The Hidden Father Who Protects the Church - Fr. Matthew Tomeny | 3/19/26

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031926.cfm

Happy St. Joseph's Day! Five years ago marked a historic milestone — the Church's first year ever dedicated to St. Joseph. This is no accident. Though St. Joseph was humbly hidden, he played the most significant role after the Blessed Virgin Mary in assisting Christ's plan of redemption. After Mary, he remains the most significant figure in Christ's plan of salvation for all people.

Father Matthew Tomeny, MIC, reflects on this profound truth, exploring how devotion to St. Joseph has grown organically over time, rather like the Church has grown in her devotion to and understanding of the Eucharist. In the last 150 years, the Holy Spirit has moved the Church to develop her teaching about and devotion to St. Joseph. Since the Holy Father’s declaration of St, Joseph as universal patron of the Church in 1870, we have seen encyclicals, religious orders, and shrines dedicated to him. Pope Leo XIII dedicated March to Saint Joseph. In 1955, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker was added to the calendar. In the 1962 revision of the Roman Missal, St. Joseph was inserted into the Roman Canon. In 2013, Pope Francis added St. Joseph to the rest of the Eucharistic Prayers, as well.

Pope Francis also declared a Year of Saint Joseph from Dec. 8, 2020 through Dec. 8, 2021, and consecration to him has grown rapidly. As our Lord tells us in the “Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska,” God is preparing us for His second coming, giving us the Day of Mercy before the Day of Judgment. With this will come the triumph of the Immaculate Heart, joined to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We are living in a time of moral and spiritual famine. The Church must go to St. Joseph, just as Israel went to Joseph in times of famine. Saint Joseph protects the Church from real attacks threatening destruction. During the Holy Family's exile in Egypt, it must have been tempting to think Jesus was not the Messiah. Similarly, when attacks on the Church grow and teachings seem shrouded in darkness, St. Joseph will be there to protect, nourish, and guide us.

Saint Joseph is the father of the Mystical Body of Christ. He spiritually feeds, shelters, clothes, educates, protects, and corrects us. Where the St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal, in Canada, stands today, St. Br. Andre attributed countless miracles to St. Joseph's intercession. In our day, Jesus wants the Church to know, love, honor, and seek refuge in St. Joseph.

With such poor examples of fatherhood in the world, we desperately need him as a perfect model of paternal love — an earthly icon of God the Father. Saint Joseph is higher than all the patriarchs, higher than all the saints of the New Testament. Unlike St. Peter and St. Paul, he never denied or persecuted Jesus. He is the only one who can say he saved Jesus — the savior of his Savior.

May St. Joseph continue to protect the Church and intercede for us to have purity of mind and heart so that, through Mary, Jesus may dwell in the home of our hearts.