Devotions (17)
Pope Francis places the requests for help under Saint Joseph
Written by Super Userby Angelo Forti
Pope Francis has a great devotion to Saint Joseph. Outside his room in the Casa Santa Marta, there is a statue of the saint at whose feet the Pope leaves papers with requests for graces written by himself. When the messages become too many, the statue stands up a little. Devotion to Saint Joseph has accompanied the Pope since he was young. The parish of Flores in Buenos Aires, the neighborhood where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born and raised, is dedicated to Saint Joseph.
by Paolo Antoci
What does Saint Joseph have to do with Lourdes? In fact, what is most striking about the facts of the Massabielle cave regarding the apparitions of the Immaculate Conception to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 is not exactly Saint Joseph. Yet he too, as he usually does with his discreet style, works together with his Bride Mary and his Son Jesus for universal salvation. He did it more than two thousand years ago, placing himself at the service of the humanity of the incarnate Word and continues to do so today by serving his sacramental body which is the Church and of which he is Patron. There is no strangeness in stating that where Mary is, her husband Joseph is also there, albeit in a "silent" but no less important way. The poor question the Church
by Mario Sgarbossa
The scandal of poverty, caused by Francis of Assisi, had a vast echo in the Church from the thirteenth century and dragged crowds of young people to follow the Poverello whose charm was not indifferent to Dante Alighieri who dedicated a song to Madonna Poverty: Oh unknown wealth, oh very rich! Egidio goes barefoot, Sylvester goes barefoot behind the groom, yes the bride likes it (Paradiso XI, 82).
But not everyone liked it... and Dante has harsh words for those who are greedy for new foods. The vow of poverty as understood by Francis and Clare of Assisi was not well accepted by the young friars who openly expressed their dissent: “We know that Brother Francis is making a new Rule and we fear that he will make it so harsh that we cannot observe it. Do it for yourself and don't do it for us."
by Mario Sgarbossa
Throughout the centuries of Jewish history, the Lord could count on the faithfulness, not always persevering, of his little flock, to prepare the coming of the Messiah.
And when this restless flock got lost in contact with idolatry following the pagans who denied the supernatural, God sent his prophets to bring them back to the fold, by hook or by crook, as Psalm 80 says: “Listen , my people, I want to warn you. Israel, if you would listen to me! But my people did not listen to my voice. Israel did not obey me." However, God is faithful to his word. The Jews awaited the powerful Messiah capable of freeing them from all slavery, not only from that of sin...
by Mario Sgarbossa
With the nocturnal announcement made by the Angel begins (in the secret of four walls) the incomparable story of Joseph, husband of Mary and "father" of Jesus. Why quote the word "father" when even the two evangelists speaking of Joseph say explicitly father of Jesus? And so Mary also calls him in front of the teachers in the Temple: "Your father and I were anxiously looking for you...".
We leave the answer to the Fathers of the Church who, explaining this difficult moment in Joseph's life, repeated the words of the angel: "With God nothing is impossible". We've always known this.
Ambrose, the holy bishop of Milan, speaking of Mary as bride and virgin mother, asks: "Why didn't she conceive by the work of the Holy Spirit before the engagement?". And he replies: “Probably so that she wouldn't spread the word that she had conceived from guilt.”
by Mario Sgarbossa
From the two genealogies listed by Matthew and Luke on the descent from King David, the name of Joachim, father of Mary, is excluded. The genealogy of the female branch was not given. This does not mean that we should not take into account the tradition that also considers Mary among the descendants of King David, even if Luke and Matthew do not say so explicitly.
It is perhaps this detail that brought Joseph closer to the girl named Maria. Because of this distant relationship, Joseph stopped to greet Mary and her parents, Joachim and Anna, as he was leaving the synagogue, who accompanied her daughter to the House of Prayer every Saturday. Here Mary and her mother took their places in the gallery reserved for women, while her father almost always sat in the front row of the large room, to listen to the reading of the Torah, preceded by the profession of faith to the one God: Shema, Israel, listen, Israel .
by Mario Sgarbossa
Young Joseph was raised in a good family headed by his father Jacob. His name appears at the bottom of the genealogy listed by the evangelist Matthew. And God enriched him with his graces, preparing him to be a worthy husband of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus: a divine pedagogy that operated through human events. It is easy to imagine Joseph's childhood by sticking to the traditions handed down orally in Israel, as has been said, and then collected and written in the Talmud, from whose pages we can learn the gradual religious formation of a young man willing to support the work of grace .
First of all, Joseph, ever since he was able to pronounce the word amen (as the Talmud prescribes), was led every Saturday to the synagogue by his father Jacob. And here he learned to read and write in the Hebrew language. He learned the Aramaic dialect from his family and from the boys with whom he shared the game.
Then, at the age of thirteen which marked the transition from childhood to maturity for Jewish boys and girls, Joseph was able to move independently, also joining the pilgrims during visits to the Temple of Jerusalem. The young people could thus attend the lessons of the masters of the Law in the synagogue attached to the Temple.
The experts in sacred Scripture - usually Pharisees who dedicated themselves not full time to the education of young people - listened attentively to the questions that the young people asked them and their answers; in this way they filled the inevitable gaps in their religious formation. Villages far from Jerusalem were rarely visited by famous rabbis.
From his father Jacob, of Davidic descent, who arrived in Nazareth from his native Bethlehem, Joseph learned by heart the daily blessings which he recited at three times of the day in the company of his father, during the work break in the shop. The blessings were then placed in the metal tube (the mezuzah) kept in a special box hanging on the wall, in imitation of what happened on Saturdays in the synagogue.
by Mario Sgarbossa
In Psalm 39 we read the words that are well suited to the spiritual profile of Joseph, faithful observer of the Law of Moses and active frequenter of the synagogue of Nazareth: "In the scroll of the Book of Me it is written to do your will. My God, this is what I desire; your law is in the depths of my heart.”
Every good Israelite, therefore also Joseph, recited, and recites, the blessings three times a day (just as the Christian begins and closes the day with prayer). And on Saturday, in the synagogue, the religious rites open with a blessing, the Shema Israel, the profession of faith in the one God: "Listen, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one: Shema , Israel, Adonai elohenu, Adonai ehad... These precepts that I give you will be in your heart. You will teach them to your children, you will meditate on them at home and along the journey, going to sleep and getting up; you will bind them as a sign on your hand; you will hold them as a front between the eyes; you shall write them on the doorposts and doors of your house.” This explains the meaning of that case that the law-abiding, i.e. righteous, Jew (as the evangelist says) keeps tied to his forehead. And Joseph, from his mature age, at the age of thirteen, observed these prescriptions, reciting the daily blessings.
by Gianfranco Verri
The wood of the Cross was the throne of the Crucifix, King of glory. wood is therefore the privileged and chosen material by God among all the natural elements created by him, a material that "collaborated" in our Redemption. God's plan is wonderful and mysterious! The heavenly Father entrusts his Only Begotten Son in his mission on earth to an earthly father as his vicar. He does not choose a doctor of the Law, nor a priest of the Temple, nor a political leader, nor a scientist, he chooses a wood craftsman, a carpenter, a carpenter.
Jesus therefore, according to divine will, should have acquired manual knowledge, a certain familiarity with wood, through personal experience. In fact the wood accompanied him from Bethlehem to Calvary.
by Mario Sgarbossa
Why was the secret of God hidden in the unfathomable depths of the Trinitarian mystery revealed only to Mary and Joseph? “We are in the order of the Incarnation – said Pius XI in the address of 19 March 1935 – that is, of the personal union of God with man. it is in this moment that he dictates the Word that explains everything in the relationships between Joseph and the great prophets and the apostles. It is up to Joseph to announce the wonders of the incarnation because of his relationship with the mysteries of the life of Christ."
We expected a word from Joseph that would shed some light on our perplexities, such as his anguished doubt when faced with the inexplicable virginal conception of his fiancée, or after the discovery of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem. A silence on which the drama weighs. For the second annunciation of the angel to Joseph, why that long silence from God? God calls whoever he wants and how he wants, says Saint Paul in the letter to the Ephesians (4,11): “He gave some to be apostles, to others to be prophets, to still others to be evangelists, to others to be pastors and masters."
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Saint Joseph witnesses the eternal struggle between light and darkness
In Bethlehem, Lucifer sounded the trumpet of general mobilization and activated the plan prepared to deal with unforeseen calamities.
The news is not a secret for him: even the wise men of Herod's court know it, even more so he and his whole host of demons.
The messianic era has arrived and in Bethlehem we must search for the descendant of David.
For a few years we will have to keep an eye on all members of this lineage. It is clear that she belongs above all to those who enjoy a privileged position in the society of the time, that is, the rich and powerful, who usually accompany each other on the journey. There are a few thousand in Israel and among emigrants to neighboring countries. A decree has been promulgated for some time which decides the expulsion of those who have no social weight to deserve attention.
Joseph of Nazareth is also among them.
by Tarcisio Stramare
Among the privileges of Saint Joseph, the best known and most celebrated is that of his pious death: "He in the arms of Jesus and Mary was consumed with love for his God", we read in the list of the twelve privileges granted to our Saint . The knowledge and diffusion of the Transit in the West are due to the Milanese Dominican Isidoro Isolano, who included its history in his Summa de donis St. Joseph, printed in Pavia, in 1522. He reports that Eastern Catholics usually celebrate with extraordinary veneration is the feast of Saint Joseph on the 1340th of July: "In their churches a life of Saint Joseph is usually read", translated from Hebrew into Latin in XNUMX. It therefore reports some features, which I transcribe here, limiting myself to essential. The story of Joseph's life is attributed to Jesus himself, who confided it to his disciples on Mount Olivet.
by Giosy Cento
“Without the Eucharist, without Sunday, we cannot live”. This is what the early Christian saints said. Perhaps they wanted to say that without the Eucharist one cannot learn and live true life and above all the life of a couple, of a family. The Holy Mass, looking at its structure, is a great school of family life. Of course it wasn't made like this for this reason, but, going into it with marital and family attention, we realize that in the Celebration, every moment speaks and communicates high teachings of family life in every sense. Because, after all, the Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love and in the Holy Mass, not by chance, marriage is celebrated and fidelity is promised forever, according to God's will. Let's try to walk in it together.
Saint Joseph and Blessed John Paul II
by Tarcisio Stramare
After Mary, Mother of God, there is no saint who occupies as much space in the pontifical magisterium as Saint Joseph, her most chaste husband. And yet, in the shadow of such a great "Bride", Saint Joseph goes so unnoticed that some will be surprised to discover this marked presence of him, especially in a notoriously "Marian" pope like John Paul II. In fact, every time we think of him, his singular devotion towards the Mother of God comes to mind, expressed unequivocally in his papal coat of arms with the large letter "M" (Mary) and the writing "Totus tuus" (All your).
In his apostolic journeys it was normal for a visit to a Marian sanctuary to be included, an expression of his filial feelings, but also of the recognition of Mary's "maternal role" towards the Church. But we also know how much John Paul II, always interested in man, in his values and tasks, held the "male role" in the Gospel and in the Church in high regard, and this starting precisely from the consideration of the figure of Saint Joseph, as he himself states, recalling his stops in the churches dedicated to him in both Wadowice and Krakow, in which he often loved to stop in prayer. “The figure of Saint Joseph provides special ideas and abundant material for these reflections”, in particular on the purely male role, the protective, paternal one, which “seems not only primary but also essential compared to any of his other external, social or organized."