Year of St. Joseph

This year is the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron and Protector of the Universal Church.  To mark the occasion, Pope Francis published an Apostolic Letter “Patris Corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”) and proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” beginning December 8, 2020, to December 8, 2021.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis speaks to the example of St. Joseph as follows, 

My desire [to share some personal reflections on this extraordinary figure] increased during these months of 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. … 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.”  (Patris Corde)

Joseph & the Child (Gisele Bauche)

“Joseph saw Jesus grow daily “in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favour” (Lk 2:52). As the Lord had done with Israel, so Joseph did with Jesus: he taught him to walk, taking him by the hand; he was for him like a father who raises an infant to his cheeks, bending down to him and feeding him (cf. Hos 11:3-4). In Joseph, Jesus saw the tender love of God.” (Patris Corde) 

​In the Gospels there are relatively few references to St. Joseph, however it is possible to develop an image of him which inspires devotion to Our Lord and witness to the Faith.  Joseph descended from the lineage of King David and he was a righteous man seeking to follow God’s Will.  

Joseph accepts the call and vocation to be the foster father of Jesus, the Son of God.  In his fatherly role and presence, Joseph nurtured his son’s Jewish faith, taught him the virtues of living faithfully and the value of work through the trade of carpentry.  

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The Gospels recount Joseph’s four dreams which Pope Francis refers to in Patris Corde.  The first dream is Joseph’s dilemma when Mary is found to be with child prior to their marriage,

• “In the first dream, an angel helps him resolve his grave dilemma: ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’ (Mt 1:20-21). Joseph’s response was immediate: ‘When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’ (Mt 1:24). Obedience made it possible for him to surmount his difficulties and spare Mary.” (Patris Corde)

This dream and Joseph’s response provide us with insight into his deep faith in God and his openness to set aside his own plans to embrace the Will of God.  Even when he has questions of his own about the pregnancy, Joseph trusts and does “as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” 

Joseph’s second dream reveals a spiritual life which allows him to discern the “signs of the times”, to wisely reflect upon them, and to courageously respond.  Once again it is his faith that moves him to plan the escape to Egypt before any harm would have surely come upon Jesus had Joseph remained in Bethlehem with his family.  

• In the second dream, the angel tells Joseph: ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him’ (Mt 2:13). Joseph did not hesitate to obey, regardless of the hardship involved: ‘He got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod’ (Mt 2:14-15). In Egypt, Joseph awaited with patient trust the angel’s notice that he could safely return home.”  (Patris Corde)

Through his third dream, Joseph is inspired to return to Israel.

• In a third dream, the angel told him that those who sought to kill the child were dead and ordered him to rise, take the child and his mother, and return to the land of Israel (cf. Mt 2:19-20). Once again, Joseph promptly obeyed. “He got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel” (Mt 2:21).  (Patris Corde)

And in a fourth dream, as he is returning to Israel, Joseph is once again warned not to return to Judea but to go to Galilee instead.

• During the return journey, “when Joseph heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream” – now for the fourth time – “he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth” (Mt 2:22-23).  (Patris Corde)

These dreams highlight certain gifts in the life and spirituality of St. Joseph who was a constant example and witness to Jesus throughout the hidden life:

1. Fear of the Lord – Joseph is a prayerful man who conformed his life to the Will of God.  Often in life, things happen whose meaning we do not understand. Our first reaction is frequently one of disappointment and rebellion. Joseph set aside his own ideas in order to accept the course of events and, mysterious as they seemed, to embrace them, take responsibility for them and make them part of his own history. (Patris Corde) 
   
   
2. Wisdom - Joseph wisely discerns the circumstances, the signs of the time, and prudently chooses the path which God lays before him with courage and trust.  
   
   
3. Fortitude and Humility – Joseph’s life for the most part is characterized as “hidden” like the image of the “shadow” which is mentioned in Patris Corde:  The Polish writer Jan Dobraczyński, in his book The Shadow of the Father, tells the story of Saint Joseph’s life in the form of a novel. He uses the evocative image of a shadow to define Joseph. In his relationship to Jesus, Joseph was the earthly shadow of the heavenly Father: he watched over him and protected him, never leaving him to go his own way. 

Through the “hidden” nature of his life, “Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation.” (Patris Corde) He does not appear in the Gospels once Jesus begins his public ministry however his role in the history of salvation is undisputed. His death is pictured in the famous 1787 Goya painting, the Death of St. Joseph, and also in the unique marble statue found in Our Lady of the Rockies Shrine Church in Canmore.  

In this month of March, we will be celebrating the Solemnity of St. Joseph which also marks the start of the Year "Amoris Laetitia Family." As we continue to face the challenges of the pandemic and reflect on the Protector of the Universal Church, we ask for St. Joseph’s intercession in our prayers. 

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.

​Blessed Joseph, to us too, 
​show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen. 

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For more resources and prayers on celebrating the Year of St. Joseph, click here

Written by Most Rev. William T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary
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March 11, 2021