YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH

 

What better time than Advent for the Holy Father to proclaim a Year of ST. JOSEPH in honor of the 150th anniversary of the  proclamation as his being the patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1870.

Pope Francis said he was establishing the year so that “every member of the faithful, following his example, may strengthen their life of faith daily in the complete fulfillment of God’s will.”

In our own Seattle Archdiocese we have the year of the Eucharist, so how fitting to have the Lord’s foster father in on the celebration.

Pope Francis said the coronavirus pandemic has heightened his desire to reflect on St. Joseph, as so many people during the pandemic have made hidden sacrifices to protect others, just as St. Joseph quietly protected and cared for Mary and Jesus.

“Each of us can discover in Joseph -- the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence -- an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble.” 

Throughout the ages the Popes have stressed devotion to St.  Joseph.  In  1937  Pius XI placed “the vast campaign of the Church against world Communism under the standard of St. Joseph, her mighty Protector.”

“He belongs to the working-class, and he bore the burdens of poverty for himself and the Holy Family, whose tender and vigilant head he was. To him was entrusted the Divine Child when Herod loosed his assassins against Him. He won for himself the title of ‘The Just,’ serving thus as a living model of that Christian justice which should reign in social life.”

 “If you want to be close to Christ, I repeat to you ‘Ite ad Ioseph’: Go to Joseph!” said Ven. Pius XII in 1955 as he instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, to be celebrated on May 1. The new feast was intentionally placed on the calendar to counter communist May Day rallies. But this was not the first time that the Church had presented St. Joseph’s example as an alternative path toward workers’ dignity.

Beloved St. John Paul II   wrote in his 2004 book “Rise, Let Let Us Be On Our Way”, For St. Joseph, life with Jesus was a continuous discovery of his own vocation as a father.  

Jesus Himself, as a man, experienced the fatherhood of God through the father-son relationship with St. Joseph. This filial encounter with Joseph then fed into Our Lord’s revelation of the paternal name of God. What a profound mystery!”

In his announcement of the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis released a letter, “Patris corde” (“With a father’s heart”), explaining that he wanted to share some “personal reflections” on the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“My desire to do so increased during these months of pandemic,” he said, noting that many people had made hidden sacrifices during the crisis in order to protect others.

“St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”

St. Joseph is also the patron of  a good night's sleep, and a happy death.

In a following Blog learn of the  opportunities to gain a plenary indulgence, or remission of all temporal punishment due to sin during the Year of St. Joseph. 

                                                                            Painting: Pietro Annigoni (d. 1988)