MAN OF THE YEAR

Proclaiming a Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis has invited us to grow closer to the patron and protector of the Holy Family and of the Church

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis has proclaimed a Holy Year in his honor.

On Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Father issued the apostolic letter Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart), calling on the Church to follow Joseph’s powerful example of quiet obedience, courage and tenderness and to pray to him for the “grace of graces: our conversion.”

As part of the Year of St. Joseph, which extends through Dec. 8, 2021, the Church has granted plenary indulgences for a variety of prayers and devotions related to the saint, especially on his feast days, including the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19.

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

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A Father With Creative Courage

God trusted Joseph to love and protect Jesus and Mary, and calls us to do the same

Editor’s Note: The following text is excerpted from section 5 of Pope Francis’ apostolic letter Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart).

AS WE READ the infancy narratives, we may often wonder why God did not act in a more direct and clear way. Yet God acts through events and people. Joseph was the man chosen by God to guide the beginnings of the history of redemption. He was the true “miracle” by which God saves the child and his mother. God acted by trusting in Joseph’s creative courage. Arriving in Bethlehem and finding no lodging where Mary could give birth, Joseph took a stable and, as best he could, turned it into a welcoming home for the Son of God come into the world (cf. Lk 2:6-7). Faced with imminent danger from Herod, who wanted to kill the child, Joseph was warned once again in a dream to protect the child, and rose in the middle of the night to prepare the flight into Egypt (cf. Mt 2:13-14).

A superficial reading of these stories can often give the impression that the world is at the mercy of the strong and mighty, but the “good news” of the Gospel consists in showing that, for all the arrogance and violence of worldly powers, God always finds a way to carry out his saving plan. So too, our lives may at times seem to be at the mercy of the powerful, but the Gospel shows us what counts. God always finds a way to save us, provided we show the same creative courage as the carpenter of Nazareth, who was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting always in divine providence. …

At the end of every account in which Joseph plays a role, the Gospel tells us that he gets up, takes the child and his mother, and does what God commanded him (cf. Mt 1:24; 2:14, 21). Indeed, Jesus and Mary his Mother are the most precious treasure of our faith. …

We should always consider whether we ourselves are protecting Jesus and Mary, for they are also mysteriously entrusted to our own responsibility, care and safekeeping. The Son of the Almighty came into our world in a state of great vulnerability. He needed to be defended, protected, cared for and raised by Joseph. God trusted Joseph, as did Mary, who found in him someone who would not only save her life, but would always provide for her and her child. In this sense, St. Joseph could not be other than the Guardian of the Church, for the Church is the continuation of the Body of Christ in history, even as Mary’s motherhood is reflected in the motherhood of the Church (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 963-970). In his continued protection of the Church, Joseph continues to protect the child and his mother, and we too, by our love for the Church, continue to love the child and his mother.

That child would go on to say: “As you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Consequently, every poor, needy, suffering or dying person, every stranger, every prisoner, every infirm person is “the child” whom Joseph continues to protect. For this reason, St. Joseph is invoked as protector of the unfortunate, the needy, exiles, the afflicted, the poor and the dying. Consequently, the Church cannot fail to show a special love for the least of our brothers and sisters, for Jesus showed a particular concern for them and personally identified with them. From St. Joseph, we must learn that same care and responsibility. We must learn to love the child and his mother, to love the sacraments and charity, to love the Church and the poor.