Joe, the second mirror

Last week, I shared St. Francis de Sales' analogy of the date-palm tree for Joe. This week, I'm sharing another analogy that de Sales offers in this conference: Joe as a mirror. This analogy should not be surprising though; after all, Joe is invoked as the "mirror of patience" in his litany. Simply put, as a mirror does not emit any light of its own but only reflects light from a source, Joe too does not emit any light of his own but only reflects that light, which is the Light of the World (John 8:12). Joe, however, does not reflect the Light directly. He receives the Light of the World from Mary, who is also a mirror. Here is what de Sales writes:

Oh divine union between Our Lady and the glorious St. Joseph! By means of this union, that Good of eternal goods, Our Lord Himself, belonged to St. Joseph as well as to Our Lady. This is not true as regards the nature which He took in the womb of our glorious Mistress, and which had been formed by the Holy Ghost of the most pure blood of Our Lady ; but is so as regards grace, which made him participate in all the possessions of his beloved Spouse, and which increased so marvelously his growth in perfection; and this through his continual communication with Our Lady. For although it is true that she possessed every virtue in a higher degree than is attainable by any other pure creature, yet it is quite certain that the glorious St. Joseph was the being who approached most nearly to that perfection.

And just as we see that a mirror placed opposite to the rays of the sun receives those rays perfectly, and another mirror placed opposite to the first, though it only takes or receives the sun's rays by reflection, yet reflects them so absolutely that you can scarcely judge which receives them directly from the sun and which only by reflection, so it was in the case of Our Lady. She was like a most pure mirror, receiving on a spotless surface the rays of the Sun of Justice, which poured into her soul all virtues in their perfection. All these virtues and perfections were then absolutely reflected in St. Joseph, so that it almost seemed as if he were as perfect, and possessed all virtues in as high a degree, as the glorious Virgin our Mistress.

More coming up next week...