On this the Feast of the Blessed Spouse of the Holy Virgin and Foster Child of the Incarnate Word, I wish to focus briefly on one of his titles; St. Joseph, the Terror of Demons!
The first time I heard of this was running around Montreal with Fr. Roy on a Saint Andre pilgrimage to the Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal. Now not much has really been written on (that I know of) so bear with me...
In today's society, more and more I think men have lost a sense of what it means to be pious and devout. On the one hand, we are naturally aggressors and protectors and yet, the extreme call to humility leads to the common modern fallacy of 'Church is for women.' Harvey Mansfield, in his book Manliness, discusses the nihilism of manly virtue in light of the effects feminism has had on contemporary society. This nihilism, I argue, has also been lost in popular piety and devotion amongst the male population. To a certain extent, when women started acting more and more like men, men seized to act distinctly manly. In an age of increasing gender blending and questioning, lost a sense of a distinctly masculine piety and devotion.
To any male then, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND ACQUIRING A COPY OF MANLINESS and read it!!!
What Mansfield so greatly points out is that men have lost a sense of what the Greeks called θυμος (thumos). In light of the Christian call to a certain sense of vulnerability, thumos is ignored and silenced, lingering unnoticed and unemployed evoking a internal frustration in the male psyche. Mansfield, in tracing its pedigree from Homer through Plato discusses thumos as a spiritedness and ferocity in defence of clan, tribe, city, or state. Many contemporary passivists blame the countless wars on this spiritedness, the so-called male aggressive ego. Many people hoped and anticipated that anticipated a demise of thumos will lead to an end of war; and yet, thumos has stubbornly refused to be banished from human nature; indeed, it is ubiquitous. As Mansfield note, it is much more than an atavistic instinct. It is also what motivates us to sacrifice ourselves for a higher purpose. It is opposed to self-interest, not vulnerability/humility I might add, which Mansfield tells us “calms you down; thumos pumps you up”. Rather than rash anger, say in the way that typically characterizes the Trojan War started over the shovenistic attachment to the beautiful face of Helen, it is a spiritedness. Following 9/11, most Americans were filled with a certain thumos for their country and were ready to fight and defend their honor, their land, and their country. As he notes, 'But unless men — and it usually is men — preserve enough thumos to be prepared to die for their country, they become decadent and ultimately subservient. Without thumos, the West lacks the manly qualities that a civilisation requires to survive.' As he notes, it illuminates and highlights “the contrast between anger and gain; the insistence on victory; the function of protectiveness; the stubbornness of partisanship; the role of assertiveness; the ever-presence of one’s own; the task of religion; the result of individuality; the ambition of greatness.”
So there were are, a brief and poor summary of Mansfield EXCELLENT depiction of thumos, or the lack thereof, in contemporary men. (seriously go read it, I don't have my book at hand and I know I didn't even begin to do justice to his discussion...maybe I will update this later but we all know I won't ;) ). Yet it remains their in the background, nagging. This, I posit is what makes men so afraid to develop a piety...its another instance in which, not dictated by culture, men feel as though they have to leave their manhood at the door. Yet, this is precisely where I think St. Joseph comes to the rescue.
Most seem to interpret Joseph, who speaks not a single word in Scripture, as this passive and weak man who just followed what an angel told him to do. To a certain extent, that is a remarkable quality, that sense of duty to his wife and child to stand beside them through all the 'scandal' that leads them to Bethlehem and through Egypt. And though the head of the family, there is no doubt that St. Joseph was the 'least' member of the Holy Family.
In St. Joseph, we clearly see that noble sense of humility, that heroic sense of vulnerability to the will of God and his family...and yet, he is their shepherd. In the plaque depiction of him as the Terror of Demons in Montreal, he is standing between a demon and a family, casting the demon away in fear. He is filled with thumos as he protects his family and the Church as the Universal Protector of the Church. That fatherly and spousal relationship of protector and his defender.
Satan and his fallen angels not only tremble in fear of Joseph, they were unsuccessful in seducing the Chaste Spouse; he checked his temper, refrained from idle speech, and was righteous as the Gospel of Matthew tells (1:19). Mary was not subject to Original Sin in any way due to her Immaculate Conception; Sacred Tradition similarly holds that the just Joseph, her beloved groom was kept apart from demonic influence. Further still, evil cowers in his presence. He is pure and he battled Original Sin.
Anywho, he is the protector of His Family, now the Church, and defends her honor with virtue and righteousness. Let us, whenever the demons attempt to seduce us, call on this just man to terrorize the demons (that just still sounds so cool). And further still, all men, particularly married men and fathers, devote and consecrate yourselves to this chaste man, the most privileged Spouse of Mary and Foster Father of Christ (and the only man privilege to live a chaste and married life) who is the icon of a man, humble before the Lord and vulnerable to His Will (even in a Child) and yet, filled with the utmost heroic virtue of thumos. Ok I ran out of steam pretty quickly there. Enjoy the Feast!
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