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 people daily exercise patience and offer hope, taking care to spread not panic, but shared responsibility. How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday ways, how to accept and deal with a crisis by adjusting their routines, looking ahead and encouraging the practice of prayer. How many are praying, making sacrifices and interceding for the good of all.

Each of us can discover in Joseph – the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence – an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble. Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all”.

Looking at these silent presences we are called to follow St. Joseph’s example of life, the faithful guardian of Jesus and Mary: he is the icon of those who take care of the fragile and precious life in which they see God’s gift and who protect it with loving commitment and self giving in everyday ways.