This coming Saturday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary. Like Mary, St. Joseph holds a special place in our faith because of his role in raising Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Mary is the greatest of all the saints, unique because she was Immaculately Conceived and became the virginal mother of Jesus. Mary is fully human, but is unlike us in that she never experienced Original Sin. St. Joseph, unlike his spouse, was born with Original Sin. So, his example is of particular value to us because he shows that even ordinary human beings can become worthy to have Jesus in their home.
St. Joseph never speaks in Scripture. In the early years of the Church, most of the theology focused on understanding Jesus as God and Man and on understanding the Trinity as Three Persons in One God. This included a lot of discussion on Mary because of her unique role as the Mother of God. So, St. Joseph did not get a lot of attention besides being recognized for his purity and the protection he offered to Mary and Jesus. Still, there have always been saints and theologians in the Church who have encouraged people to have a devotion to St. Joseph and to seek his intercession, particularly in battles against lust or demonic influence. By the 900s, many places observed March 19th as a day dedicated to St. Joseph. By the year 1570, it became a major feast and a Holy Day of Obligation. Technically, it is still on the list of Holy Days of Obligation that is given in Canon Law, but each country has the option to pare down the list according to the culture of their country. The United States has opted not to keep it as a Holy Day of Obligation.
Still, in the last few hundred years, St. Joseph has gotten a lot more attention overall. Popes and theologians have written more about him and devotion has gotten stronger. You may have noticed that we now say his name during the Eucharistic prayer at every Mass. That was something added first by Pope St. John XXIII and then continued by Pope Benedict the XVI and completed by Pope Francis. We just finished the year of St. Joseph last year for both our diocese and the Church as a whole. A new devotion called the “Consecration to St. Joseph” has started to spread, one that a few parishioners and I are following right now. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out that devotion for yourself. We still have a few books for sale in the office. It covers far more than I can in this one article. Most notable among the devotions to St. Joseph is the St. Joseph altar, traditionally done on March 19th as part of the feast. It involves putting together an altar featuring St. Joseph and then tables full of baked goods, usually in the form of crosses and other Christian symbols. There are lots of traditions connected to this, but I don’t have space to go into all of them.
The one I want to focus on is the meal and giving to the poor. We will have a St. Joseph altar on this Saturday and serve a meal to foster community in our parish. At the same time, the St. Joseph altar was originally dedicated to providing food for the poor. So, I ask that everyone bring non-perishable foods to donate to the food bank in honor of St. Joseph. Please also take some time to learn more about St. Joseph and to make him a regular patron and intercessor in your life. As the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus, he is the second highest of all the saints and powerful ally. Jesus is our God and savior, but there’s no reason not to make use of the allies he himself as given us, especially the man he entrusted with his own life while on earth. St. Joseph, pray for us!