Saint Joseph is a unique companion in the Great Friendship that is the Church. We have images and statues of Saint Joseph (as we do of Jesus, Mary, and all the saints) not out of idolatry or superstition, but to help us to remember that the Church is a communion of persons. Saint Joseph is a real person. The saints are real persons in the Church, whose lives have been definitively fulfilled in God, who dwell with Christ in Glory, but who are also our brothers and sisters who love us.Joseph is a person who fulfilled a singular mission during his earthly life, and he has a correspondingly unique presence, vitality, and accessibility within the communion of saints. Not only do we learn from his example, we can rely on him as the most faithful and steadfast of friends. Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us!
