Genesis 39:6

This holy Joseph, about whom your charity has heard in this reading, was beautiful in his body but even more beautiful in his soul, because he was chaste in his body and had a chaste soul. The beauty of his body shone in him, but that of his character even more so. Therefore, even though for many people the beauty of the body is usually an obstacle to salvation, it could do no harm to our saint, because the beauty of his character ruled that of his body. So the soul must subdue the flesh, and not the flesh the soul, because the soul is the master of the flesh, and the flesh is the servant of the soul. Woe to the soul that is dominated by flesh and is changed from master to servant by neglecting the faith in the Lord and by submitting to the slavery of sin. But the soul of the patriarch Joseph securely preserved its power, and the flesh could not dominate it at all.

That wicked beast the devil, however, seeing the good man's standing and the fact that he emerged even more conspicuous from those very things thought to be adversities, gnashed his teeth and fell into a rage. He could not bear to see the good man becoming so much more commendable as each day passed. He dug a deep pit for him and prepared what he thought was a mighty precipice that would bring him to his ruin and a terrible storm capable of causing him shipwreck. But the devil discovered before long that he was wasting his time and only heaping coals on his own head. "Joseph cut a fine figure and was good-looking," the text says. Why does it describe to us his physical charm? For us to learn that he was striking not only for charm of soul but also for his person. After all, Joseph was in the bloom of youth, "cut a fine figure and was good-looking." Sacred Scripture tells us this about him in advance so as to teach us that the Egyptian woman was under the spell of the young man's beauty in inviting him to that illicit association.

However, let us now come to holy Joseph, so that we may be fed with the example of his chastity and purity as with a sort of heavenly food. This holy Joseph, then, of whom your charity heard in the present lesson, was handsome in body but more splendid in mind, because he was chaste in body and virtuous in mind. Bodily beauty shone in him, but even more so shone the beauty of his soul. Now although physical beauty is apt to be a hindrance to salvation for many men, it could not harm this holy man because the beauty of his soul governed the splendor of his body. Thus the soul should rule the body, not the body the soul, for the soul is the mistress of the body while the body is the handmaid of the soul. Therefore unhappy is the soul that is dominated by the body and makes a mistress out of a servant. Truly the soul that is subject to vices of the flesh becomes the servant of the body, because it loses the faith of its Lord and endures the slavery of sin. The soul of the patriarch Joseph, however, faithfully kept its power, for the flesh could in no way dominate it. Indeed, when asked by his mistress, an unchaste woman, to lie with her, he refused consent because even in his position as a slave he had not lost the dominion of his soul. As a result of this, he was attacked by false accusations and thrown into prison, but the holy man considered that prison a palace, or rather he himself was a palace within the prison. For where there is faith, chastity, and purity, there is the palace of Christ, the temple of God, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore if any man flatters himself because of the splendor of his body, or if any woman boasts about the beauty of hers, they should follow the example of Joseph and that of Susanna. Let them be chaste in body and pure in mind. Then they will be beautiful not only to people but also to God.