"I was certainly cleverer than they, but they had the immeasurable advantage that they were right—an advantage that they did not throw away by resorting to the bad philosophy and apologetics then sometimes taught in Catholic schools.

     Peter Geach, as quoted by John Schwenkler on dotCommonweal, 24 December 2013.  Schwenkler cites "Philosophical Autobiography," Peter Geach: Philosophical Encounters, ed. Harry A. Lewis (Boston:  Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991).

"The confessor . . . is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful. . . ."

"the ministers of the church must be ministers of mercy above all. The confessor, for example, is always in danger of being either too much of a rigorist or too lax. Neither is merciful, because neither of them really takes responsibility for the person. The rigorist washes his hands so that he leaves it to the commandment. The loose minister washes his hands by simply saying, ‘This is not a sin’ or something like that. In pastoral ministry we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds."

     Pope Francis to Antonio Spadaro, S.J., as quoted in "A big heart open to God:  the exclusive interview with Pope Francis," America, 30 September 2013.

Joseph "yields, rather than rejects. He releases (apolūsai) Mary, rather than casts her out (apolūsai)."

Annunciation to Joseph

"Joseph [was] 'just' [not in the spirit of Caiaphas, but] in the prophetic spirit of [John] the Baptist, and thus awed by the mystery he faced and respectful of its remove from the ordinary. . . . [H]aving been told by Mary of the Annunciation as soon as it took place, and thus well before any outward sign of Mary's pregnancy became evident, [and] being at the same time a man imbued with a profound sense of surrender to God’s plans and . . . an equally profound sense of that fear of God that precludes divulging the depth of a mystery, [Joseph] decide[s] to remove himself from the scene as unworthy to be publicly associated with the unfathomable” (92-93).

"Joseph accepts Mary's report as to how she had conceived, and thus, far from being scandalized by assuming adultery, he is profoundly respectful of a divine intervention that seems to preempt his role as husband.  He yields, rather than rejects.  He releases (apolūsai) Mary, rather than casts her out (apolūsai)" (70).

"Joseph, having accepted at face value and with deep trust the young girl’s revelation that she had become pregnant through divine intervention, is so awed by her and the mystery she (literally) embodies, that he feels he is confronting God himself, in front of whom he should retreat and hide in his nothingness" (69).

But "The vision of the angel in a dream points him in a different direction:  he is indeed a part of the mystery, and his role is to convey Mary, without delay, into his household" (63).

     Giorgio Buccellati, "The prophetic dimension of Joseph," Communio:  international Catholic review 33, no. 1 (Spring 2006):  43-99.  Cf. John Saward, Cradle of redeeming love:  the theology of the Christmas mystery (San Francisco:  Ignatius Press, 1992), 205-206, where St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bridget, and Dionysius the Carthusian are all quoted respectively, as follows:

Joseph had no suspicion of adultery, for he was well aware of Mary's chastity.  He had read in Scripture that a virgin would conceive. . . . [H]e also knew that Mary was descended from David.  It was easier, therefore, for him to believe that this had been fulfilled in her than that she had committed fornication.  And so, regarding himself as unworthy to live under the same roof with someone of such sanctity, he wanted to put her away privately, as Peter said, 'Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man' (Lk 5:8) [(Lectura super Matthaeum cap. 1, lect. 4)]. 

Secundum autem Hieronymum et Origenem non habuit suspicionem adulterii. Noverat enim Ioseph pudicitiam Mariae; legerat in Scriptura quod virgo concipiet, Is. VII, 14 et cap. XI, 1: egredietur virga de radice Iesse, et flos de radice eius ascendet etc.; noverat etiam Mariam de David generatione descendisse. Unde facilius credebat hoc in ea impletum esse, quam ipsam fornicatam fuisse. Et ideo indignum reputans se tantae cohabitare sanctitati, voluit occulte dimittere eam, sicut Petrus dixit: exi a me, domine, quia homo peccator sum, Luc. V, 8. 

[A]fter I gave my consent to God's messenger, Joseph, seeing my womb enlarged by the power of the Holy Spirit, was exceedingly afraid.  It is not that he suspected me of anything untoward, but simply that he remembered the words of the prophets when they foretold the birth of the Son of God from a virgin, and reckoned himself unworthy of serving such a mother, until the angel in a dream commanded him not to be afraid but to serve me with charity [(Revelations lib. 7, cap. 25, new ed. vol. 2 [Rome, 1628], p. 239 f.)]. 

There is no doubt that the interior grace, sanctity, and chastity of Mary shone forth wonderfully and powerfully, not only in her face, but in the bearing and deportment of her body, so much so that anyone diligently considering her manner of life could not suspect her of fornication or any other sin [(Enarratio in evangelium secundum Matthaeum cap. 1, a. 3; DCOO 11:17AB)].

Cf. Cavadini. 

"you first loved us so that we might love you—not because you needed our love, but because we could not be what you created us to be, except by loving you."

     William of Saint Thierry, On the contemplation of God 9-11, as quoted in Liturgy of the hours, vol. 1, p. 271 (Office of readings for the Third Monday of Advent).  Latin as reproduced at http://www.almudi.org/portals/0/docs/breviario/fuentes/breviario.html (but cf. against SC 61, 90-96):

Et sic plane, sic est: amásti nos prior, ut amarémus te; non quod egéres amári a nobis, sed quia id, ad quod nos fecísti, esse non poterámus, nisi amándo te.

"I shall make all your sons learned in the Lord"

R/. Misericordia mea non recedet a te, et fœdus pacis meæ non movebitur; * Universi filii tui erunt discipuli Domini, et magna erit pax filiis tuis. 

V/. Ego Dominus Deus tuus, docens te utilia, gubernans te in via qua ambulas. * Universi.

     Versicle and response to the reading from William of Saint Thierry, Office of readings for the Third Monday of Advent.  From Is 54:10, 13 and Is 48:17.  Vulgate:

     misericordia autem mea non recedet
     et foedus pacis meae non movebitur. . . .
     universos filios tuos doctos a Domino
     et multitudinem pacis filiis tuis

     ego Dominus Deus tuus docens te utilia
     gubernans te in via qua ambulas

RSV:

     my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
     and my covenant of peace shall not be removed. . . .
     All your sons shall be taught be the Lord,
     and great shall be the prosperity of your sons.

     I am the Lord your God,who teaches you to profit,
     who leads you in the way you should go.

Liturgy of the hours:

     My mercy will not leave you,
     and the covenant of my peace will not be changed;
     —I shall make all your sons learned in the Lord,
     and they shall enjoy a lasting peace.
     I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is good
     and guides you in the path you should walk.
     —I shall make . . .

"love is a union between two alone."

     St. John of the Cross, The spiritual canticle, Stanza 36.1.  The collected works of St. John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington, DC:  ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1973), 545.

"And let us go forth to behold ourselves in Your beauty [(hermosura)],"

     "This means:  Let us so act that by means of this loving activity we may attain to the vision of ourselves in Your beauty in eternal life.  That is:  That I be so transformed in Your beauty that we may be alike in beauty, and both behold ourselves in Your beauty, possessing now Your very beauty; this, in such a way that each looking at the other may see in the other his own beauty, since both are Your beauty alone, I being absorbed in Your beauty; hence, I shall see You in Your beauty, and You shall see me in Your beauty, and I shall see myself in You in Your beauty, and You will see Yourself in me in Your beauty; that I may resemble You in Your beauty, and You resemble me in Your beauty, and my beauty be Your beauty and Your beauty my beauty; wherefore I shall be You in Your beauty, and You will be me in Your beauty, because Your very beauty will be my beauty; and therefore we shall behold each other in Your beauty."

     St. John of the Cross, The spiritual canticle, Stanza 36.5.  The collected works of St. John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (Washington, DC:  ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1973), 547.  Cf. Obras de San Juan de la Cruz, ed. Silverio de Santa Teresa, O.C.D., vol. 3, Cantico Espiritual, Biblioteca Mistica Carmelitana 12 (Burgos:  Tipografia de «El Monte Carmelo», 1930),  pp. 399-400.
     I have not yet read The spiritual canticle; rather, I stumbled onto this passage while in pursuit of the selection in the Office of Readings for the Feast of St. John of the Cross.  Astonishing material.  I must make The spiritual canticle a priority, and indeed re-read the other works, too.