¹ Now, beloved brothers, receive with attentiveness, silence, and tranquility the reflection on blessed Joseph, which we reserved for your charity from yesterday’s discourse, according to your custom.

² Blessed Joseph, most beloved brothers, before he ruled the kingdom of Egypt with admirable wisdom, first governed himself. Though he was handsome and striking in appearance, he did not use the beauty of his face to bring harm upon others but preserved it as a grace for himself. He considered himself all the more beautiful by proving his attractiveness not through the loss of chastity but through the cultivation of modesty. He recognized true beauty as that which does not captivate the eyes of others or wound fragile souls.

³ The sin belonged to his master’s wife, who looked upon him with evil intent, not to blessed Joseph, who did not wish to be wrongly seen. There was no fault in him for being seen, for it was not within the power of a servant to avoid the gaze of his mistress. Rather, it was her husband’s duty to guard his wife’s eyes. Nevertheless, let men also learn to guard themselves against the eyes of women, for even one who does not desire to be loved may be loved against his will.

⁴ Indeed, Joseph was loved by one whom he rejected. Scripture rightly defends him, saying: “The wife of his master cast her eyes on Joseph”. That is, Joseph did not display himself nor did he seduce the unsuspecting woman. Rather, she cast her nets and was herself ensnared by her own trap. She spread her snares and was bound by her own fetters. She said to him: “Lie with me”. The first weapons of an adulteress are the eyes; the second are words. Yet one who is not captured by the eyes can resist words.

⁵ Joseph is blameless for having entered her presence and is praised for having escaped from it. He valued the purity of his soul above the garments on his body. He left behind what the adulteress held in her hands as though it were not his own, showing by this that it was not truly his but had become another’s by being seized by impure hands. Truly, Joseph was a great man: though sold into slavery, he preserved the nobility of his spirit. Though desired, he did not love in return. Though asked, he did not consent. Though seized, he fled. Though his master’s wife confronted him, she could grasp his garment but could not capture his heart. He did not endure her words for long, deeming them a contagion. Fearing that the enticements of lust might reach him through the hands of the adulteress, he fled, leaving his cloak behind. He cast off the crime along with his garment. Stripped of his clothing, he fled—unclothed, yet not naked—for he was still clothed with the garment of purity. For truly, no one is naked except the one whom guilt has stripped bare.

⁶ In the previous passages, we read that after Adam transgressed God’s command through disobedience and fell into the fever of sin, he found himself naked. Thus, he said: “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”. He recognized himself as naked because he had lost the garment of divine protection. Thus, he hid, for he no longer wore the robe of faith, which he had cast off through his transgression.

⁷ Here, you see a great truth: Adam was naked, though he had not lost his physical garment, while Joseph, though stripped of his clothing, was not truly naked, for he abandoned only the garment seized by the adulteress. Scripture declares Adam to be naked, but does not describe Joseph as such. Rather, Joseph laid aside his clothing but did not become bare, for he preserved the incorruptible garments of virtue. In casting off his external garment, he stripped himself of the old man with his deeds, so that he might be clothed with the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator. On the other hand, Adam remained naked, unable to clothe himself once more. Stripped of his singular privilege, he was given a tunic of skins, for a sinner could no longer wear a spiritual garment.

⁸ When Joseph was falsely accused, he refused to declare his master’s wife guilty, for a righteous man does not know how to accuse others. Thus, she acted with impunity in her shamelessness. She, I might say, was the one truly stripped—though she clung to Joseph’s cloak—for she had lost all adornment of modesty and every garment of chastity in her soul. Joseph, however, I would call richly adorned and well-clothed, for though his voice was not heard, his innocence spoke for him. Likewise, Susanna later, by remaining silent at her trial, spoke more eloquently through divine wisdom. Thus, she merited the defense of the prophet, for she did not seek the help of her own voice.

⁹ I would say Joseph was even more blessed when he was cast into prison, for he endured a kind of martyrdom for the sake of chastity. The virtue of purity is a noble gift, even when preserved without danger, but it is crowned more fully when defended at the risk of one’s life. Joseph was imprisoned as if he were guilty of a crime, though no case had been heard against him. But the Lord did not abandon him even in prison. It is no shame for the innocent to suffer false accusations or be handed over to prison when justice is oppressed. The Lord visits His own even in prison—and all the more when the danger is greater. Yet what wonder is it if Christ visits those in prison, when He declared that He Himself is imprisoned in His servants, as it is written: “I was in prison and you did not visit me”.

¹⁰ Where does divine mercy not reach? Joseph found such favour that, although he had been confined in prison, he was later made the keeper of the prison itself. In him was prefigured what was later fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour. Just as Joseph, accused and conspired against by his master’s wife, was cast into prison, so too Christ, conspired against and accused by the synagogue, was crucified and willingly descended into the prison of the underworld.

¹¹ Look at the similarity: it is written of Joseph that he was free in prison and held authority over those imprisoned there. And what is written of our Lord and Saviour? “They have placed me in the lowest pit, in darkness and in the shadow of death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I have become like one without help, cast off among the dead, free.” This was more truly fulfilled in Christ, for He not only held power over the prisoners in their confinement, but also forcefully and gloriously reclaimed from the very prison of hell the spoils that the devil had captured. “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive”—that is, those whom the devil had seized for death, Christ reclaimed for life.

¹² Therefore, most beloved brothers, let us, with God’s help, strive as much as we are able to flee from dangerous and suspicious intimacy, following the example of the blessed Joseph. In this way, we may preserve the beauty of chastity, in accordance with the words of the Apostle: “Flee fornication”. Against other sins, we must fight in order to safeguard chastity; but this one, we must flee. Let us therefore imitate the blessed Joseph in perfect love and the preservation of chastity, so that we may never desire to return evil for evil, even to our enemies. May we so merit to preserve the adornment of purity in this life that we may be freed from eternal disgrace by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong honour, glory, and dominion forever and ever. Amen.