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If the Holy Father would declare a Year of St. Joseph,it would stimulate devotion and study,and bring much joy to the Church.
A Year of St. Joseph
By Christopher Rengers
The path of St. Joseph through his earthly life was a quiet hidden one. The same may be said of his devotional path through the Christian centuries. Many have carried him silently in their hearts, have looked at his statues in the Christmas stable scene. And they have understood that he was an intimate, important part of the silent night when a Star shone from above and the song of the angels joined the praise of the shepherds.
But, as Cardinal Newman has pointed out, Joseph himself was long a star dimly seen in devotional practice, a man quietly loved by many, but waiting, so to say, in the vestibule until the strong voices of St. Bernardine, St. Teresa of Avila and others summoned him into the sanctuary. It was only in 1870 that Pius IX declared him universal Patron of the Church and extended his major feastday to the whole Church.
His path, though hidden, has deep, broad roots. The reasons for honoring St. Joseph and his place in the Church were given classical expression in the great encyclical Quamquam Pluries by Pope Leo XIII in 1889. Pope John Paul II chose the centenary of this writing to issue his Redemptoris Custos (Guardian of the Redeemer). He did so, that all may grow in devotion to the patron of the universal Church and in love for the Savior whom he served in such an exemplary manner. He did so to help the Church on the road to the future to discover her own identity within the redemptive plan, and so be enabled to guide humanity also called to redemption. In his way of presenting St. Joseph, the Holy Father indicates a new kind of universality through his intercession, and by his example as leader of the Holy Family.
St. Joseph will play a personal role
St. Joseph, the Pope says, had a definite place in that fullness of time when Jesus was born. Now he has a definite place in the new fullness of time we are coming into with the advent of the third Christian millennium. Our prayers and the very person of Joseph have renewed significance for the Church in our day in light of the third Christian millennium. The very person of Joseph indicates that St. Joseph will play a personal role, beyond intercession, in the years to come. We might speculate on what shape that role will take.
From the present weak shape of the family we can well assume that the role of St. Joseph will be to strengthen the family. His way of loving Jesus and Mary, his steadiness and calm in the face of danger and difficulty, his peace in poverty, his leadership in making decisions about when to leave for Egypt, about where to live on their return-provide guidance for husbands and fathers.
He will come with the Child
According to the revelations at Fatima in 1917, St. Joseph will come with the Child to bless the world, and a new era of peace will follow. In other words, he will come as a father to guide fathers in their way of loving their wives as he loved Mary, and their children as he loved Jesus. He will be seen as a husband who inspires trust and guarantees stability in the family.
Lord Jesus, Come we pray during the Advent season. Perhaps during this time of preparation for the third Christian millennium we can act on the promise of Mary at Fatima and say, Come St. Joseph with the Child. Perhaps Our Lady is inviting us to make this an insistent invitation.
A layman made a suggestion a few years ago that would incorporate our invitation in a formal way by asking the Holy Father to declare a Year of St. Joseph. Acting on this some of his friends have written to bishops and superiors of Religious to present the idea. Responses have in general been encouraging, but much more could be done to indicate a genuine movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The time for prayer and more definite action is now.
With the greatly improved means of travel and communication the time is ripe for a great new spread of the Gospel in the 21st century. One big portion of humanity is dedicated to St. Joseph but has heard little about him. He is the Patron of China. There alone an immense field is ripe for the harvest. A Chinese-American friend has had thousands of prayer cards printed with the invocation: Pray for China. The conversion of Russia promised by Mary at Fatima has seen its beginning in the remarkable fall of Communism in 1989. We can also recall that in 1937, Pope Pius XI made St. Joseph the Patron against Communism.
In his encyclical outlining vast preparations for the year 2000 A.D. Pope John Paul II says that the effects of Vatican II are still in the process of entering into the life of the Church and the world. We may recall in this regard that St. Joseph was named Patron of Vatican II before it began by Pope John XXIII. Logically then, St. Joseph remains the special saint to call upon so the Council may bear the fruits it hopes for.
Good effects of a Year of St. Joseph
If the Holy Father would declare a Year of St. Joseph, it would stimulate devotion and study, and bring much joy to the Church. The focus would be on the man "closest to Christ" as the title of one of the books by Fr. Francis Filas, S.J., proclaims. It would be the occasion for meetings of scholars, for festivals for workingmen, for renewed piety in so many parishes and institutions and religious congregations which claim him as patron. Thinking more of Joseph would help to revive the practice of virtues associated with him: justice, humility, purity. It would give occasion for wives and children to look to husband and father as "the Joseph" in their family. Perhaps a Year of St. Joseph would help to bring about the inclusion explicitly of St. Joseph's name in every Eucharistic Prayer, as was intended by Pope John when he put Joseph's name in the old Roman Canon of the Mass.
The universality of St. Joseph's patronage and his place in our new fullness of time are set forth very plainly in the prayer which concludes the encyclical, Guardian of the Redeemer.
May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ's saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: Husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate.This just man, who bore within himself the entire heritage of the old covenant, was also brought into the "beginning" of the new and eternal covenant in Jesus Christ. May he show us the paths of this saving covenant as we stand at the threshold of the next millennium, in which there must be a continuation and further development of the fullness of time that belongs to the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. May St. Joseph obtain for the Church and for the world, as well as for each of us, the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Fr. Christopher Rengers, O.F.M.Cap., was ordained in May 1942, a few months before St. Leopold died. Priesthood studies were in Capuchin seminaries. Graduate work in history was at St. Louis University. His assignments have been teaching, parochial and hospital work, and promoting devotion to St. Joseph and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Books in print are Mary of the Americas and The Youngest Prophet, both by Alba House. His last article in HPR appeared in the November 1995 issue.