The Year of St. Joseph

We all will have to wrestle with unforeseen events in life. Between sickness, death, failure and human error, our lives can turn upside down in seconds. It is then that we are forced to leave what is familiar and safe so that we can reconcile and attempt to make sense of what our lives will look like moving forward. 

Our hearts become desperate to understand the sufferings of life and why they have befallen us. We turn to family, friends, prayer, and wisdom found in books for help. As Catholics, we look to the lives of the saints for wisdom. They, too, were people like us who struggled with their faith while patiently and faithfully enduring pain.

This year, Pope Francis drew our attention in a special way to St. Joseph and called us to pray for the virtues he exhibited in times of trial and uncertainty in his life. To assist with this, we have been creating holy cards in English and Arabic with the different virtues of St. Joseph we can pray for. The holy cards can be found at St. Joseph.

In times of uncertainty, St. Joseph is a great model and advocate to turn to. In his own life, he quickly learned to remain a righteous person. At times, that is a heavy cross and responsibility to shoulder. Like many young men living in Nazareth 2,000 years ago, Joseph planned to live the simple life of a carpenter. 

Nonetheless, with one dream, his life took a turn for the unknown. The love of his life, Mary, was pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit, and would become the mother of God!

When Jesus is born, Joseph is warned that within a short time of the birth, he will have to uproot his family from what is familiar and go to Egypt. In both instances, the Scripture tells us that Joseph got up and did as commanded (Mt 2:14; 2:23). Joseph dedicated the remainder of his life to faithful service to the Divine Child and His mother. 

We might wonder how can St. Joseph help us, without even having any of his recorded words that we can meditate on and benefit from? As Pope Francis declared this year the Year of Joseph, he mentioned that Joseph does not teach us to explain our sufferings, but to accept them. This type of acceptance, without the need to explain it, is not to be confused with “blind obedience.” 

When the Bible describes St. Joseph learning that Mary is pregnant, we read, “and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.” (Mt 2:19). Joseph didn’t accept God’s will without turning to the truth. He did not pretend to have control over the situation, nor did he seek justice without proper understanding. He originally decided to leave Mary quietly, which assures his integrity and honesty about his relationship to Mary; as it protects Mary from the severe punishment of adultery. 

When we accept the truth of who we are, it highlights our fragility and vulnerability. When we face the ultimate truth of eternal life, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Rom 8:18). Accepting this, we are better able to accept unfortunate and painful events in this life. 

Declaring 2021 as the Year of Joseph emphasized the urgent need to turn to St. Joseph to be our teacher in the school of love. Doing God’s will is often not an easy task. Sometimes the cross we bear is heavy, and we fear the will of God the Father, leading us to keep our distance at times. Therefore, we need to learn more about the Father’s perfect and loving heart. 

Despite the hardships of this life, God always wants and wills all that is good for us. Joseph is our guide to our Father’s heart, because he taught the child Jesus about the Father’s love. As Jesus was growing, he had to learn the basics of being a human, like walking, eating, and sleeping. Joseph taught him all this and in doing so, he reflected the love of God the Father. The child Jesus understood the Father’s love through St. Joseph. 

May we all learn to go to Joseph at all times, and especially in difficulties, allowing him to be our guide to the Father’s loving and perfect heart. Follow @journey.with.Joseph on Instagram to stay up-to-date on our monthly talks and holy cards that are intended to help you pray for the virtues and intercession of St. Joseph this year.

May God bless you!