Catholics know that 19 March is the Feast of St Joseph. Fewer, perhaps, are aware that the entire month of March is dedicated to the Most Chaste Heart. That seems a bit odd, doesn’t it? March is dominated by the Lenten fast, which is itself a preparation for Eastertide. According to tradition, Our Lord’s foster-father didn’t live to see his public ministry. In fact, it was necessary that St Joseph pass from this life before Christ could reveal Himself. Only then would Jesus become head of the royal House of David – both God and King by birthright. But what has any of this to do with Lent? The answer is this: St Joseph was the first Christian mystic. He is the exemplar of the hidden life, the interior life: that which is most pleasing to God, and which we’re called to imitate during the fast. In his 1931 spiritual classic The Truth about St Joseph, Fr Maurice Meschler observes,