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2 THE YEAR OF ST. JOSEPH | ARCHDIOCESE OF DENVER What can we learn from silent St. Joseph? ARCH B I S H O P ' S CO LU M N I t seems like a paradox to say we can learn from St. Joseph, a man who does not have a single word attributed to him in the Scriptures, but the Church is currently spending a year doing just that. The secret to learning from St. Joseph is to look at his actions, not his words. Pope Francis created this year, which started on Decem- ber 8, 2020, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared the patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870. To help you enter this celebration, this edition of the Denver Catholic contains articles about St. Joseph's spiritual fatherhood, his role in salvation his- tory and stories of people who strive to imitate St. Joseph's virtues in their lives. We also have decided to dedicate the 2021 Arch- bishop's Catholic Appeal to highlighting St. Joseph's virtues. We invite people to express their faith with action by donating to the largest annual fundraiser that results in touching the most lives in the Archdio- cese of Denver. So, what can we learn from silent St. Joseph? I would like to offer a starting point for your reflection by highlight- ing a few insights that Pope Francis shared about St. Joseph in his apostolic letter Patris Corde (A Father's Heart), although they will by no means exhaust what can be said about him. For me, my devotion to St. Joseph did not really begin until I became a bishop. My mother's name was Josephine, and she had a strong devotion to her namesake, but for me it was the duty of watching over a flock as a bishop that sparked a deeper connection with the man who helped protect and raise Jesus. In prayer I turned to Joseph to learn what it means to be entrusted by the Father to be a father for the faithful I shepherd. Pope Francis speaks of Joseph's trust and obedience as leading him to accept God's plan as better than what he had in mind. Though he was afraid at times, "God's will, his history and his plan were at work" (PC, 2). Whether it was the decision to marry the Blessed Mother, packing up the family and fleeing to Egypt in the night, or responding to the angel's call to return to Israel once Herod had died, Joseph trusted in the Lord's guidance. When we are fearful, we should ask St. Joseph to teach us to trust in the Father's loving care and provision for us. In addition to his trust, Joseph was obedient. At every crucial decision point of God's plan to save us, "Joseph declared his own 'fiat,' like those of Mary at the Annuncia- tion and Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane," Pope Francis notes (PC, 3). And St. Joseph imparted that obedience to Jesus as well, such that "Even at the most difficult moment of his life, in Gethsemane, Jesus chose to do the Father's will rather than his own, becoming 'obedient to death, even death on a cross'" (PC, 3). You may discover inspiration in the pages of this special BY ARCHBISHOP SAMUEL J. AQUILA Follow Archbishop Aquila on Social media: |