2021 has been proclaimed by Pope Francis as the Year of St. Joseph, beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same feast in 2021.
In a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.
Pope Francis shares that St. Joseph, a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family, also teaches us the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour. Pope Francis continues: We all need to appreciate the importance of dignified work, of which Saint Joseph is an exemplary patron.
The Pope said Christians can discover in St. Joseph, who often goes unnoticed, "an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble."
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Pope Francis shares that for more than 40 years, he has said a special prayer to St. Joseph after morning prayer that it is taken from a 19th-century French prayer book of the Congregation of the Sisters of Jesus and Mary. Take a minute to pray this prayer today:
Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, whose power makes the impossible possible, come to my aid in these times of anguish and difficulty. Take under your protection the serious and troubling situations that I commend to you, that they may have a happy outcome. My beloved father, all my trust is in you. Let it not be said that I invoked you in vain, and since you can do everything with Jesus and Mary, show me that your goodness is as great as your power. Amen.
Pope Francis shared with us this prayer, which he encourages us all to pray together this year:
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.