When Kelly Wahlquist was growing up, she knew people who had a devotion to Mary, or who had statues of St. Francis in their garden. She also grew up with St. Joseph, especially through the faith of her mother.
“My mom always had a really, really strong devotion to St. Joseph,” she said. And still does. Wahlquist recently asked her mother why. She learned that her mother had gone through some tough times and a friend gave her a St. Joseph prayer card and told her, “He will always hear you; he will always answer you.”
Kelly Wahlquist
Wahlquist, director of the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul and founder of WINE (Women in the New Evangelization), is the fourth presenter in the archdiocese’s “Cuppa Joe” series on 10 wonders of St. Joseph, with talks taking place at 10 locations entrusted to the patronage of the faithful’s spiritual father. Her virtual talk, “St. Joseph as the virginal father of Jesus,” premieres 4 p.m. June 1 on the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Facebook page, Instagram account, YouTube channel and on the archdiocese’s Year of St. Joseph page, archspm.org/synod/stjoseph.
Before her presentation, Wahlquist joined “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley to discuss St. Joseph for an episode of “Practicing Catholic” airing 9 p.m. May 28, 1 p.m. May 29 and 2 p.m. May 30 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Wahlquist said many people’s image of Joseph is the man standing in the Nativity scene looking over Mary’s shoulder as she’s holding Jesus. In art, many times St. Joseph is portrayed as an elderly man “because it’d be easier for an elderly man to make the sacrifice (of virginity),” she said.
People have asked her if she really believes that Joseph was a virgin, Wahlquist said. “I do,” she said. “God gives us the graces for what we need to do.”
“And if God can become incarnate by the Holy Spirit,” Wahlquist added, “if Jesus can do miracles and multiply loaves of bread, if he can rise from the dead, how could we limit him to think and limit God to think that he would not give the graces to this man that he has chosen from the beginning of time to be the man that would raise his Son?”
Mary and Joseph protected each other’s virtue, Wahlquist said. Joseph protected her purity, and Mary protected his. “And it’s all done for the mission of the Redeemer,” she said.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the archdiocese, the latest Practicing Catholic show also includes interviews with Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who discusses an essential tool for the Christian life, and Justina Kopp, who gives tips to parents about talking with their children about racism and racial justice.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at:
soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic
tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic?(Spotify)
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