Though it receives less recognition in this country than elsewhere, Saint Joseph’s Day is important enough to be celebrated on the days of Lent, liturgically with a Gloria and Creed, and socially with all sorts of good treats. It not important enough to trump a Sunday of Lent, but important enough that it then gets moved to another day. So this year, because March 19 falls on a Sunday, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph will be observed on Monday, March 20. His day is always a welcome respite from the rigors of Lent.
Before being named Patron of the
Universal Church, Saint Joseph was long beloved as the Patron Saint of Italy. Even if you are not Italian, you use some of
their treats to celebrate the day. Consider a Saint Joseph’s cake, which actually
more resembles a cream-filled doughnut when the Neapolitans make it. They call theirs zeppone. The Romans call theirs, which have no cream, beignet.
At the North American College, we would receive platters of them for
dessert on the big day, instead of the de
rigeur fruit.
At a church downtown, while admiring
a handsome, German-made stained glass window of Saint Joseph with the youth
Jesus, I began to realize what an example of masculine and paternal virtue he
is. How great our need for him here and
now, when our popular culture mocks and deconstructs masculine virtue, subverting
it into some vicious caricature of itself.
You know; the unenlightened, bumbling fool on any given television show is
most likely the dad.*
Joseph must have taught Jesus how
to be a man, as any father should for his son. Think about that: he
taught God how to be a man. And he
knew at the time that he was doing it.
What a responsibility that was! This is why he is patron of all fathers, and
in a particular way, of foster fathers and adoptive fathers.
People often assert that we know
little of Joseph, and find nothing in Scripture that he said. I think that we know rather a lot more than
that, and hear his words all the time.
You know how all sons reflect
habits and characteristics of their fathers. Many of the characteristics of Joseph, who is
so hidden in the shadows of Scripture, would be revealed in words and actions
of his foster Son. Maybe more than once,
someone (your mom?) told you that “you sound just like your father;” why not in
Jesus’ case, too? For Him, of course, it would never have been
an unwelcome comment to hear. I find it
hard to shake the conviction that some turns of phrase we know from Jesus’
lips, He often heard from his foster father. Picture him at the dinner table, about to say
something important or instructional to his wife Mary and young Jesus: “Amen,
amen, I say to you….”
Speaking of Mary, Joseph’s chaste
love and respect for his wife is doubtless revealed in Jesus’ own attention to and
care for His Mother. Likely, that is
also reflected in Jesus’ warm regard for the women who played such a role in
His public ministry. No one can tell me that was “just the cultural
norm in those days.”
Saint Joseph is also the patron of
a happy death – that’s a good one to know.
There is plenty in him to celebrate.
Shortly after the inauguration of his pontificate four years ago today, Our
Holy Father, Pope Francis, added to the three newer Eucharistic Prayers the
invocation of Saint Joseph by name.
Take this opportunity to
congratulate any Josephs or Josephines of your acquaintance, or at a minimum,
pray for them. Keep in your prayers as
well all fathers, especially foster fathers, that Saint Joseph help them
fulfill their paternal vocation to a constant sacrifice of love.
Monsignor
Smith
*For an enjoyable rebuttal of this pernicious fiction, watch this cereal advertisement from a few years back: How to Dad
