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Given 18th April 2026.


We have observed that God is with Joseph. The Holy Ghost now reveals to us two virtues of Joseph. If the latter is faithful to them, the blessings of God will bear great fruit; had he not been faithful, God would have abandoned him, and it would have meant death: the death of the soul, worse than that of the body, but also death in the history of the Church.
These virtues are: firstly, obedience and humility; secondly, chastity. The fruit thereof is receiving governance, but above all, saving the people.

Joseph, a figure of the Messiah, a Slave in His Incarnation. His virtue wins hearts to him. Factus obediens usque ad mortem crucis, propter quod Deus exaltavit illum et dedit ei nomen quod est super omne nomen. Christ became obedient unto the death of the Cross; therefore, God exalted Him and gave Him a name which is above every name.
He leaves his cloak in the hands of sinners: He leaves His mortal flesh in the hands of His executioners.
In so doing, He draws good from evil and saves sinners (the Egyptians and his brethren).
Joseph, a good slave and a good prisoner, a model for us.

Joseph gave himself entirely to the service of his master; and having received from him authority over his entire household, he governed it along with everything that had been placed into his hands. The Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and He multiplied all his property, both in the city and in the countryside.
To accept trials—to perform well what God asks us to do.

God was with Joseph—by a special providence—but also through virtue. It is virtue that drives the world.
Vice cannot drive the world: every kingdom divided against itself heads to its ruin.

One is not virtuous in order to receive a reward; one is virtuous for the sake of being virtuous, and this bears fruit, which is to say, it engenders virtue.
The two neighbors in Pomerania during the Russian invasion. One has only two loaves of bread left and nothing with which to bake more. Her neighbor has no bread at all and, unaware of her neighbor's situation, comes to ask her for some. The former immediately gives her one of her two loaves. A Russian officer happens to be passing by the former’s home and, discovering her wretched situation, caused by his soldiers, brings her a large sack of flour, a sack of sugar, and I know not what else besides.

The woman who gave her bread did not do so in order to be succored, and there were many in the same situation who were not succored. However, God rewarded this particular one.
Virtue sometimes bears an immediate, tangible result, as in the case of Joseph; for example, certain women who convert their husbands. There is no other means for a woman to convert her husband than to serve him with virtue.
But sometimes, the result is delayed, as in the persecutions of the first centuries of the Church.
In every case, the Lord is with the virtuous man, and He curses the vicious one.

Do not cheat with the modern world. The liberal cheats: a little virtue, a little agreement with the world, which is to say, with vice.

Text from Genesis

Chapter 39: Joseph at the house of Potiphar

Joseph having therefore been led into Egypt, Potiphar, an Egyptian, a eunuch of Pharaoh and general of his troops, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

The Lord was with him, and everything succeeded happily for him. He dwelt in the house of his master, who knew very well that the Lord was with him, and that He favored him and blessed him in all his actions.

Joseph, having therefore found grace before his master, gave himself entirely to his service; and having received from him authority over his entire household, he governed it along with everything that had been placed into his hands.
The Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph's sake, and He multiplied all his property, both in the city and in the countryside; so that Potiphar had no other care than to sit at table and eat.
Now Joseph was handsome of face and very pleasing. Long after, his mistress cast her eyes upon him and said to him: Sleep with me.

But Joseph, horrified to consent to so criminal an action, said to her: You see that my master has entrusted all things to me, that he does not even know what he has in his house; that there is nothing that is not in my power, and that having put everything into my hands, he has reserved only you, who are his wife. How then could I commit so great a crime, and sin against my God?

This woman continued for several days to solicit Joseph with similar words, and he to resist her infamous desire.

Now it happened one day that Joseph having entered the house, and fulfilling some duty there without anyone being present, his mistress seized him by his cloak and said to him: Sleep with me. Then Joseph, leaving the cloak in her hands, fled and went outside.

This woman, seeing the cloak in her hands, and seeing herself despised, called the people of her household and said to them: See, he has brought this Hebrew here to us to insult us. He came to me with the intention of seducing me; but I began to cry out, and when he heard my voice, he left me his cloak, which I was holding, and fled outside.
When her husband returned to the house, she showed him this cloak, which she had kept as proof of her fidelity, and said to him: This Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came to do me violence; and having heard me cry out, he left me his cloak, which I was holding, and fled outside.

The master, too credulous of his wife's accusations, flew into a great anger at these words, and he had Joseph put into the prison where those whom the king caused to be arrested were kept. He was therefore confined in that place.
Joseph in prison

But the Lord was with Joseph; He had compassion on him, and He made him find grace before the governor of the prison, who committed to his care all those who were imprisoned there. Nothing was done save by his order.
And the governor, having entrusted everything to him, took no cognizance of anything whatsoever, because the Lord was with Joseph and made him succeed in all things.