Marriage is in itself, sacred, since God made it this way, but it is much more sacred still since Christ elevated it to the rank of:*Sacrament*
In conjugal love there is a very important objective that is fecundity, material or natural (grow and multiply yourselves). Then with the child's arrival, he or she, the father and the mother become a pale but sweet image of the Most Holy Trinity.
Consecrated people on the other hand are called to chastity, they sacrifice natural fecundity for spiritual fecundity that in fact is highly superior to the former.
There exist many lay people that exercise this virtue: single, virgins and even some marriaged persons. It is said that in the world there are many marriages that offer to God the exercise of continence, it can be during a certain period of time, or during a lifetime (there are not many of these). In both cases, only the spouses decide, in common consent, when and for how long they will make the offering.
Whatever the duration, it is important to know that it is VERY MUCH in the pleasure of God and that it has great spiritual value and that it gives valuable fruits. It is necessary to remember that only for the Grace of God it can be done, and even then it is necessary to pray and to be watchful.
It is said that these marriages are known as "JOSEPHITES", in honor to Saint Joseph. This Glorious Patriarch was all virtuous: he was meek, poor, humble, obedient etc, but of all these virtues his CHASTITY only irritated the world.
Joseph's Holy Chastity is the absolute guarantee of the Virginity of Mary and the Child's Incarnation from the Holy Spirit. The power to imitate the Saint of the Saints for a while will help liberate us from the slavery of the senses and to spiritualize and sweeten our married life. So we should pray:
"Saint Joseph, blessed tree of God, not to give fruits but to give shade, we thank you and we honor you as Patron of the Families. Perfect model of the Virtue of Virginity with fair reason you received the title of Custodian of Virgins... your power makes possible the impossible. Grant us the grace to offer God some years of purity... not only physic purity but also the one of the heart, and that we don't take this exercise as a hard burden but rather we must feel it as a wonderful victory of the spirit over matter"!.
*In the paragraph 2349 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be found the subject of Chastity explained in a better and more complete way.
Dear San JoséDear Saint Joseph, Jesus was hungry and you nourished him, Jesus was thirsty and you quenched His thirst, He was cold and you give Him warm, He didn't have a roof and you provided it.
After all these acts of love fulfilled with abnegation during thirty years, what will Jesus, in His generosity, not grant you?
Jesus will deny nothing to you our very dear Saint Joseph. I beg of you to use all your power assisting my poor soul to obtain, by your intercession, the graces I need.
Amen.
