by Anna Villani
The caress of Saint Joseph on our experience of faith. A saint who loved and hoped only as the "greats" know how to do
The silent emotion of the passage of the statue was repeated once again last March 19, when Saint Joseph left the Basilica of the Trionfale to meet the people, always large, growing and numerous. Times change but not faith in the Husband of Mary and Patron of the universal Church. The bedspreads hanging on the balconies and the flowers were replaced by the many cell phones, tablets, iPads, who looked for the best shot from the windows and sidewalks as they passed the saint. And you don't immortalize a moment except to show it to others, as if to say: "do you see how beautiful it was?".
And in fact, within a few minutes the images from the streets arrived on social networks, discreetly invading message boards and profiles: "Now, the saint is coming out of via Bernardino Telesio" and again "he has arrived in via Trionfale", "But how much people now to via della Giuliana! But who is passing by?” writes a very young high school student, “what's the name of the gang? Where do they come from?”, “He's turning, taking the return road”, or “how beautiful are the pageboys…”, from one end of the capital and of Italy to the other the procession was no longer only in the Prati district, but from Prati to the world, reaching distant faithful and bringing together the bedridden in connection. This too is devotion. memory is devotion, cultivating it, nourishing it with waiting and time. And everyone found a way to do it. A saint who young and old considered the important "character" of the neighborhood for a day. Yes, Saint Joseph "frittellaro", as the women of many springs affectionately call him. The ancient procession together with that of Santa Maria delle Grazie represents the event awaited by many families in the area to ask for graces or to thank for having received them, to entrust tears and sighs: “Saint Joseph, don't forget! Give us grace, help us, the mortgage, the work, the illnesses." If we could know from the "saint"'s exit from the church to his return, how many and what were the thoughts of the people who met the gaze of the most honored father in history, perhaps we would change the opinion of many people, perhaps we would be convinced even more of the the love that many have for him, despite everything, despite the times, which are difficult for everyone. The "crisis" is the gloom of the days, Saint Joseph the antidote to suffering, the caress of hopes. “Don't be discouraged! I am always there”, he wants to tell us. Without limits to his Providence, he continues even today to intercede for the needy and the poor, the afflicted and inconsolable. In the depths of the spirit the dialogue continues between the faithful and the foster father of Christ. A simple faith that is not improvised by exploding on the day of the "feast", but preceding it in prayers and celebrations, as demonstrated by the triduum led by Don Mario Carrera, director of the Pious Union of the Transit of Saint Joseph. The charity work that welcomes the poor and prays for the dying. The three evenings were also packed with women and men, returning from work or at home, because they had lost it, waiting for a response from the hospital or a company. “God rewards the obedience of Joseph who trusts God because he knows that He will not deceive him – said Don Mario in the homily on the evening of 18 March – Joseph had made his own life plan and instead God establishes other things for him, but he does not lose heart, he accepts the will of the Lord and moves forward, he continues confidently, accepting to be the Father's collaborator. Let us remember that there is a parallel between Abraham and Joseph: the first and last of the patriarchs." In the procession that marched from via Bernardino Telesio crossing the ring road and then via della Giuliana to join via Andrea Doria there were among others the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence, the female branch of the great family of Saint Luigi Guanella and then the «Luigini» with their beautiful black cloaks and hats, while the music was performed by the Vatican Gendarmerie. “Saint Joseph accepted the word of the Lord to have a child without generating, a choice that only those who walk in harmony with God can make. He trusted in God and in Mary, his wife, who he loved as only the great can. A simplicity of life in which his greatness moved": the words of Msgr. Paolo Selvadagi, auxiliary bishop for the Western sector of the diocese of Rome, who also underlined how much Saint Joseph gave to little Jesus. Words expressed with the solemnity that the patriarch inspires in men of good will and that move those present at the end of the Josephite procession. Bishop Selvadagi comments on the word, enthusiastically. A woman suddenly falls ill and he delicately asks the faithful for a doctor and to recite a Hail Mary together so that she recovers. A note of humanity that bursts into the religious rite without diminishing the emotional "pathos". It normally resumes with the prelate's invitation to recognize "every day the signs of God in ordinary things because the Lord always shows us his goodness". About twenty concelebrants, among them the parish priest of the basilica Don Wladimiro Bogoni: "whoever focuses on Saint Joseph focuses on safety, which is why so many of you came; you know that you can trust him”, his comment on his warm participation, thanking everyone. “We cannot live without hope and Giuseppe is before us as a model of hope to follow, especially when difficulties oppress us, there are many problems, he is there!”, the final reflection of Don Mario Carrera in the evening mass of the party which saw the same participation, especially among workers. “God is great in mercy and forgives us all our weaknesses if only we know how to follow him – continued the director of the Pious Union -. Just as when we prepare a dessert we are attentive to the ingredients to be carefully added, so the word of God must be kneaded within us to be served to others. Let us look at Saint Joseph, an angel without wings, who, as he provided for Jesus and Mary, certainly also provides for us every day, especially today, in a society that is said to be without fathers. And so his figure becomes a model to follow in our choices. But do you think about it? He took steps to be Jesus' educator, he was his guardian, teaching him to read, even the Bible, together they went to the Synagogue, together they prayed and recited the psalms. Silence was for him the womb in which to form the word. Joseph is never mentioned in the Bible, but he is mentioned seven times. We look to him and if our education has failed, we do not despair. Let's listen to the Pope when he tells us that in families we must start saying three words again: "permission, thank you, sorry". And if we have taken away instead of building, let's go back to sharing values."