Page 5 - Michael Journal 2020 March

u rived his singular dignity and his rights in regard to unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so
Jesus. “It is certain that the dignity of the Mother of now does he protect and defend with his heavenly pa-
God is so exalted that nothing could be more sub- tronage the Church of Christ.”
lime; yet because Mary was united to Joseph by the This patronage must be invoked as ever neces-
bond of marriage, there can be no doubt but that sary for the Church, not only as a defense against
Joseph approached as no other person ever could all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an im-
that eminent dignity whereby the Mother of God tow- petus for her renewed commitment to evangeliza-
ers above all creatures. Since marriage is the high- tion in the world and to re-evangelization in those
est degree of association and friendship involving lands and nations whereas I wrote in the Apostolic
by its very nature a communion of goods, it follows Exhortation Christifideles Laici – “religion and the
that God, by giving Joseph to the Virgin, did not give Christian life were formerly flourishing and... are
him to her only as a companion for life, a witness of now put to a hard test.” In order to bring the first
her virginity and protector of her honor: he also gave proclamation of Christ, or to bring it anew wher-
Joseph to Mary in order that he ever it has been neglected or
might share, through the mar- forgotten, the Church has need
riage pact, in her own sublime of special “power from on high”
greatness” (Leo XIII, Quamquam (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8): a gift of the
Pluries). Spirit of the Lord, a gift which
This bond of charity was the is not unrelated to the interces-
core of the Holy Family’s life, sion and example of his saints.
first in the poverty of Bethlehem, Besides trusting in Joseph’s
then in their exile in Egypt, and sure protection, the Church also
later in the house of Nazareth. trusts in his noble example,
The Church deeply venerates which transcends all individ-
this Family, and proposes it as ual states of life and serves as
the model of all families. a model for the entire Christian
“St. Joseph is the model of community, whatever the con-
those humble ones that Christi- dition and duties of each of its
anity raises up to great destin- members may be.
ies; he is the proof that in order As the Constitution on Div-
to be a good and genuine fol- ine Revelation of the Second
lower of Christ, there is no need Vatican Council has said, the
of great things – it is enough to basic attitude of the entire
have the common, simple and Church must be that of “hear-
human virtues, but they need to ing the word of God with rever-
be true and authentic.” ence,” an absolute readiness to
serve faithfully God’s salvific will
Patron of the Church in our day revealed in Jesus. Already at the beginning of human
At a difficult time in the Church’s history, Pope Pius redemption, after Mary, we find the model of obedi-
IX, wishing to place her under the powerful patronage ence made incarnate in St. Joseph, the man known
of the holy patriarch Joseph, declared him “Patron of for having faithfully carried out God’s commands.
the Catholic Church” (Decree Quemadmodum Deus, Pope Paul VI invited us to invoke Joseph’s patron-
December 8, 1870). For Pius IX this was no idle ges- age “as the Church has been wont to do in these recent
ture, since by virtue of the sublime dignity which God times, for herself in the first place, with a spontaneous
has granted to his most faithful servant Joseph, “the theological reflection on the marriage of divine and
Church, after the Blessed Virgin, his spouse, has al- human action in the great economy of the Redemp-
ways held him in great honor and showered him with tion, in which economy the first – the divine one – is
praise, having recourse to him amid tribulations.”
wholly sufficient unto itself, while the second – the hu-
What are the reasons for such great confidence? man action which is ours – though capable of nothing
Leo XIII explained it in this way: “The reasons why (John 15:5), is never dispensed from a humble but
St. Joseph must be considered the special patron of conditional and ennobling collaboration. The Church
the Church, and the Church in turn draws exceeding also calls upon Joseph as her protector because of a
hope from his care and patronage, chiefly arise from profound and ever present desire to reinvigorate her
his having been the husband of Mary and the pre- ancient life with true evangelical virtues, such as shine
sumed father of Jesus… Joseph was in his day the forth in St. Joseph” (Discourse, March 19, 1969).
lawful and natural guardian, head and defender of the One hundred years ago, Pope Leo XIII had already
Holy Family.... It is thus fitting and most worthy of Jo- exhorted the Catholic world to pray for the protection
seph’s dignity that, in the same way that he once kept

6 MICHAEL March/April 2020 www.michaeljournal.org