Dear Friends,
If your childhood memory dates back to the 1940s or 50s, you
may recall how St. Joseph was pictured on holy cards – always an old man with
luxuriant white hair and beard, a white lily nearby. That image of Joseph was
the artist’s way of protecting the relationship between Joseph and Mary, for
her virginity was sacred, and as a holy old man, Joseph would not violate her.
With the Second Vatican Council, many images changed,
including that of Joseph. Look at the holy family pictured above. Joseph is
young and virile, a man who had an absorbing task before him – to use his
energies and talents to love and support Jesus and Mary.
Believers throughout history have grasped the significance
of Joseph when male protection was everything to a family. Since early
Christianity, people have honored Joseph. Teresa of Avila called him “a
protector for all the circumstances of life.” Cardinal John Newman named him
Holy Joseph, “because no other saint but he lived in such and so long intimacy
with the source of all holiness, Jesus, God incarnate, and Mary, the holiest of
creatures.” Pope Francis, in an Apostolic Letter entitled Patris Corde (With a
Father’s Heart), shared some of his personal reflections on Joseph, writing: “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.” We are, as a world, in times of trouble right now. The pandemic and
the many crises it has spawned give evidence to that reality. A look at the
frontline medical workers we see on television, who beg us to mask up and be socially
distant, are ordinary people like Joseph, often overlooked. Joseph reminds us
that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in
salvation history.
For centuries, believers felt that Joseph was not only the
protector of Jesus and Mary, he was the protector of the Church as well. In
celebration of the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being named
patron of the universal church, Pope Francis proclaimed that the Church will
celebrate this year as Year of Saint Joseph, from December 8, 2020 to December
8, 2021. Both Pope Pius IX in 1870 and Pope Francis in 2020, described the
times in which they lived as full of darkness – times that needed the
protection of one who knew how to protect the most sacred in life. These popes
went to Joseph, for they knew that Christ and His people who are here today,
are in need of Joseph as a companion and guide.
So, this year, let’s all “Go to Joseph!” Let’s include him
in our prayer. Let’s think about his life and virtues and emulate all we can of
this loveable, loving man’s life. When we think of refugees and the hopeless,
unemployed workers, fathers who support their families, let’s “Go to Joseph.”
He himself experienced these hardships. Let’s “Go to Joseph” when we think
about our own families, for he himself treasured his family as he went with
them down uncharted paths.
~Sister Joan Sobala
