347 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts than Joseph? Who was purer than the Most Holy Virgin? Yet, he wanted to leave her clandestinely. But how prudently and righteously he wanted to do it! He did not want to separate from her openly, lest she be defamed, but clandestinely, that she may preserve her good name. You ought to learn from this holy and just Man: although the deeds of others may seem evil [f.107v] to you and are said to be imperfect, you should judge them secretly, not openly, and judge in such a way that neither your conscience nor their good name be hurt. If you do so, you will not lack the light you need to judge rightly; as the righteous husband of the Most Holy Virgin did not lack the light to comprehend the truth about how she had conceived. After Holy Communion 1. “Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, did not want to bring disgrace upon her” (cf. Mt 1:19). Consider, that the saintly Old Man157 did not want to bring disgrace upon the Most Blessed Virgin, not out of scheming, but out of the greatest charity, because he was a just man. Yet, if you unfairly inquire into another’s actions, if you have a wicked habit of bringing disgrace upon others, or at least if you suspect somebody imprudently and without foundation, know that you deviate far from the course of justice and you are unworthy of the eminent title of just man. Therefore, imitate St. Joseph, and bite your tongue before you pass judgment on the conduct or deeds of the others. 2. “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” (Mt 1:20). 157 St. Stanislaus speaks here about St. Joseph, using the Latin term: Senecio, which is a diminutive (used affectionately) of Senex (“an old man”). “Art and popular imagination have usually pictured Joseph as an old man. But this is surely a false idea. The rabbis at the time of Christ commonly taught that men should marry between the ages of 13 and 19, and Joseph, as a ‘just’ (i.e., law-abiding) man, would no doubt have conformed to this practice” (F. L. Filas, NCE, vol. VII, p. 1107 (s.v. Joseph, St.)). Cf. Gaetano Stano, ECat, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, Città del Vaticano 1951, pp. 791ff., 795f. (s.v. Giuseppe, santo. — Sposo di Maria Vergine).
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