On May 1, each year, we celebrate the Feast of St Joseph the Worker which was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to recognize the dignity of work. On December 8, 2020, the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of St Joseph as patron of the universal church, Pope Francis wrote an inspiring Apostolic Letter Patris Corde - With a Father’s Love - highlighting the seven characteristics of St Joseph as a father: a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father, a creatively courageous father, a working father, and a “father in the shadows.”
From the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we get a glimpse into what sort of father Joseph was and the mission entrusted to him by God. We know that Joseph was a lowly carpenter, betrothed to Mary, and a just man, ever ready to carry out God’s will. He had the courage to become the legal father of Jesus, to whom he gave the name revealed by the angel: “You shall call his name Jesus” (Mt 1:21). For ancient peoples, to give a name to a person, was to establish a relationship. The greatness of St Joseph is that he was the spouse of Mary and the father of Jesus, a beloved father.
Joseph saw Jesus grow daily “in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favour” (Lk 2:52). He taught Jesus to walk, taking him by the hand. In Joseph, Jesus saw the tender love of God. In the synagogue, Joseph would have constantly heard that the God of Israel is a God of tender love and he lived his relationship with Jesus as a tender and loving father.
God revealed God’s saving plan to Joseph by using dreams. Joseph was deeply troubled by Mary’s mysterious pregnancy and he did not want to expose her to public disgrace, so he decided to “dismiss her quietly” (Mt 1:19). In a dream, an angel helps him to resolve his grave dilemma: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20). Joseph responded immediately and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. Obedience made it possible for him to surmount his difficulties and spare Mary. As an obedient father, Joseph taught Jesus to be obedient to his parents.
Joseph accepted Mary unconditionally. Pope Francis tells us that “Joseph appears as the figure of a respectful and sensitive man. Even though he does not understand the bigger picture, he decides to protect Mary’s good name, her dignity and her life.” Joseph’s attitude as an accepting father encourages us to accept and welcome others as they are. Pope Francis says, “in the face of difficulty, we can either give up and walk away or somehow engage with it.” Joseph encountered many difficulties and responded with creative courage. Arriving in Bethlehem and finding no lodging where Mary could give birth, Joseph took a stable and turned it into a welcoming home for Jesus to be born. Faced with imminent danger from Herod, who wanted to kill the child, Joseph courageously fled with Mary and the child Jesus into Egypt. They were a refugee family on the move. Pope Francis considers St Joseph the special patron of all those forced to leave their native lands because of war, hatred, persecution, and poverty.
St Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. Pope Francis reminds us that it was from his father that “Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” St Joseph was a working father and instilled in Jesus the value of dignified work. Pope Francis invites us to “implore St Joseph the Worker to help us find ways to express our firm conviction that no young person, no person at all, no family should be without work.”
Finally, Pope Francis says, “in his relationship to Jesus, Joseph was the earthly shadow of the heavenly Father: he watched over him and protected him.” “Fathers are not born but made. A man does not become a father simply by bringing a child into the world, but by taking up the responsibility to care for that child. Whenever a man accepts responsibility for the life of another, in some way he becomes a father to that person.” Columban missionaries across the world work in solidarity with workers, advocating for a safe working environment and a just wage for all workers. St Joseph, Patron of Workers, pray for us.
Fr Peter O'Neill
Regional Director of Oceania
directoroceania@columban.org.au
Listen to "From the Director - St Joseph the Worker - With a father’s love"
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