Archdiocese of Denver

27 ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER | THE YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH E VE RY WE D N E S DAY St. Joseph Finally, just as the Church has dedicated particular days of the week to particular devo- tions – Sundays to the Resurrection of the Lord, Mondays to the Holy Spirit, Saturdays to Our Lady, and so on – Wednesdays are devoted to St. Joseph. According to the Diocese of Charlotte's website dedicated to the Year of St. Joseph, "Holy Mother Church has given Wednesday, 'the day the week turns on' — as author David Clayton highlights in his book The Little Oratory — to St. Joseph. This means that the middle of the week is the perfect time to reflect on, be grateful for, and intercede on behalf of holy fatherhood, both spiritual and biological." MAY 1 St. Joseph the Worker Besides March 19, this is perhaps the most widely known and celebrated feast honoring the foster father of Jesus. While St. Joseph was always known to the Church as a carpenter, the idea of Joseph as a patron of workers took on added significance in the 20th century, when the Church spent much effort combating the atheistic ideas of the communist movement. According to Franciscan media, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker was instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counter to Com- munist May Day celebrations hon- oring workers. He likely took his cue from his predecessor, Pope Pius XI, who upheld St. Joseph as a counter to the Communist worker ideal in his encyclical on atheistic communism. "Along with the humanity of the Son of God, work too has been taken up in the mystery of the Incarnation, and has also been redeemed in a special way. At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption," Pope John Paul II, also a staunch opponent of commu- nism, wrote in Guardian of the Redeemer, an apostolic exhortation on St. Joseph. MAY 13 Our Lady of Fatima While most Catholics likely think of the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima primarily as a Marian feast, marking the appearances of Mary to the three shepherd children at Fatima, St. Joseph also appeared during the final apparition, on the day of the famous "dancing sun." St. Joseph appeared to the chil- dren on October 13, 1917, next to Mary, holding the Child Jesus and appearing to bless the world with the sign of the Cross, according to Sister Lucia, one of the shepherd children to whom Mary appeared. "The Oct. 13 vision reminds us that in these troublesome times, we can and should turn to the Holy Family to reorder our own lives. Like the Holy Family, we are to define our lives by humble and trusting commitment to God and self-sacrifice to one another," wrote Father Dan Cambra, MIC, in a 2019 post for the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. AU G U ST 17 Our Lady of Knock St. Joseph also appeared next to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Irish apparition of Our Lady of Knock. Accord- ing to the Knock shrine, alongside Mary, St. John the Evangelist and the Lamb on the altar, St. Joseph appeared, standing to Mary's right, with his head bowed as if in prayer. "There at Our Lady's side, was her spouse, his head bent in prayer and support. St. Joseph, in his own quiet way, points each of us in the direction of Our Blessed Mother. He invites us to place all our prayers and intercessions in Her care," the Knock Shrine in Ireland said in a statement following the announcement of the Year of St. Joseph. D ECE M B E R 2 6 The Holy Family Because the seasons of Advent and Christmas center around the Holy Family, they are good times to remember and celebrate St. Joseph, who was the head of the Holy Family and is known among his many titles as the Pillar of Families. In December 2006, Pope Benedict XVI offered a reflection on the Holy Family: "Mary and Joseph taught Jesus primarily by their example: in his parents he came to know the full beauty of faith, of love for God and for his Law, as well as the demands of justice, which is totally ful- filled in love," he said. "The Holy Family of Nazareth is truly the 'prototype' of every Christian family which, united in the Sacrament of Marriage and nourished by the Word and the Eucharist, is called to carry out the wonderful vocation and mission of being the living cell not only of society but also of the Church, a sign and instrument of unity for the entire human race," he added.

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