Living the Year of St. Joseph

BISHOP KEVIN J. SWEENEY

Pope Francis announced a Year of St. Joseph for the whole Church just over a month ago. Shortly afterward, in my Beacon column, I wrote that friends had given me two copies of Father Calloway’s book Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father, which offers a 33-day preparation and a form for the consecration. More information can be found here.

On Nov. 30 I began the preparation, so the column went in on day 13. It was a little daunting to read “The 33-day preparation requires about 20 to 30 minutes a day,” but Father hastens to add, “if you miss a day, don’t panic. Just make it up and continue your preparation. You can do this.” Happily, in the end, only two or three days needed to be made up.

My preparation complete, I made my Act of Consecration on Epiphany Sunday, Jan. 3. The book, the 33-day preparation, and the consecration proved a truly rewarding and prayerful experience. Father Calloway also makes the experience enjoyably informative. He brings to light many things about St. Joseph and the Church’s devotion to St. Joseph that were new to me. For example, Father Calloway shows that although St. Joseph has always been with us, our devotion to St. Joseph has really taken off just in the past 150 years.

Allow me to offer some practical recommendations. First, commit to participating concretely in the Year of St. Joseph. We have a diocesan working group that is gathering a wealth of resources and options, including a pilgrimage to our diocese’s holy sites dedicated to St. Joseph. We will publish these offerings very soon and plan to update them continuously.

Second, consider purchasing Father Calloway’s book and using his format to prepare for and make the Act of Consecration to St. Joseph. Father Calloway suggests you “pick a consecration date … which will then guide you to a beginning date.” A wonderful consecration date would be the Solemnity of St. Joseph, on March 19. This would make the start date Monday, Feb. 15. How meaningful for couples, to start together the day after St. Valentine’s Day! It is also two days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the holy season of Lent.

Finally, living the Year of St. Joseph may be as simple as offering a daily prayer. This Litany of St. Joseph is a beautiful part of Father Calloway’s approach: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/litanies/litany-of-saint-joseph

Pope Francis also gave us a daily prayer in his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), noting “We need only ask St. Joseph for the grace of graces: our conversion. Let us now make our prayer to him:

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.

Between the global pandemic and our country’s ongoing political strife, these are difficult times, and a flourishing devotion to the foster father of the Lord may be the powerful balm we need. If you have not yet started to live the Year of St. Joseph, do not panic; there’s still plenty of time but please, think and pray about living the Year of St. Joseph. How will we participate? What difference will it make? Could it be that God is offering to us, through the Church, just what we need at just the right moment?

St. Joseph, pray for us!