A silent father

suor Marzia Ceschia

With the Apostolic Letter “Patris corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”) Pope Francis recalls the 150 th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father has proclaimed a special “Year of Saint Joseph”. The Pope affirms that the man “who goes unnoticed” reminds us of the ordinary people who are so important in our lives. At the beginning of this document the Pope says that he wants to share some personal reflections on this extraordinary figure so close to our human experience and he writes: “My desire to do so increased during these months of pandemic, when we experienced, amid the crisis, how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people, people often overlooked. People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines, or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone… How many…