“Though you have recourse to many saints as your intercessors, go especially to St. Joseph, for he has great power.” —St. Teresa of Avila
Pope Francis declared 2021 to be a Year of St. Joseph “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.” In this spirit, each month eCatechist will post a prayer to St. Joseph and each week a reflection about him taken from the letters, audiences and homilies of Popes Francis, Benedict XVI, John Paul II, Paul VI and John XXIII.
Note that because St. Joseph only appears in the infancy narratives of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (chapters 1 and 2), the reflections, like a many-faceted diamond, often use the same events but reflect various different insights about the life and character of St. Joseph. To anticipate these weekly reflections, let use consider the words of Franciscan St. Bernardine of Siena (1380–1444) about the special vocation of St. Joseph:
Matthew portrays Joseph as a good man, a working carpenter, who trusted in God. Luke describes how Joseph took the newborn child as his own. There is a general rule concerning all special graces given to any human being. Whenever divine grace chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a high vocation, God adorns that person with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task. This is especially true of Joseph. He was chosen by the eternal Father to be the faithful guardian and protector of the most precious of all his treasures, namely, his divine Son, and of Mary, who became his wife. This was the task laid upon him which he carried out faithfully right to the end.
APOSTOLIC LETTER
PATRIS CORDE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON THE 150th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE PROCLAMATION OF SAINT JOSEPH
AS PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
Image: Go To Joseph by Michael O'Neill McGrath. World Library Publications.
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