He (St. Joseph) is head of the Holy Family, father of the trinity on earth which resembles so closely the Holy Trinity on high. St. Peter Julian Eymard
The Holy Trinity is a family, a Holy Family. They want you to be a member of their family. To make this happen, they have established a trinitarian replica on earth -an earthly trinity. The trinity on earth consists of Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph. In a sense, they are the first church. Membership in this family will prepare you for membership in God’s eternal family in heaven.
Saint Joseph is the father of the trinity on earth. Many saints have compared the earthly trinity (Jesus, Mary, and Joseph) to the heavenly Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The comparison has its limitations, of course.
Mary and St. Joseph are not divine, and the Holy Spirit is not a mother. Nonetheless, the comparison is important because it teaches us something about God’s Trinitarian family. Saint Francis de Sales offers us a great insight on this subject. He writes:
There is no doubt at all that St. Joseph was endowed with all gifts and graces required by the charge which the Eternal Father willed to commit to him, over all the domestic and temporal concerns of our Lord, and the guidance of his family, which was composed of three persons only, representing to us the mystery of the Most Holy and Adorable Trinity.
Not that there is any real comparison in this matter excepting as regards our Lord, who is one of the persons of the Most Blessed Trinity, for the others were but creatures; yet still we may say it was a trinity on earth representing in some sort the Most Holy Trinity.
Saint Francis de Sales teaches us a very important truth in this statement. He beautifully articulates that the trinity of Nazareth (Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph) represents the heavenly Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and, therefore, consists only of three persons. In other words, Jesus did not have any biological brothers and sisters. This is what the Catholic Church has always taught. But the Church has always taught that the Trinity in heaven and the trinity on earth want you to be a member of their family through adoption!
Let’s be clear, though: You are never going to become a divine person. You and I are not God, and we never will be. God does, however, want to bring us into the familial life of his Triune Godhead through spiritual adoption.
This happens when we are baptized. As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, we are made members of God’s family on earth, the Holy family. Membership in the Holy Family on earth prepares us to enter the Holy Family in heaven.
If you want to be a member of the Trinitarian family in heaven, you need to be a child of St. Joseph on earth. Saint Joseph, your spiritual father, will help you become a true child of the Heavenly Father. Saint Joseph will teach you how to love, pray, sacrifice, and work. He will teach you how to do the will of God.
The pathway to heaven is paved with virtues, and St. Joseph will give you a father’s example of holiness. With his holy assistance, your transition to the Trinity on heaven will be an easy one. Membership in the family of Nazareth -accepting St. Joseph as your father, Mary as your mother, and Jesus as your brother- is the surest, easiest, and quickest way of becoming a member of the Trinitarian family in heaven.
What an honor it was (for St. Joseph) to enter into an alliance with the family of the heavenly Father, to become the third person of the created Trinity. Blessed William Joseph Chaminade