In his new Apostolic Letter, Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender, loving, father, a father obedient to God, an accepting, and creatively courageous father, a working father, and a father in the shadows. The Pope’s letter was written during the Covid-19 pandemic, which he said has helped us to see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.” Francis explains that St. Joseph was creatively courageous in the way he dealt with difficulties. “The carpenter of Nazareth” was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting in divine providence.” He had to deal with “the concrete problems” his Family faced, problems faced by other families in the world, and especially those of migrants. In this sense, St. Joseph is “the special patron of all those forced to leave their native lands because of war, hatred, persecution and poverty.” As a guardian of Jesus and Mary, Joseph cannot “be other than the guardian of the Church,” of her motherhood, and of the Body of Christ. “Consequently, every poor, needy, suffering or dying person, every stranger, every prisoner, every infirm person is ‘the child’ whom Joseph continues to protect.” In the past Francis has spoken of his habit of putting his concerns on paper and placing them under the statue of the “sleeping Joseph” which he keeps in his study. The Pope also wrote, St. Joseph also teaches us “the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labor. There is a renewed need to appreciate the importance of dignified work, of which Saint Joseph is an exemplary patron.” “Work is a means of participating in the work of salvation, an opportunity to hasten the coming of the Kingdom, to develop our talents and abilities, and to put them at the service of society and fraternal communion.” Pope Francis encourages everyone “to discover the value, the importance and the necessity of work for bringing about a new ‘normal’ from which not one is excluded.” Especially in light of rising unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Francis called everyone to review our priorities” and to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work!” Pope Francis in his letter explained that “Every day, for forty years, following Lauds (Moring Prayer) he has “recited a prayer to Saint Joseph” from a nineteenth-century French prayer book. It “ expresses devotion and trust, and even poses a certain challenge to Saint Joseph,” when it closes with “ My beloved father, all my trust is in you. Let it not be said that I invoked you in vain, and since you can do everything with Jesus and Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power.”
