|
On May 1, 1955, Pope Pius XII
granted a public audience to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers,
whose members had gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to celebrate the tenth
anniversary of their society. They were solemnly renewing, in common,
their promise of loyalty to the social doctrine of the Church, and it was
on that day that the Pope instituted the liturgical feast of May 1st, in
honor of Saint Joseph the Worker. He assured his audience and the working
people of the world: “You have beside you a shepherd, a defender and a
father” in Saint Joseph, the carpenter whom God in His providence chose to
be the virginal father of Jesus and the head of the Holy Family. He is
silent but has excellent hearing, and his intercession is very powerful
over the Heart of the Saviour.
We can conclude from the role for which Saint Joseph was chosen and named
by Heaven that he was a man of tried virtue and consummate holiness. No
other mortal man would ever hold a higher office. Saint Joseph surpassed
all the Saints of the Old Law in sanctity; in him the virtue of his
ancestors reached its culmination and perfection. Like Abraham, he was a
man of faith and obedience; like Isaac, one of prayer and vision; like
Jacob, he was patient and self-sacrificing; like Joseph of Egypt, his
chastity was inviolable. And like David, of whom he is the direct
descendant, he is a royal intercessor according to the heart of God. Ite
ad Joseph — Go to Joseph; to Joseph of Egypt, the pharaoh told the needy
to go for assistance to receive the grain that would save their lives. To
the new Joseph, the just man to whom the Son of God Himself was subject as
to a father, all Christians can go with confidence, and he will see to
their spiritual and temporal needs with paternal goodness.
Profile
Descendant of the house of David. Layman. Carpenter. Earthly spouse of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. Foster and adoptive father of Jesus Christ. Visionary
who was visited by angels. Noted for his willingness to immediately get up
and do what God told him.
Died: 1st century, prior to the Passion, of natural causes
Patronage
against doubt, against hesitation, Americas, Austria, diocese of Baton
Rouge California, Belgium, Bohemia, bursars, cabinetmakers, Canada,
Carinthia, carpenters, China, Church, confectioners, craftsmen, Croatian
people (in 1687 by decree of the Croatian parliament) dying people,
emigrants, engineers, expectant mothers, families, fathers, Florence
Italy, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls,
Korea, laborers, diocese of La Crosse Wisconsin, archdiocese of Louisville
Kentucky, diocese of Manchester New Hampshire, Mexico, diocese of
Nashville Tennessee, New France, New World, Oblates of Saint Joseph,
people in doubt, people who fight Communism, Peru, pioneers, pregnant
women, protection of the Church, diocese of San Jose California, diocese
of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, social justice, Syria Austria, travelers,
Turin Italy, Tyrol Austria, unborn children Universal Church, Vatican II,
Viet Nam, diocese of Wheeling-Charleston West Virginia, wheelwrights,
workers, working people
Representation
bible; carpenter's square; carpenter's tools; chalice; cross; hand tools;
infant Jesus; ladder; lamb; lily; monstrance; old man holding a lily and a
carpenter's tool such as a square; old man holding the infant Jesus;
plane; rod
Reading
He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and
protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary,
Joseph's wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until
at last God called him, saying 'Good and faithful servant, enter into the
joy of your Lord.'
from a sermon by Saint Bernardine of Siena
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human
being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special
grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with
all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.
This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the
foster-father of our Lord, and the husband of the Queen of our world,
enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father as the
trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his
divine Son and Mary, Joseph's wife. He carried out this vocation with
complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying "Good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of your Lord."
Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster child. Ask your
most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the
mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns
eternally. Amen.
from a sermon by Saint Bernardine of Siena
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith...Joseph of
Nazareth is a "just man" because he totally "lives by faith." He is holy
because his faith is truly heroic.
Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word
spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words,
he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness.
Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because
he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of
the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly
perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of
the Living God.
We see how the word of the Living God penetrates deeply into the soul of
that man, that just man. And we, do we know how to listen to the word of
God? Do we know how to absorb it into the depths of our human
personalities? Do we open our conscience in the presence of this word?
Pope John Paul II from Daily Meditations
|
