the Father.

 

However, it accurately represents the state of equal and opposite action and reaction, that occurs when two bodies make contact.  In this case, the “bodies” represent heaven and earth:  the uncreated and created orders, God and his creation.  The first point I would like to make is that the state of equal and opposite contact forces in Newtonian mechanics requires “force equilibrium.”  It may then seem very wrong to use an image like this one, because how can the state shown between God and his creation be in equilibrium?  Isn’t God’s act of love so much greater than the return of his creation that no “equilibrium” would be possible?  This would certainly be the case if it were not for Emmanuel, that is, God with us.  Jesus, who is truly man, and truly God, belongs to both the created and uncreated orders simultaneously.  In his person, Jesus is both the son of Mary, fully human and like us in all ways except sin, and the Eternal Son of God the Father, infinite and equal in all ways to the Triune God.

....

Thus, the love of Jesus, the Word Made Flesh who is God, is by itself enough to “balance” the love of God.  However, there is even more in the equation of love’s equilibrium than the love of the Son, infinite and sufficient in itself, though it is.  According to St. Maximilian, the perfect love of the Trinity meets an adequate response in the perfect love of the Immaculate, which is the name St. Maximilian gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

 

How is it possible that Divine Love can find an adequate response in the love of a creature?  It is possible precisely because of the name that the Virgin Mary can claim for herself.  In 1854, the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaimed to St. Bernadette Soubirous: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” 

 

In the words of St. Maximilian, the Blessed Virgin is the created Immaculate Conception, as in the words of St. Bonaventure, the Holy Spirit is the uncreated Immaculate Conception. ….

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and the Son, as the perfect and infinite love between the Father and the Son in the eternal interior life of the Blessed Trinity. Thus, the Holy Spirit is truly all the love of the Most Holy Trinity.  The Holy Spirit is also called the “Complement” of the Blessed Trinity, because he is the completion of the Trinity, not in “number” (quantitatively), but in essence (qualitatively).

 

When Mary was predestined in one and the same decree with Jesus Christ … by the design of God—before the creation of angels or the universe, and before the existence of sin or evil—she was predestined to be the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

 

So she was predestined to hold within herself all the love of creation.  Thus, St. Maximilian says that the Blessed Virgin Mary “inserted into the love of the Most Holy Trinity becomes, from the very first moment of her existence, always, forever, the Complement of the Most Holy Trinity.” We may paraphrase the thoughts of St. Maximilian Kolbe on the spousal relationship between the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the words of Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner:

 

In virtue of this spousal union formally denoted by the title, Complement, Mary is able to enter, as no other, into the order of the hypostatic union, her soul being wholly divinized, because by the grace of the Immaculate Conception, it has been ‘transubstantiated’ into the Holy Spirit. ….

 

It is for this reason that Mary—though she is a creature in both her person and her nature—is herself the created Immaculate Conception, and, therefore, all the love of creation. She can actually provide an adequate response to the love of the Holy Spirit, who is the uncreated Immaculate Conception, and, therefore, all the Love of God.  Thus, the equation of love’s equilibrium is balanced again.

 

Now that we have balanced the equation of love’s equilibrium twice over, we could certainly stop. However, there is reason to continue. St. Maximilian does not expressly mention St. Joseph in the context of these reflections. 

 

However, the diagram in Figure 1, based entirely on the saint’s own reflections, certainly suggests the presence of St. Joseph in the order of the response of creation to God the Father. The order of Father, Son, and, Holy Spirit, shown in the diagram, reflects the order of God’s loving act of creation.

 

This was initiated by the zeal of the Father, designed by the wisdom of the Son, and effected by the action of the Holy Spirit. This is the order referred to by St. Maximilian when he says that: “the equal and contrary reaction (i.e., the return of all creation to God) proceeds inversely from that of creation.” We see this reflection in the diagram, where the reaction “force” of love is inverted, and the order of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the “action force,” is reversed to give the order of Holy Spirit, Son, and Father.

 

Notice, however, that in the return to God, it is creation that is reacting. Thus, the individuals reacting—while reflecting the Holy Spirit, Son, and Father to greater or lesser degrees—are all creatures.  We have Mary, who is the perfect similitude (St. Bonaventure), transparent icon (St. Maximilian), or even quasi-incarnation (St. Maximilian) of the Holy Spirit, but who is still a created person, with a created human nature. We have Jesus, who is the Word Incarnate, the same Person as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, but who is still in possession of a created human nature. St. Maximilian stops here, but must we stop here? I would dare to say that the analogy we have carried out so far on the inspiration of St. Maximilian suggests an obvious completion. We have St. Joseph, who has been called the “perfect icon of God the Father” by more than one saint. …. In the words of Fr. Joachin Ferrer Arellano:

 

In the light of the Scotistic thesis on the Primacy of Christ, to take one example, one discovers (…) how the virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph was predestined “ante mundi constitutionem” (before the constitution of the world), as an essential part of the one decree of the Incarnation of the Word in the womb of the Immaculate “ante praevisa merita” (before any consideration of antecedent merit). Such is the saving plan, “the mystery hidden before the ages in God,” (cf. Eph 3:9) to be accomplished at the high point in the history of salvation. That high point is the fullness of time (cf. Gal 4:4) when God sent his Son into the most pure bosom of Holy Mary Ever Virgin, espoused to a man of the house of David (cf. Lk 1:26) in fulfillment of the prophecy of Nathan. 

 

God acted thus, that through the obedience of the Spouses of Nazareth the Son might be freely welcomed into history on behalf of all mankind in order to save it. This welcome took place in the virginal womb of Mary, the Daughter of Zion, and in the house of Joseph, in the family home established by the marriage of the two Spouses (Mary and Joseph), “sanctuary of love and cradle of life.” 

 

This is the theological foundation of the holy Patriarch’s greatness as virginal, messianic father of the Only-begotten of the Father: shadow and transparent icon of Him who wished to make Joseph unique partaker of his fatherhood in order to prepare the human nature of Christ for the holocaust of Calvary. In this way, He made Joseph Father and Lord of the Church gushing forth from Christ’s opened side and born of the sword of sorrow of the Woman. ….

 

In addition to being the transparent icon of God the Father, St. Joseph was the true, virginal husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ….  In fact, it can even be said that St. Joseph is the virginal father of Jesus Christ.  For, again in the words of Fr. Joachin Ferrer Arellano:

 

Although singular, unique, and not univocal with fatherhood as this is ordinarily understood and commonly found among men, the position more common and traditional among theologians upholds the truly real fatherhood of Joseph in relation to Jesus, based 1) on his marriage to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and 2) on the right of the husband over his wife. He, therefore, who is born virginally of Mary, by reason of his birth, intimately pertains in some manner to Joseph as father. … In view of the dignity of Joseph as husband of Mary, to whom belongs the fruit of his wife’s womb, one is not permitted to overlook … how the indivisible virginity of both spouses—not simply that of Mary, but also that of her husband, the son of David—is ordered to the virginal fatherhood of Joseph according to the Spirit, in virtue of the obedience of faith to the saving plan of God. This plan includes the messianic fatherhood of Joseph as son of David in relation to his virginal Son, constituted Son of David, the messianic King, because He was Son of Joseph. ….

 

In the return of all created things to God the Father, it is under the leadership, and in imitation of, St. Joseph, our patriarch, that the individual members of the Church must, by the merits gained for us through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, be transubstantiated into Mary, who is the Virgo Ecclesia Facta (Virgin-Made-Church). ….

 

It is only by being transubstantiated into Mary, the created Immaculate Conception, that we can be united to God as she is uniquely united to God, being transubstantiated with her into the uncreated Immaculate Conception, who is the Holy Spirit. In virtue of this transubstantiation, we are possessed by the Immaculate, and we are thereby formed into a single community, or Church, sharing her personality. To St. Maximilian, this is the only way that we can be members of Christ’s Church, and thereby united to God. 

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Taken from: http://www.hprweb.com/2012/10/the-vertex-of-love/