Saint Joseph

On 19 March the Church celebrates Saint Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. In Spain and a few other countries, it is also Father’s Day. How he listened to God in his dreams and protected the Holy Family is told in the lesson “Joseph, the just man”. Today we look at why the Church loves him so much, and what his quiet life teaches.

Most of Joseph’s life was spent in Nazareth, in a house, in a workshop, in an ordinary town. Joseph worked with wood, and the people of the town called Jesus the carpenter’s son. It is natural to picture Joseph teaching him the trade, though the Gospels do not say so. Luke tells us that Jesus lived at home with Mary and Joseph, obeying them, and grew in wisdom. The Church teaches that this hidden life is a gift: it shows that ordinary days, family life and honest work can be holy.

The Church has honored Joseph more and more. In 1870 Pope Pius IX named him patron of the whole Church, trusting that the man who guarded the family of Nazareth would guard God’s family, the Church. Since 1955, on 1 May, the Church keeps the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, because Jesus shared the work of the carpenter of Nazareth and so work done with love can unite us to him. In 2020 Pope Francis gave the Church a whole Year of Saint Joseph. He is the patron of fathers and workers, and the Church invites us to ask him for a happy death.

In Sicily, and in some other places, families set a table with food on 19 March to share with the poor in his name. Tradition says the custom began as thanks for his help during a hard famine. Feeding the hungry is one of the works of mercy, and it fits Joseph well. He shows us that holiness does not always make noise: it can be a father or a mother who gets up every day to take care of the family, with love.