The Pope calls the “Year of Saint Joseph”

Vatican News

Beloved father, father in tenderness, obedience and acceptance; father with creative courage, hardworking, always in the shade: with these words, Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph, and he does so in the Apostolic Letter “Patris corde – With the heart of a Father”, published today on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of the Spouse of Mary as Patroness of the Catholic Church.

With the decree like God, signed on December 8, 1870, Blessed Pius IX wanted to give this title to Saint Joseph. To celebrate this date, the Pontiff called a special “Year” dedicated to the alleged Father of Jesus from today until December 8, 2021.

Unmatched prominence

The Apostolic Letter brings the signs of the Covid-19 pandemic, which – Francis writes – made us understand the importance of ordinary people, those who, far from being the center of attention, exercise patience every day and instill hope, sowing stewardship. Like Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, the man of the discreet and hidden daily presence”.

And yet his is “a unique role in the history of salvation.” Indeed, Saint Joseph expressed his fatherhood concretely when he turned his human vocation “into the superhuman oblation of himself at the service of the Messiah.” That is why “he was always very dear to the Christian people” (1).

In it, “Jesus saw the tenderness of God”, which “makes us accept our weakness”, through which most of the divine plans are carried out. God, in fact, “does not condemn us, but welcomes us, embraces us, sustains us and forgives us” (2). Joseph is also a father in obedience to God: with his ‘fiat’ he saves Mary and Jesus and teaches his Son to “do the will of the Father”, cooperating “with the great mystery of redemption” (3).

Example for today’s men

At the same time, José is a “father at the reception”, because “he welcomes Mary without setting conditions”, an important gesture even today – says Francisco – “in this world where psychological, verbal and physical violence against women It is obvious”. But the Wife of Mary is also the one who, trusting in the Lord, welcomes the events of her life that she does not understand with a “courageous and strong” role, which derives from “the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit”.

Through Saint Joseph, it is as if God were repeating to us: “Do not fear!”, Because “faith gives meaning to all events, happy or sad”. The welcome practiced by the father of Jesus “invites us to receive others, without exclusions, as they are”, with “a special predilection for the most fragile” (4).

“Patris corde” also highlights “the creative courage” of São José, “who knows how to transform a problem into an opportunity, always putting his trust in Providence before him”. He faces the “concrete problems” of his family, just like other families in the world, especially migrants. Protector of Jesus and Mary, José “cannot stop being the Guardian of the Church”, of her motherhood and of the Body of Christ: all those in need are “the Child” that José continues to keep and from whom we can learn to “love the Church and the poor i ”(5).

The dignity of work

An honest carpenter, the Wife of Mary also teaches us “the value, dignity and joy” of “eating bread as a result of work”. This meaning of the father of Jesus offers the Pope the opportunity to launch a call to work, which has become an “urgent social issue” even in countries with a certain level of well-being.

“It is necessary to take a renewed awareness of the meaning of work that dignifies”, writes Francis, who “becomes participation in the very work of salvation” and “opportunity for realization” for them and for their own family, “original nucleus of the society”. . Here, then, is the exhortation that the Pontiff makes to everyone to “rediscover the value, importance and necessity of work”, to “give rise to a new” normality “, in which no one is excluded”. In particular, given the worsening of unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pope asks everyone to work hard so that it can be said: “No young people, no person, no family without work!” (6).

“You are not born father, you become such”

“You are not born a father, you become such,” says Francisco, because “taking care of a child responsibly” assuming responsibility for his life. Unfortunately, in today’s society, “children often seem like orphans of a parent” who are capable of “introducing the child into the experience of life”, without arresting him “or subjugating him”, but making him “capable of options, of freedom, to go “.

In this sense, José received the nickname “extremely chaste”, which is “the opposite of possession”: he, in fact, “knew how to love in an extraordinarily free way”, “knew how to decentralize” to put Jesus at the center of their life. Maria. His happiness lies in the “gift of himself”: never frustrated and always confident, José remains silent, without regrets, but making “concrete gestures of trust.” His figure, therefore, is exemplary, the Pope shows, in a world that “needs parents and rejects the dominators”, rejects those who confuse “authority with authoritarianism, service with servility, confrontation with oppression, charity with assistance, force with destruction ”. .

In the tenth note, “Patris corde” also reveals a habit in the life of Francis: every day, the Pontiff says a prayer to the Wife of Mary “taken from a 19th century French devotional book of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary ”. It is a prayer that “expresses devotion and trust” to Saint Joseph, but also “a certain challenge”, the Pope explains, because it concludes with these words: Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power ”. The Apostolic Letter “Patris corde” is accompanied by the publication of the Apostolic Penitentiary Decree, which announces the “Special Year of Saint Joseph” called by the Pope and the relative granting of the “gift of special Indulgences”.