Thank you, Saint Joseph

Every March 19th, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Saint Joseph, and it has also been Father's Day for hundreds of years.

A beautiful prayer for a farewell between tears
A few lines for the most important and wonderful person in the world

The Church has always held up Saint Joseph, a just man, as an example of a father and husband. In the encyclical letter "Quamquam Pluries", published on August 15, 1889, Pope Leo XIII wrote: "Men of every rank and country should fly to the trust and guard of the blessed Joseph. Fathers of families find in Joseph the best personification of paternal solicitude and vigilance; spouses a perfect example of love, of peace, and of conjugal fidelity."

On February 9, 2022, Pope Francis also remembered Saint Joseph as the patron saint of a good death:

"A devotion that arose from the thought that Joseph had died, comforted by the presence of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus, before he left the house of Nazareth. There is no historical data, but since we no longer see Joseph in public life, it is believed that he died there in Nazareth, with his family. And Jesus and Mary accompanied him up to his death."

The Argentine Pope then added a reflection on the elderly which I find very beautiful and necessary:

"The elderly should be cared for as a treasure of humanity: they are our wisdom. Even if they do not speak, or if they do not make sense, they are still the symbol of human wisdom. They are those who went before us and have left us many beautiful things, many memories, much wisdom. Please, do not isolate the elderly, do not accelerate the death of the elderly. To caress an elderly person has the same hope as caressing a child, because the beginning of life and the end are always a mystery, a mystery that should be respected, accompanied, cared for, loved."

As a role model for a father and husband, the example of Saint Joseph came into my life through my father, a good and just man who made great sacrifices for my family, treating my mother with special devotion. The intercession of Saint Joseph was also evident in his farewell: My father had the peaceful death we all wish for, passing away in peace surrounded by his family. With so much misfortune in the world, with so many violent deaths that cut short lives without allowing time for goodbyes, for death to come like this, in old age, is a gift from God.

In my 50 years of life, this is the first Father's Day without him. He is no longer physically with us, but death is not the end, and we know he has gone to a better place, where one day, God willing, we will meet again. Yesterday, I was thinking of him a lot, remembering a beautiful Christian song that says:

I am a poor wayfaring stranger,
I'm travelling through this world of woe,
Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright land to which I go.

I'm going there to see my father,
I'm going there, no more to roam.
I'm only going over Jordan,
I'm only going over home.

Thank you, Saint Joseph, for your intercession in the life and death of my father, through which I had the opportunity to learn what an example your life is for so many men. And to you, Dad, Happy Father's Day.

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Image: Grok. An artistic representation of Saint Joseph on his deathbed.