Saint Joseph’s Year, Believe and “Do Not Be Afraid”, God Grants and Multiplies
His Holiness Pope Francis implored him: “will we ever say: No young person, no person at all, no family should be without work?"
Report by Elia Nasrallah
The deadly Coronavirus imposed challenges at every level and forced people to turn their lives upside down. However, we can see a glimmer of hope in many situations despite this exacerbating health battle. This microscopic virus didn’t spare anyone as we became aware of the important presence of many around us, those making efforts and sacrifices with patience, hoping they would win the battle. Just like Saint Joseph, “the man of daily presence” who devoted his life and offered himself to the love and service of Christ. He did not seek attention, he kept his deeds in his heart and the heart of God.
The humility of Saint Joseph, inspired His Holiness Pope Francis on December 8, 2020 to devote a year to celebrate him. Celebrations started on that date to end exactly one year later. The Supreme Pontiff’s decision came on the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Saint Joseph as patron of the unified Church and followed his surprise visit to the Plaza de Espana in Rome, where he surprised believers with his decision on the Immaculate Conception day. Noting that the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Joseph's Day on March 19 of each year.
He is the sincere carpenter and Mary’s fiancé, distinguished by his good fatherhood, humility, silence, and non-complaining, unconditional obedience... He is the courageous patron of fathers, family and the hardworking worker, accepting and affectionate, as God sent him the angel to preach to him the truth of Mary and tell him that the Lord has chosen him to be the father of Jesus Christ. He was to assume the greatest responsibility entrusted upon humankind. Joseph accepted the mission without any hesitation, “And when Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (Matthew 1:24).
"A Father’s Heart": A Call of Hope and Faith
It was His Holiness Pope Pius IX who wanted Mary's fiancé to be Patron of the Catholic Church, therefore, came the Decree Quemadmodum Deus he signed on December 8, 1870. On December 8, 2020, His Holiness Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter under the title “Patris Corde” meaning “A Father’s Heart” dedicated to Saint Joseph, in which he described him as a beloved, tender, obedient and accepting father always ready to fulfill God’s will and providence.
Source: Agenzia Info Salesiana - Photo: Michael O'Sullivan, Unsplash
His Holiness began his letter explaining his choice of the title “A Father’s Heart”: “That is how Joseph loved Jesus, whom all four Gospels refer to as the son of Joseph”. He wanted to share his reflections about Joseph’s exceptional personality, as he put it, so close to our human experience, through 7 chapters titled “A Beloved Father,” “A Tender and Loving Father,” “An Obedient Father,” “An Accepting Father,” “A Creatively Courageous Father,” “A Working Father,” and “A Father in the Shadows.”
In the introduction of his letter, the Pope revealed that his desire to write a letter about Saint Joseph grew during the first months of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic: “when we experienced, amid the crisis, how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history.” Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone… How many people daily exercise patience and offer hope, taking care to spread not panic, but shared responsibility.
His Holiness Pope Francis described Saint Joseph as “the man who goes unnoticed, the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble. Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.”
Saint Joseph and Burning Social Issues
His Holiness Pope Francis talked in his Apostolic Letter about the situation we live in today and some social issues worsening the social situation and living conditions in many countries, especially in the Middle East.
He explained that Saint Joseph is “An Accepting Father” for he “accepted Mary unconditionally”, an important gesture today, in our world where psychological, verbal and physical violence towards women is so evident. He also stresses on Joseph’s trust in the Lord, as he accepted with strength and courage all that he had to go through even if he does not understand the bigger picture. According to His Holiness the Pope, God seems to be telling us, through Joseph: “Do not be afraid!” in this greater perspective, faith gives meaning to every event, however happy or sad. Joseph’s attitude encourages us to accept and welcome others as they are, without exception, and to show special concern for the weak.
Source: Catholic News Service - Photo: CNS/Vatican Media
Pope Francis shed light on Saint Joseph's creative courage, that was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting always in divine providence.” He explained that The Holy Family had to face concrete problems like every other family, like so many of our migrant brothers and sisters who, today too, risk their lives to escape misfortune and hunger.
In his letter, Pope Francis explains how the sincere carpenter teaches us “the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” From here, His Holiness launches a call in favor of employment, a “burning social issue”, in all countries without exception; Stressing the need to appreciate the importance of dignified work as a participation in the work of salvation and an opportunity for self-realization for one’s self and family. It invites everyone to rediscover the value, the importance and necessity of work for bringing about a new “normal” from which no one is excluded, for Saint Joseph’s work reminds us that God himself, in becoming man, did not disdain work.”
The Pope's call came in light of the high unemployment rate due to the global outbreak of the Coronavirus, as he pleaded Saint Joseph to find a way for us to say: “that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!"
Saint Joseph and the Greek Orthodox Church
Source: Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
The Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Joseph on the first Sunday after Christmas of each year. This is an adopted tradition in the Orthodox Liturgy with regard to all Holy Feasts. The name “Joseph” is Hebrew, according to the Patriarchate of Antioch and the East for the Greek Orthodox, it means God grants and multiplies, God adds.
The Patriarchate explains that Matthew the Evangelist presents Saint Joseph as the son of Jacob, son of Matan, and thus mentions his genealogy according to nature, in contrast to the Gospel of Luke, where he is presented as the son of Halli according to the providence. However, both genealogies come down from King David, and if the latter had stayed in Israel, Joseph would have become the rightful heir to the throne of Judah. Saint Joseph appears for the last time in the Gospel of Luke when he was with the Mother of God and his 12-year-old son Jesus Chris in Jerusalem, where they lost Jesus and finally found him in the temple among the teachers (Luke 2: 46).
Reflecting on the life of Mary’s fiancé, we find him in the biblical and apocryphal heritage, according to the Patriarchate of Antioch, he was a widower and had children. After the high priest asked for a sign to choose a widow of the Jews to protect Mary, and after praying for their disobedience, a dove settled on Joseph's cane making him from that moment Mary’s chosen companion.
After the good news and the return of Mary to Nazareth, Joseph was surprised with Mary's conception and became confused. He then decided to keep her secret. The angel of the Lord realized the purity of his heart and his intentions, appeared to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her” (Matthew 1:20). Joseph had nothing but obedience to God, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and did not leave the Virgin Mary alone. He stayed by her side and the side of her Divine Newborn Jesus Christ and accompanied her despite all difficulties, challenges and travel.
Just as Saint Joseph was a guardian to Jesus Christ and his mother the Virgin Mary, he is a guardian to the Church, its motherhood and the body of the Christ. In times of crises and difficulties, we beseech Saint Joseph, guardian of humanity with his infinite fatherhood, to guide us on the path of life and help us seek grace, mercy and courage.
Communication and Public Relations Department
Sources:
Vatican News website: https://bit.ly/3cDgrhe
Zenit website: https://bit.ly/30Qo12j
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East website: https://bit.ly/2Q35kGv
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem: https://bit.ly/3qUdE8p