Saint Joseph: Shadow of the FatherAllusions, prefigurations and prophecies concerning the role of St. Joseph in the plan of God the Father, form the backdrop to this book which charts the growth of devotion to Joseph from the first centuries of the Church up to the present. Using Biblical reflections, pastoral experience and the personal prayers and thoughts of such great devotess of Joseph as Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Bernadette of Lourdes and Thérèse of Lisieux, the author protrays a vivid picture of the man chosen to be the foster father of Jesus. Reflecting rabbinical, Alexandrian and Carmelite influences we are introduced to him who was, for Jesus, "the face of the eternal Father". At one with Mary,his wife, Joseph "embodies this loving shadow of the Father to perfection, a shadow possessing an invincible power in its apparent weakness and unequalled tenderness". |
