St. Joseph’s Last Years - The Transfixion - Bk5 - Ch14

The Venerable Sister Mary of Jesus of Ágreda describes the sufferings and infirmities of St. Joseph during the last years of his life and how the Blessed Virgin Mary cared for him during that time. The Mother of God reminds us of the importance of caring for the sick saying, "My daughter, one of the virtuous works most pleasing to the Lord and most fruitful for souls, is the loving care of the sick. By it is fulfilled to a great extent that natural law which requires us to do to our neighbors what we wish them to do to us. In the Gospel, this is adduced as one of the works for which the Lord shall give eternal reward to the just (Matthew 25:34), and the failure to exercise this duty is alleged as one of the causes of the eternal damnation of the wicked."